Generate random password string with requirements in javascript
A little more maintainable and secure approach.
An update to expand on what I meant and how it works.
Secure. MDN is pretty explicit about the use of
Math.random
for anything related to security:Math.random()
does not provide cryptographically secure random numbers. Do not use them for anything related to security. Use the Web Crypto API instead, and more precisely thewindow.crypto.getRandomValues()
method.Looking at the can-i-use for
getRandomValues
in 2020 you probably don't need themsCrypto
andMath.random
fallback any more, unless you care about ancient browsers.Maintainable is mostly about the
RegExp
_pattern
as an easy way to define what character classes you allow in the password. But also about the 3 things where each does its job: defines a pattern, gets a random byte as securely as possible, provides a public API to combine the two.
var Password = {
_pattern : /[a-zA-Z0-9_\-\+\.]/,
_getRandomByte : function()
{
// http://caniuse.com/#feat=getrandomvalues
if(window.crypto && window.crypto.getRandomValues)
{
var result = new Uint8Array(1);
window.crypto.getRandomValues(result);
return result[0];
}
else if(window.msCrypto && window.msCrypto.getRandomValues)
{
var result = new Uint8Array(1);
window.msCrypto.getRandomValues(result);
return result[0];
}
else
{
return Math.floor(Math.random() * 256);
}
},
generate : function(length)
{
return Array.apply(null, {'length': length})
.map(function()
{
var result;
while(true)
{
result = String.fromCharCode(this._getRandomByte());
if(this._pattern.test(result))
{
return result;
}
}
}, this)
.join('');
}
};
<input type='text' id='p'/><br/>
<input type='button' value ='generate' onclick='document.getElementById("p").value = Password.generate(16)'>
Forcing a fixed number of characters is a bad idea. It doesn't improve the quality of the password. Worse, it reduces the number of possible passwords, so that hacking by bruteforcing becomes easier.
To generate a random word consisting of alphanumeric characters, use:
var randomstring = Math.random().toString(36).slice(-8);
How does it work?
Math.random() // Generate random number, eg: 0.123456
.toString(36) // Convert to base-36 : "0.4fzyo82mvyr"
.slice(-8);// Cut off last 8 characters : "yo82mvyr"
Documentation for the Number.prototype.toString
and string.prototype.slice
methods.