Generate secure random passwords using 10 different methods, each inspired by Linux command-line techniques from HowToGeek's article.
These password generation methods are inspired by the article "10 Ways to Generate a Random Password from the Linux Command Line" by Lowell Heddings on HowToGeek.
Hashes the current timestamp using SHA256, encodes with Base64, and takes the first 32 characters.
date +%s | sha256sum | base64 | head -c 32
Uses cryptographically secure random bytes filtered to include letters, digits, and underscores.
< /dev/urandom tr -dc _A-Z-a-z-0-9 | head -c32
Generates random bytes and encodes them using Base64 encoding.
openssl rand -base64 32
Uses only letters and numbers for maximum compatibility with password requirements.
tr -cd '[:alnum:]' < /dev/urandom | fold -w30 | head -n1
Extracts alphanumeric characters from random binary data, simulating the strings command.
strings /dev/urandom | grep -o '[[:alnum:]]' | head -n 30 | tr -d '\n'
A shorter 6-character password using letters, digits, and underscores.
< /dev/urandom tr -dc _A-Z-a-z-0-9 | head -c6
Uses dd to read random bytes, encodes with base64, and processes the result.
dd if=/dev/urandom bs=1 count=32 2>/dev/null | base64 -w 0 | rev | cut -b 2- | rev
Uses only characters that can be typed with the left hand for one-handed password entry.
< /dev/urandom tr -dc '12345!@#$%qwertQWERTasdfgASDFGzxcvbZXCVB' | head -c8
A 16-character password that can be easily modified to generate different lengths.
randpw(){ < /dev/urandom tr -dc _A-Z-a-z-0-9 | head -c${1:-16};echo;}
Hashes the current timestamp using MD5 - simple but less secure than other methods.
date | md5sum
Generating secure passwords...
Using 10 different cryptographic methods
| Method | Length | Character Set | Security Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| SHA256 + Base64 | 32 | Base64 (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, +, /) | High |
| Filtered /dev/urandom | 32 | Alphanumeric + underscore | High |
| OpenSSL-style Base64 | 32 | Base64 characters | High |
| Alphanumeric Only | 30 | Letters and numbers only | Medium |
| Strings Extraction | 30 | Alphanumeric from binary | High |
| Simple Random | 6 | Alphanumeric + underscore | Low |
| DD + Base64 Processing | 31 | Processed Base64 | High |
| Left-Hand Password | 8 | Limited left-hand characters | Medium |
| Configurable Length | 16 | Alphanumeric + underscore | High |
| Date + MD5 | 32 | Hexadecimal | Medium |