You can use a library for generating random data in JavaScript, but I think it's even cooler to do it yourself. If you want to spice up your JavaScript skills, these functions are the best to practice.

So in this post, I would like to explain how you can generate random strings with a maximum amount of characters. This post is a follow-up to my previous post How To Create a Random String with JavaScript.

Originally published on byrayray.dev

If you haven't checked my previous post, I highly recommend checking it out. In this, we will continue with that last function from that post.

function randomString() {
    return [...Array(5)].map((value) => (Math.random() * 1000000).toString(36).replace('.', '')).join('');
}

This function now generates a random string with a variable length.

The return value is always different.

randomString();
'63lklfirmmc2baknxlzou171jyq7q7wnd8ag53r6kv95buvp1qme8ou'
randomString();
'j9qfsxifdugz5bgfmqfwg3c2jefsidxikhl2c4qjwti6i0zm5y5x5'
randomString();
'e6hyywpjqguf74ojsnb0ta3bynbjc3kn2dag2rf5l5caey02iudobu'
randomString();
'bhuzpkn1wx8x3p7p08mirknhj5s8alded11j5yetl7ef2o1mqfo4v'
randomString();
'8jyn22hd584ii00ny187nl5aay0vx0aa545rgfbcjdwj3znlmkqen7'

But right now, we want to make sure that it has a certain length so we have more control over the data we generate.

We only have to make sure that the Array it's starting with has the length.

Minimal length

To make sure we have at least the number of characters we are given in the function parameter, we are making the Array a bit longer.

[...Array(length + 10)]

Fixed length

But to prevent that will be longer, we are taking a substring, so we are returning the exact amount of characters by using substring.

[...Array(length + 10)].map((value) => (Math.random() * 1000000).toString(36).replace('.', '')).join('').substring(0, length);

If we turn all of this into a function, this would be our result.

function randomString(length = 50) {
    return [...Array(length + 10)].map((value) => (Math.random() * 1000000).toString(36).replace('.', '')).join('').substring(0, length);
};

I would recommend playing around with this function and using it for something practical.

The next post will be another JavaScript exercise 😉.

Thanks for reading!

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