Just to extend Mark Byers's answer with an example:
import java.util.UUID;
public class RandomStringUUID {
public static void main(String[] args) {
UUID uuid = UUID.randomUUID();
System.out.println("UUID=" + uuid.toString() );
}
}
This answer contains 2 generators for random-based and name-based UUIDs, compliant with RFC-4122. Feel free to use and share.
RANDOM-BASED (v4)
This utility class that generates random-based UUIDs:
package your.package.name;
import java.security.SecureRandom;
import java.util.Random;
import java.util.UUID;
/**
* Utility class that creates random-based UUIDs.
*
*/
public abstract class RandomUuidCreator {
private static final int RANDOM_VERSION = 4;
/**
* Returns a random-based UUID.
*
* It uses a thread local {@link SecureRandom}.
*
* @return a random-based UUID
*/
public static UUID getRandomUuid() {
return getRandomUuid(SecureRandomLazyHolder.THREAD_LOCAL_RANDOM.get());
}
/**
* Returns a random-based UUID.
*
* It uses any instance of {@link Random}.
*
* @return a random-based UUID
*/
public static UUID getRandomUuid(Random random) {
long msb = 0;
long lsb = 0;
// (3) set all bit randomly
if (random instanceof SecureRandom) {
// Faster for instances of SecureRandom
final byte[] bytes = new byte[16];
random.nextBytes(bytes);
msb = toNumber(bytes, 0, 8); // first 8 bytes for MSB
lsb = toNumber(bytes, 8, 16); // last 8 bytes for LSB
} else {
msb = random.nextLong(); // first 8 bytes for MSB
lsb = random.nextLong(); // last 8 bytes for LSB
}
// Apply version and variant bits (required for RFC-4122 compliance)
msb = (msb & 0xffffffffffff0fffL) | (RANDOM_VERSION & 0x0f) << 12; // apply version bits
lsb = (lsb & 0x3fffffffffffffffL) | 0x8000000000000000L; // apply variant bits
// Return the UUID
return new UUID(msb, lsb);
}
private static long toNumber(final byte[] bytes, final int start, final int length) {
long result = 0;
for (int i = start; i < length; i++) {
result = (result << 8) | (bytes[i] & 0xff);
}
return result;
}
// Holds thread local secure random
private static class SecureRandomLazyHolder {
static final ThreadLocal<Random> THREAD_LOCAL_RANDOM = ThreadLocal.withInitial(SecureRandom::new);
}
/**
* For tests!
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("// Using thread local `java.security.SecureRandom` (DEFAULT)");
System.out.println("RandomUuidCreator.getRandomUuid()");
System.out.println();
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
System.out.println(RandomUuidCreator.getRandomUuid());
}
System.out.println();
System.out.println("// Using `java.util.Random` (FASTER)");
System.out.println("RandomUuidCreator.getRandomUuid(new Random())");
System.out.println();
Random random = new Random();
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
System.out.println(RandomUuidCreator.getRandomUuid(random));
}
}
}
This is the output:
// Using thread local `java.security.SecureRandom` (DEFAULT)
RandomUuidCreator.getRandomUuid()
'ef4f5ad2-8147-46cb-8389-c2b8c3ef6b10'
'adc0305a-df29-4f08-9d73-800fde2048f0'
'4b794b59-bff8-4013-b656-5d34c33f4ce3'
'22517093-ee24-4120-96a5-ecee943992d1'
'899fb1fb-3e3d-4026-85a8-8a2d274a10cb'
// Using `java.util.Random` (FASTER)
RandomUuidCreator.getRandomUuid(new Random())
'4dabbbc2-fcb2-4074-a91c-5e2977a5bbf8'
'078ec231-88bc-4d74-9774-96c0b820ceda'
'726638fa-69a6-4a18-b09f-5fd2a708059b'
'15616ebe-1dfd-4f5c-b2ed-cea0ac1ad823'
'affa31ad-5e55-4cde-8232-cddd4931923a'
NAME-BASED (v3 and v5)
This utility class that generates name-based UUIDs (MD5 and SHA1):
package your.package.name;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import java.security.MessageDigest;
import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
import java.util.UUID;
/**
* Utility class that creates UUIDv3 (MD5) and UUIDv5 (SHA1).
