Create GUID / UUID in JavaScript?

Question

I'm trying to create globally-unique identifiers in JavaScript. I'm not sure what routines are available on all browsers, how "random" and seeded the built-in random number generator is, etc..

The GUID / UUID should be at least 32 characters and should stay in the ASCII range to avoid trouble when passing them around.

Answer 1

Here's a solution dated Oct. 9, 2011 from a comment by user jed at https://gist.github.com/982883:

UUIDv4 = function b(a){return a?(a^Math.random()*16>>a/4).toString(16):([1e7]+-1e3+-4e3+-8e3+-1e11).replace(/[018]/g,b)}

This accomplishes the same goal as the current highest-rated answer, but in 50+ fewer bytes by exploiting coercion, recursion, and exponential notation. For those curious how it works, here's the annotated form of an older version of the function:

UUIDv4 =

function b(
  a // placeholder
){
  return a // if the placeholder was passed, return
    ? ( // a random number from 0 to 15
      a ^ // unless b is 8,
      Math.random() // in which case
      * 16 // a random number from
      >> a/4 // 8 to 11
      ).toString(16) // in hexadecimal
    : ( // or otherwise a concatenated string:
      [1e7] + // 10000000 +
      -1e3 + // -1000 +
      -4e3 + // -4000 +
      -8e3 + // -80000000 +
      -1e11 // -100000000000,
      ).replace( // replacing
        /[018]/g, // zeroes, ones, and eights with
        b // random hex digits
      )
}

Answer 2

Here is a totally non-compliant but very performant implementation to generate an ASCII-safe GUID-like unique identifier.

function generateQuickGuid() {
    return Math.random().toString(36).substring(2, 15) +
        Math.random().toString(36).substring(2, 15);
}

Generates 26 [a-z0-9] characters, yielding a UID that is both shorter and more unique than RFC compliant GUIDs. Dashes can be trivially added if human-readability matters.

Here are usage examples and timings for this function and several of this question's other answers. The timing was performed under Chrome m25, 10 million iterations each.

>>> generateQuickGuid()
"nvcjf1hs7tf8yyk4lmlijqkuo9"
"yq6gipxqta4kui8z05tgh9qeel"
"36dh5sec7zdj90sk2rx7pjswi2"
runtime: 32.5s

>>> GUID() // John Millikin
"7a342ca2-e79f-528e-6302-8f901b0b6888"
runtime: 57.8s

>>> regexGuid() // broofa
"396e0c46-09e4-4b19-97db-bd423774a4b3"
runtime: 91.2s

>>> createUUID() // Kevin Hakanson
"403aa1ab-9f70-44ec-bc08-5d5ac56bd8a5"
runtime: 65.9s

>>> UUIDv4() // Jed Schmidt
"f4d7d31f-fa83-431a-b30c-3e6cc37cc6ee"
runtime: 282.4s

>>> Math.uuid() // broofa
"5BD52F55-E68F-40FC-93C2-90EE069CE545"
runtime: 225.8s

>>> Math.uuidFast() // broofa
"6CB97A68-23A2-473E-B75B-11263781BBE6"
runtime: 92.0s

>>> Math.uuidCompact() // broofa
"3d7b7a06-0a67-4b67-825c-e5c43ff8c1e8"
runtime: 229.0s

>>> bitwiseGUID() // jablko
"baeaa2f-7587-4ff1-af23-eeab3e92"
runtime: 79.6s

>>>> betterWayGUID() // Andrea Turri
"383585b0-9753-498d-99c3-416582e9662c"
runtime: 60.0s

>>>> UUID() // John Fowler
"855f997b-4369-4cdb-b7c9-7142ceaf39e8"
runtime: 62.2s

Here is the timing code.

var r;
console.time('t'); 
for (var i = 0; i < 10000000; i++) { 
    r = FuncToTest(); 
};
console.timeEnd('t');

Answer 3

This create version 4 UUID (created from pseudo random numbers) :

function uuid()
{
   var chars = '0123456789abcdef'.split('');

   var uuid = [], rnd = Math.random, r;
   uuid[8] = uuid[13] = uuid[18] = uuid[23] = '-';
   uuid[14] = '4'; // version 4

   for (var i = 0; i < 36; i++)
   {
      if (!uuid[i])
      {
         r = 0 | rnd()*16;

         uuid[i] = chars[(i == 19) ? (r & 0x3) | 0x8 : r & 0xf];
      }
   }

   return uuid.join('');
}

Here is a sample of the UUIDs generated :

682db637-0f31-4847-9cdf-25ba9613a75c
97d19478-3ab2-4aa1-b8cc-a1c3540f54aa
2eed04c9-2692-456d-a0fd-51012f947136

Answer 4

Well, this has a bunch of answers already, but unfortunately there's not a "true" random in the bunch. The version below is an adaptation of broofa's answer, but updated to include a "true" random function that uses crypto libraries where available, and the Alea() function as a fallback.

