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String::MkPasswd(3pm) | User Contributed Perl Documentation | String::MkPasswd(3pm) |
NAME¶
String::MkPasswd - random password generatorSYNOPSIS¶
use String::MkPasswd qw(mkpasswd); print mkpasswd(); # for the masochisticly paranoid... print mkpasswd( -length => 27, -minnum => 5, -minlower => 1, # minlower is increased if necessary -minupper => 5, -minspecial => 5, -distribute => 1, );
ABSTRACT¶
This Perl library defines a single function, "mkpasswd()", to generate random passwords. The function is meant to be a simple way for developers and system administrators to easily generate a relatively secure password.DESCRIPTION¶
The exportable "mkpasswd()" function returns a single scalar: a random password. By default, this password is nine characters long with a random distribution of four lower-case characters, two upper-case characters, two digits, and one non-alphanumeric character. These parameters can be tuned by the user, as described in the "ARGUMENTS" section.ARGUMENTS¶
The "mkpasswd()" function takes an optional hash of arguments.- -length
- The total length of the password. The default is 9.
- -minnum
- The minimum number of digits that will appear in the final password. The default is 2.
- -minlower
- The minimum number of lower-case characters that will appear in the final password. The default is 2.
- -minupper
- The minimum number of upper-case characters that will appear in the final password. The default is 2.
- -minspecial
- The minimum number of non-alphanumeric characters that will appear in the final password. The default is 1.
- -distribute
- If set to a true value, password characters will be distributed between the left- and right-hand sides of the keyboard. This makes it more difficult for an onlooker to see the password as it is typed. The default is false.
- -noambiguous
- If set to a true value, password characters will not include any that might be mistaken for others. This is particularly helpful if you're distributing a printed list of passwords to a group of people. The default is false.
- -fatal
- If set to a true value, "mkpasswd()" will Carp::croak() rather than return "undef" on error. The default is false.
If -minnum, -minlower, -minupper, and -minspecial do not add up to -length, -minlower will be increased to compensate. However, if -minnum, -minlower, -minupper, and -minspecial add up to more than -length, then "mkpasswd()" will return "undef". See the section entitled "EXCEPTION HANDLING" for how to change this behavior.
EXCEPTION HANDLING¶
By default, "mkpasswd()" will return "undef" if it cannot generate a password. Some people are inclined to exception handling, so String::MkPasswd does its best to accommodate them. If the variable $String::MkPasswd::FATAL is set to a true value, "mkpasswd()" will Carp::croak() with an error instead of returning "undef".EXPORT¶
None by default. The "mkpasswd()" method is exportable.SEE ALSO¶
<http://expect.nist.gov/#examples>, mkpasswd(1)AKNOWLEDGEMENTS¶
Don Libes of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, who wrote the Expect example, mkpasswd(1).AUTHOR¶
Chris Grau <cgrau@cpan.org>COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE¶
Copyright (C) 2003-2012 by Chris GrauThis library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.1 or, at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.
2013-10-20 | perl v5.18.1 |