How to Generate Random String in PHP

In this tutorial, we will learn how to generate random string in PHP.

PHP random string generator

There are several ways to produce a random string in PHP.

Here are a few examples:

1) Using str_shuffle and substr:

function generateRandomString($length = 10) {
    $characters = '0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ';
    $randomString = '';
    
    for ($i = 0; $i < $length; $i++) {
        $randomString .= $characters[rand(0, strlen($characters) - 1)];
    }
    
    return $randomString;
}

// Example usage:
$randomString = generateRandomString(8);
echo $randomString;

2) Using random_bytes and bin2hex (for PHP 7 and above):

function generateRandomString($length = 10) {
    return bin2hex(random_bytes($length / 2));
}

// Example usage:
$randomString = generateRandomString(8);
echo $randomString;

3) Using openssl_random_pseudo_bytes and bin2hex (for PHP 5 and above):

function generateRandomString($length = 10) {
    return bin2hex(openssl_random_pseudo_bytes($length / 2));
}

// Example usage:
$randomString = generateRandomString(8);
echo $randomString;