1RANPWD(1)                   General Commands Manual                  RANPWD(1)
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NAME

6       ranpwd - generate random passwords
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SYNOPSIS

9       ranpwd [options] [length]
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DESCRIPTION

12       ranpwd  generates  random passwords.  On Linux, it will use the kernel-
13       based true random number generator to generate cryptographically secure
14       passwords.
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16       If  length  is  not given, it defaults to 8 characters unless specified
17       below.
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19   OPTIONS
20       --ascii
21              Allow any printable ASCII character except space.  This  is  the
22              default.
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24       -a , --alphanum
25              Generate mixed-case alphanumeric passwords.
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27       -l , --alphanum --lower
28              Generate lower-case alphanumeric passwords.
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30       -u , --alphanum --upper
31              Generate upper-case alphanumberic passwords.
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33       -A , --alpha
34              Generate mixed-case alphabetic passwords.
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36       -L , --alpha --lower
37              Generate lower-case alphabetic passwords.
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39       -U , --alpha --upper
40              Generate upper-case alphabetic passwords.
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42       -x , --hexadecimal --lower
43              Generate lower-case hexadecimal numbers.
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45       -X , --hexadecimal --upper
46              Generate upper-case hexadecimal numbers.
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48       -d , --decimal
49              Generate decimal numbers.
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51       -o , --octal
52              Generate octal numbers.
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54       -b , --binary
55              Generate a bit string (for Bynar sabotage teams.)
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57              -i  ,  --ip  Generate  a  random IP suffix (normally used with a
58              169.254.  prefix).  The first octet cannot be  0  or  255.   The
59              default is two octets.
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61              -m  ,  --mac-address  Generate  a random MAC address.  The first
62              octet must have the multicast bit clear, and the local bit  set.
63              The default is six octets.
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65              -M , --mac-address --upper Generate an upper case MAC address.
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67       -s , --secure
68              On  systems  which  have /dev/random support, use /dev/random to
69              generate passwords  rather  than  /dev/urandom.   This  is  more
70              secure, but may be slower, as the process will block rather than
71              degrade to  a  PRNG  if  true  random  numbers  are  temporarily
72              unavailable.   Using  -s on a system without /dev/random support
73              results in an error message.
74
75       -c , --c
76              For octal numbers, preceed with 0; for hexadecimal numbers, pre‐
77              ceed  with 0x; for decimal numbers, strip leading zeros; for all
78              others, enclose in double quotes and \-escape quotes  and  back‐
79              slashes  if  present  in  the output.  This will ensure that the
80              output is always a valid C language constant.  The length param‐
81              eter on the command line is always number of significant digits,
82              not the length of the output.
83
84   AUTHOR
85       H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>
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89H. Peter Anvin                  19 January 2008                      RANPWD(1)