*
*/
public class HashUuidCreator {
// Domain Name System
public static final UUID NAMESPACE_DNS = new UUID(0x6ba7b8109dad11d1L, 0x80b400c04fd430c8L);
// Uniform Resource Locator
public static final UUID NAMESPACE_URL = new UUID(0x6ba7b8119dad11d1L, 0x80b400c04fd430c8L);
// ISO Object ID
public static final UUID NAMESPACE_ISO_OID = new UUID(0x6ba7b8129dad11d1L, 0x80b400c04fd430c8L);
// X.500 Distinguished Name
public static final UUID NAMESPACE_X500_DN = new UUID(0x6ba7b8149dad11d1L, 0x80b400c04fd430c8L);
private static final int VERSION_3 = 3; // UUIDv3 MD5
private static final int VERSION_5 = 5; // UUIDv5 SHA1
private static final String MESSAGE_DIGEST_MD5 = "MD5"; // UUIDv3
private static final String MESSAGE_DIGEST_SHA1 = "SHA-1"; // UUIDv5
private static UUID getHashUuid(UUID namespace, String name, String algorithm, int version) {
final byte[] hash;
final MessageDigest hasher;
try {
// Instantiate a message digest for the chosen algorithm
hasher = MessageDigest.getInstance(algorithm);
// Insert name space if NOT NULL
if (namespace != null) {
hasher.update(toBytes(namespace.getMostSignificantBits()));
hasher.update(toBytes(namespace.getLeastSignificantBits()));
}
// Generate the hash
hash = hasher.digest(name.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
// Split the hash into two parts: MSB and LSB
long msb = toNumber(hash, 0, 8); // first 8 bytes for MSB
long lsb = toNumber(hash, 8, 16); // last 8 bytes for LSB
// Apply version and variant bits (required for RFC-4122 compliance)
msb = (msb & 0xffffffffffff0fffL) | (version & 0x0f) << 12; // apply version bits
lsb = (lsb & 0x3fffffffffffffffL) | 0x8000000000000000L; // apply variant bits
// Return the UUID
return new UUID(msb, lsb);
} catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
throw new RuntimeException("Message digest algorithm not supported.");
}
}
public static UUID getMd5Uuid(String string) {
return getHashUuid(null, string, MESSAGE_DIGEST_MD5, VERSION_3);
}
public static UUID getSha1Uuid(String string) {
return getHashUuid(null, string, MESSAGE_DIGEST_SHA1, VERSION_5);
}
public static UUID getMd5Uuid(UUID namespace, String string) {
return getHashUuid(namespace, string, MESSAGE_DIGEST_MD5, VERSION_3);
}
public static UUID getSha1Uuid(UUID namespace, String string) {
return getHashUuid(namespace, string, MESSAGE_DIGEST_SHA1, VERSION_5);
}
private static byte[] toBytes(final long number) {
return new byte[] { (byte) (number >>> 56), (byte) (number >>> 48), (byte) (number >>> 40),
(byte) (number >>> 32), (byte) (number >>> 24), (byte) (number >>> 16), (byte) (number >>> 8),
(byte) (number) };
}
private static long toNumber(final byte[] bytes, final int start, final int length) {
long result = 0;
for (int i = start; i < length; i++) {
result = (result << 8) | (bytes[i] & 0xff);
}
return result;
}
/**
* For tests!
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
String string = "JUST_A_TEST_STRING";
UUID namespace = UUID.randomUUID(); // A custom name space
System.out.println("Java's generator");
System.out.println("UUID.nameUUIDFromBytes(): '" + UUID.nameUUIDFromBytes(string.getBytes()) + "'");
System.out.println();
System.out.println("This generator");
System.out.println("HashUuidCreator.getMd5Uuid(): '" + HashUuidCreator.getMd5Uuid(string) + "'");
System.out.println("HashUuidCreator.getSha1Uuid(): '" + HashUuidCreator.getSha1Uuid(string) + "'");
System.out.println();
System.out.println("This generator WITH name space");
System.out.println("HashUuidCreator.getMd5Uuid(): '" + HashUuidCreator.getMd5Uuid(namespace, string) + "'");
System.out.println("HashUuidCreator.getSha1Uuid(): '" + HashUuidCreator.getSha1Uuid(namespace, string) + "'");
}
}
This is the output:
// Java's generator
UUID.nameUUIDFromBytes(): '9e120341-627f-32be-8393-58b5d655b751'
// This generator
HashUuidCreator.getMd5Uuid(): '9e120341-627f-32be-8393-58b5d655b751'
HashUuidCreator.getSha1Uuid(): 'e4586bed-032a-5ae6-9883-331cd94c4ffa'
// This generator WITH name space
HashUuidCreator.getMd5Uuid(): '2b098683-03c9-3ed8-9426-cf5c81ab1f9f'
HashUuidCreator.getSha1Uuid(): '1ef568c7-726b-58cc-a72a-7df173463bbb'
ALTERNATE GENERATOR
You can also use the uuid-creator library. See these examples:
// Create a random-based UUID
UUID uuid = UuidCreator.getRandomBased();
// Create a name based UUID (SHA1)
String name = "JUST_A_TEST_STRING";
UUID uuid = UuidCreator.getNameBasedSha1(name);
Project page: https://github.com/f4b6a3/uuid-creator
It depends what kind of UUID you want.
The standard Java UUID class generates Version 4 (random) UUIDs. (UPDATE - Version 3 (name) UUIDs can also be generated.) It can also handle other variants, though it cannot generate them. (In this case, "handle" means construct UUID instances from long, byte[] or String representations, and provide some appropriate accessors.)
The Java UUID Generator (JUG) implementation purports to support "all 3 'official' types of UUID as defined by RFC-4122" ... though the RFC actually defines 4 types and mentions a 5th type.
For more information on UUID types and variants, there is a good summary in Wikipedia, and the gory details are in RFC 4122 and the other specifications.
java.util.UUID.randomUUID();
The other Answers are correct, especially this one by Stephen C.
Generating a UUID value within Java is limited to Version 4 (random) because of security concerns.
If you want other versions of UUIDs, one avenue is to have your Java app reach outside the JVM to generate UUIDs by calling on:
uuidgen found in Mac OS X, BSD, and Linux.uuid-ossp extension often bundled with Postgres. That extension can generates Versions 1, 3, and 4 values and additionally a couple variations:
uuid_generate_v1mc() – generates a version 1 UUID but uses a random multicast MAC address instead of the real MAC address of the computer.uuid_generate_v5(namespace uuid, name text) – generates a version 5 UUID, which works like a version 3 UUID except that SHA-1 is used as a hashing method.Source: Stackoverflow.com