  Math.log2 = Math.log2 || function(n){ return Math.log(n) / Math.log(2); }
  Math.trueRandom = (function() {
  var crypt = window.crypto || window.msCrypto;

  if (crypt && crypt.getRandomValues) {
      // if we have a crypto library, use it
      var random = function(min, max) {
          var rval = 0;
          var range = max - min;
          if (range < 2) {
              return min;
          }

          var bits_needed = Math.ceil(Math.log2(range));
          if (bits_needed > 53) {
            throw new Exception("We cannot generate numbers larger than 53 bits.");
          }
          var bytes_needed = Math.ceil(bits_needed / 8);
          var mask = Math.pow(2, bits_needed) - 1;
          // 7776 -> (2^13 = 8192) -1 == 8191 or 0x00001111 11111111

          // Create byte array and fill with N random numbers
          var byteArray = new Uint8Array(bytes_needed);
          crypt.getRandomValues(byteArray);

          var p = (bytes_needed - 1) * 8;
          for(var i = 0; i < bytes_needed; i++ ) {
              rval += byteArray[i] * Math.pow(2, p);
              p -= 8;
          }

          // Use & to apply the mask and reduce the number of recursive lookups
          rval = rval & mask;

          if (rval >= range) {
              // Integer out of acceptable range
              return random(min, max);
          }
          // Return an integer that falls within the range
          return min + rval;
      }
      return function() {
          var r = random(0, 1000000000) / 1000000000;
          return r;
      };
  } else {
      // From http://baagoe.com/en/RandomMusings/javascript/
      // Johannes Baagøe <[e-mail]>, 2010
      function Mash() {
          var n = 0xefc8249d;

          var mash = function(data) {
              data = data.toString();
              for (var i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
                  n += data.charCodeAt(i);
                  var h = 0.02519603282416938 * n;
                  n = h >>> 0;
                  h -= n;
                  h *= n;
                  n = h >>> 0;
                  h -= n;
                  n += h * 0x100000000; // 2^32
              }
              return (n >>> 0) * 2.3283064365386963e-10; // 2^-32
          };

          mash.version = 'Mash 0.9';
          return mash;
      }

      // From http://baagoe.com/en/RandomMusings/javascript/
      function Alea() {
          return (function(args) {
              // Johannes Baagøe <[e-mail]>, 2010
              var s0 = 0;
              var s1 = 0;
              var s2 = 0;
              var c = 1;

              if (args.length == 0) {
                  args = [+new Date()];
              }
              var mash = Mash();
              s0 = mash(' ');
              s1 = mash(' ');
              s2 = mash(' ');

              for (var i = 0; i < args.length; i++) {
                  s0 -= mash(args[i]);
                  if (s0 < 0) {
                      s0 += 1;
                  }
                  s1 -= mash(args[i]);
                  if (s1 < 0) {
                      s1 += 1;
                  }
                  s2 -= mash(args[i]);
                  if (s2 < 0) {
                      s2 += 1;
                  }
              }
              mash = null;

              var random = function() {
                  var t = 2091639 * s0 + c * 2.3283064365386963e-10; // 2^-32
                  s0 = s1;
                  s1 = s2;
                  return s2 = t - (c = t | 0);
              };
              random.uint32 = function() {
                  return random() * 0x100000000; // 2^32
              };
              random.fract53 = function() {
                  return random() +
                      (random() * 0x200000 | 0) * 1.1102230246251565e-16; // 2^-53
              };
              random.version = 'Alea 0.9';
              random.args = args;
              return random;

          }(Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments)));
      };
      return Alea();
  }
}());

Math.guid = function() {
    return 'xxxxxxxx-xxxx-4xxx-yxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx'.replace(/[xy]/g, function(c)    {
      var r = Math.trueRandom() * 16 | 0,
          v = c == 'x' ? r : (r & 0x3 | 0x8);
      return v.toString(16);
  });
};

Answer 5

Here is a combination of the top voted answer, with a workaround for Chrome's collisions:

generateGUID = (typeof(window.crypto) != 'undefined' && 
                typeof(window.crypto.getRandomValues) != 'undefined') ?
    function() {
        // If we have a cryptographically secure PRNG, use that
        // https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6906916/collisions-when-generating-uuids-in-javascript
        var buf = new Uint16Array(8);
        window.crypto.getRandomValues(buf);
        var S4 = function(num) {
            var ret = num.toString(16);
            while(ret.length < 4){
                ret = "0"+ret;
            }
            return ret;
        };
        return (S4(buf[0])+S4(buf[1])+"-"+S4(buf[2])+"-"+S4(buf[3])+"-"+S4(buf[4])+"-"+S4(buf[5])+S4(buf[6])+S4(buf[7]));
    }

    :

    function() {
        // Otherwise, just use Math.random
        // https://stackoverflow.com/questions/105034/how-to-create-a-guid-uuid-in-javascript/2117523#2117523
        return 'xxxxxxxx-xxxx-4xxx-yxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx'.replace(/[xy]/g, function(c) {
            var r = Math.random()*16|0, v = c == 'x' ? r : (r&0x3|0x8);
            return v.toString(16);
        });
    };

On jsbin if you want to test it.

Answer 6

  // RFC 4122
  //
  // A UUID is 128 bits long
  //
  // String representation is five fields of 4, 2, 2, 2, and 6 bytes.
  // Fields represented as lowercase, zero-filled, hexadecimal strings, and
  // are separated by dash characters
  //
  // A version 4 UUID is generated by setting all but six bits to randomly
  // chosen values
  var uuid = [
    Math.random().toString(16).slice(2, 10),
    Math.random().toString(16).slice(2, 6),

    // Set the four most significant bits (bits 12 through 15) of the
    // time_hi_and_version field to the 4-bit version number from Section
    // 4.1.3
    (Math.random() * .0625 /* 0x.1 */ + .25 /* 0x.4 */).toString(16).slice(2, 6),

    // Set the two most significant bits (bits 6 and 7) of the
    // clock_seq_hi_and_reserved to zero and one, respectively
    (Math.random() * .25 /* 0x.4 */ + .5 /* 0x.8 */).toString(16).slice(2, 6),

    Math.random().toString(16).slice(2, 14)].join('-');