Uuidgen

Generate UUIDs, short IDs, and nano IDs. Use when creating database keys, minting session tokens, generating unique filenames, or producing batch IDs.

A real UUID generator and validator. Generate v4 UUIDs, batch-create multiple IDs, validate UUID format, extract UUIDs from text, and generate short 8-character IDs. Uses /proc/sys/kernel/random/uuid on Linux or falls back to python3 uuid module.

Commands

Command	Description
uuidgen v4	Generate a single random UUID v4 (with compact, uppercase, and URN formats)
uuidgen batch <count>	Generate multiple UUIDs (default: 5, max: 1000)
uuidgen validate <uuid>	Check if a string is a valid UUID (shows version, variant, and format details)
uuidgen extract <text>	Find and extract all UUIDs from a text string
uuidgen short	Generate a short 8-character UUID (plus 3 alternatives)
uuidgen version	Show version
uuidgen help	Show available commands and usage

Requirements

• Bash 4+ (set -euo pipefail)
• One of: /proc/sys/kernel/random/uuid (Linux), python3, or /dev/urandom
• No external dependencies or API keys

When to Use

1. Generate database keys — uuidgen v4 for a single ID, uuidgen batch 100 for bulk
2. Validate user-supplied UUIDs — uuidgen validate <uuid> checks format, detects version and variant
3. Extract IDs from logs/text — uuidgen extract "Error for session 550e8400-e29b-..." pulls out all UUIDs
4. Short identifiers — uuidgen short for 8-char IDs suitable for URLs or display
5. Batch ID generation — uuidgen batch 50 creates 50 UUIDs numbered for easy reference

Examples

bash

# Generate a single UUID v4
uuidgen v4

# Generate 10 UUIDs
uuidgen batch 10

# Validate a UUID
uuidgen validate '550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000'

# Extract UUIDs from text
uuidgen extract 'User 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000 created session abc12345-dead-beef-cafe-123456789012'

# Generate a short 8-char UUID
uuidgen short

Example Output

text

$ uuidgen v4
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  UUID v4 Generated                               │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  UUID:     1a28540e-25e6-4efe-86a8-93f41e16dad8   │
│  Compact:  1a28540e25e64efe86a893f41e16dad8       │
│  Upper:    1A28540E-25E6-4EFE-86A8-93F41E16DAD8   │
│  URN:      urn:uuid:1a28540e-25e6-4efe-86a8-...   │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

$ uuidgen validate '550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000'
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  UUID Validation                                 │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Input:    550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000   │
│  Valid:    ✅ YES                                 │
│  Version:  v4 (random)                            │
│  Variant:  RFC 4122 / DCE                         │
│  Compact:  550e8400e29b41d4a716446655440000       │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

$ uuidgen batch 3
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
  Generating 3 UUIDs
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════

   1. b54a201e-47d7-463e-9539-86e08201b4f0
   2. 7fa328ef-fba4-4a7a-94c2-2dc431079aae
   3. 0d382fb3-0c52-424b-a7cd-416f6c29ad49

Generated 3 UUID(s).

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