Generate GUID Online

Use this utility to generate a UUID/GUID on the web. UUID/GUID stand for Globally/Universally Unique Identifier. It uses the DATA::UUID Perl module by Alexander Golomshtok. It is running on Linux.

Click the button to run the GUID/UUID generator. It will return a different one each time.

VBScript Function to Generate a UUID/GUID

If you are on Windows, you can use the simple VBScript below to generate a UUID. Just save the code to a file called createguid.vbs, and then run cscript createguid.vbs at a command prompt.

Set TypeLib = CreateObject("Scriptlet.TypeLib")
NewGUID = TypeLib.Guid
WScript.Echo(left(NewGUID, len(NewGUID)-2))
Set TypeLib = Nothing

Create a UUID/GUID via the Windows Command Line

If you have the Microsoft SDK installed on your system, you can use the utility uuidgen.exe, which is located in the "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK\Bin" directory.

PHP Function to Generate a UUID/GUID

If you are using PHP, use the function below. This was copied from the uniqid PHP function documentation.

/**
 * Generates a Universally Unique IDentifier, version 4.
 *
 * RFC 4122 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4122.txt) defines a special type of Globally
 * Unique IDentifiers (GUID), as well as several methods for producing them. One
 * such method, described in section 4.4, is based on truly random or pseudo-random
 * number generators, and is therefore implementable in a language like PHP.
 *
 * We choose to produce pseudo-random numbers with the Mersenne Twister, and to always
 * limit single generated numbers to 16 bits (ie. the decimal value 65535). That is
 * because, even on 32-bit systems, PHP's RAND_MAX will often be the maximum *signed*
 * value, with only the equivalent of 31 significant bits. Producing two 16-bit random
 * numbers to make up a 32-bit one is less efficient, but guarantees that all 32 bits
 * are random.
 *
 * The algorithm for version 4 UUIDs (ie. those based on random number generators)
 * states that all 128 bits separated into the various fields (32 bits, 16 bits, 16 bits,
 * 8 bits and 8 bits, 48 bits) should be random, except : (a) the version number should
 * be the last 4 bits in the 3rd field, and (b) bits 6 and 7 of the 4th field should
 * be 01. We try to conform to that definition as efficiently as possible, generating
 * smaller values where possible, and minimizing the number of base conversions.
 *
 * @copyright  Copyright (c) CFD Labs, 2006. This function may be used freely for
 *              any purpose ; it is distributed without any form of warranty whatsoever.
 * @author      David Holmes <dholmes@cfdsoftware.net>
 *
 * @return  string  A UUID, made up of 32 hex digits and 4 hyphens.
 */

function uuid() {
  
   // The field names refer to RFC 4122 section 4.1.2

   return sprintf('%04x%04x-%04x-%03x4-%04x-%04x%04x%04x',
       mt_rand(0, 65535), mt_rand(0, 65535), // 32 bits for "time_low"
       mt_rand(0, 65535), // 16 bits for "time_mid"
       mt_rand(0, 4095),  // 12 bits before the 0100 of (version) 4 for "time_hi_and_version"
       bindec(substr_replace(sprintf('%016b', mt_rand(0, 65535)), '01', 6, 2)),
           // 8 bits, the last two of which (positions 6 and 7) are 01, for "clk_seq_hi_res"
           // (hence, the 2nd hex digit after the 3rd hyphen can only be 1, 5, 9 or d)
           // 8 bits for "clk_seq_low"
       mt_rand(0, 65535), mt_rand(0, 65535), mt_rand(0, 65535) // 48 bits for "node" 
   ); 
}

Links

• Online UUID Generator and Free API - UUIDTools.com
• Another online UUID generator
• RFC 4122: A Universally Unique IDentifier - (UUID) URN Namespace - P. Leach, Microsoft - IETF.org