community.general.random_string lookup – Generates random string

Note

This lookup plugin is part of the community.general collection (version 10.1.0).

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 community.general 3.2.0

Synopsis

  • Generates random string based upon the given constraints.

  • Uses random.SystemRandom, so should be strong enough for cryptographic purposes.

Keyword parameters

This describes keyword parameters of the lookup. These are the values key1=value1, key2=value2 and so on in the following examples: lookup('community.general.random_string', key1=value1, key2=value2, ...) and query('community.general.random_string', key1=value1, key2=value2, ...)

Parameter

Comments

base64

boolean

Returns base64 encoded string.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

ignore_similar_chars

boolean

added in community.general 7.5.0

Ignore similar characters, such as l and 1, or O and 0.

These characters can be configured in similar_chars.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

length

integer

The length of the string.

Default: 8

lower

boolean

Include lowercase letters in the string.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (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:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

override_all

string

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

override_special

string

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

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

similar_chars

string

added in community.general 7.5.0

Override a list of characters not to be use in the string.

Default: "il1LoO0"

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:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

upper

boolean

Include uppercase letters in the string.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (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 (at least)
  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
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: query('community.general.random_string', upper=false, numbers=false, special=false)
  # Example result: ['exolxzyz']

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

Return Value

Key

Description

Return value

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.