community.general.random_string lookup – Generates random string

Note

This lookup plugin is part of the community.general collection (version 4.8.3).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.general.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.general.random_string.

New in version 3.2.0: of community.general

Synopsis

  • Generates random string based upon the given constraints.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

base64

boolean

Returns base64 encoded string.

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

length

integer

The length of the string.

Default: 8

lower

boolean

Include lowercase letters in the string.

Choices:

  • no

  • yes ← (default)

min_lower

integer

Minimum number of lowercase alphabets in the string.

If set, overrides lower=false.

Default: 0

min_numeric

integer

Minimum number of numeric characters in the string.

If set, overrides numbers=false.

Default: 0

min_special

integer

Minimum number of special character in the string.

Default: 0

min_upper

integer

Minimum number of uppercase alphabets in the string.

If set, overrides upper=false.

Default: 0

numbers

boolean

Include numbers in the string.

Choices:

  • no

  • yes ← (default)

override_all

string

Override all values of numbers, upper, lower, and special with the given list of characters.

override_special

string

Overide a list of special characters to use in the string.

If set min_special should be set to a non-default value.

special

boolean

Include special characters in the string.

Special characters are taken from Python standard library string. See the documentation of string.punctuation for which characters will be used.

The choice of special characters can be changed to setting override_special.

Choices:

  • no

  • yes ← (default)

upper

boolean

Include uppercase letters in the string.

Choices:

  • no

  • yes ← (default)

Examples

- name: Generate random string
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: lookup('community.general.random_string')
  # Example result: ['DeadBeeF']

- name: Generate random string with length 12
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: lookup('community.general.random_string', length=12)
  # Example result: ['Uan0hUiX5kVG']

- name: Generate base64 encoded random string
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: lookup('community.general.random_string', base64=True)
  # Example result: ['NHZ6eWN5Qk0=']

- name: Generate a random string with 1 lower, 1 upper, 1 number and 1 special char (atleast)
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: lookup('community.general.random_string', min_lower=1, min_upper=1, min_special=1, min_numeric=1)
  # Example result: ['&Qw2|E[-']

- name: Generate a random string with all lower case characters
  debug:
    var: query('community.general.random_string', upper=false, numbers=false, special=false)
  # Example result: ['exolxzyz']

- name: Generate random hexadecimal string
  debug:
    var: query('community.general.random_string', upper=false, lower=false, override_special=hex_chars, numbers=false)
  vars:
    hex_chars: '0123456789ABCDEF'
  # Example result: ['D2A40737']

- name: Generate random hexadecimal string with override_all
  debug:
    var: query('community.general.random_string', override_all=hex_chars)
  vars:
    hex_chars: '0123456789ABCDEF'
  # Example result: ['D2A40737']

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this lookup:

Key

Description

_raw

list / elements=string

A one-element list containing a random string

Returned: success

Authors

  • Abhijeet Kasurde (@Akasurde)

Hint

Configuration entries for each entry type have a low to high priority order. For example, a variable that is lower in the list will override a variable that is higher up.