Random string generation php

Question

Below is the code for random string generation, it is working but there is some problem here which I at the moment cant figure out what happens here is that it always returns me value of length 1 ,I am expecting a random string of length 10. Also I am passing 10 as length. Kindly guide me what am I doing wrong here.

<?php 
function random_string($length) {
 $len = $length;
 $base = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz123456789";
 $max = strlen($base) - 1;
 $activatecode = '';
 mt_srand((double) microtime() * 1000000);
 while (strlen($activatecode) < $len + 1) {
 $activatecode.=$base{mt_rand(0, $max)};
 return $activatecode;
 }
}
?>

Answer 1

you return from within the while, causing the while-loop to only be run once and returning the result at that point (which is only 1 character)

Move your return-line 1 down (out of the while-loop) and it should work.

• noobie-php: /facepalm that worked lol sopme time copy pastes are worst then you think THx for answering

Answer 2

Your return statement is inside of the while loop making it to exit the function immediately, move it to the end of the function.

Some additional remarks:

• No need for mt_srand((double) microtime() * 1000000); nowadays.
• Don't use strlen, you don't need it.
• {} substring syntax is outdated.

Example:

<?php 
function random_string($length)
{
 $length = (int) $length;
 if ($length < 1) return '';
 $base = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz123456789";
 $max = strlen($base) - 1;
 $string = ''; 
 while ($len--)
 {
 $string .= $base[mt_rand(0, $max)];
 }
 return $string;
} 
?>

I suggest you add a maximum length as well, just in case.

Answer 3

Seem to work fie for me.

Fix you code up a bit:

function random_string($length) {
 $len = $length;
 $base = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz123456789";
 $max = strlen($base) - 1;
 $activatecode = '';
 mt_srand((double) microtime() * 1000000);
 while (strlen($activatecode) < $len + 1) {
 $activatecode.=$base[mt_rand(0, $max)];
 }
 return $activatecode;
}

Demo: http://codepad.org/gq0lqmB3

Answer 4

Your return statement is inside of the while loop.

Move it outside to be after the end of the while loop.

Answer 5

Just curious, whats the point of multiplying microtime() * 1000000?

each time microtime() is called it will produce a different seed!