Generating a unique id in php (to shorten the url)

Question

How can I generate unique combinations of maximum 6 characters in php using (0 - 9), (a - z) and (A - Z)? How many possible combinations will be? (e.g. AAaa will be different from Aaaa)?

Answer 1

My suggestion (in particular, if you use a database to store them anyway) should allow the database to generate a unique row identifier using the auto-increment number in the database, and then convert that number to your code, which is guaranteed to be unique since it was generated by the database.

In terms of generating code from a number, my proposal will be a simple replacement, so create a line with all your possible characters and convert your number to base 62 (the number of all characters), replacing the letter or number for each.

AaBbCcDd...0123456789

(aside, I would suggest deleting lIioO01, as they all look very similar)

As suggested by Dan Grossman in the comment below, the following code will give you a very good approximation of what you want.

$code = base_convert($number, 10, 36);

This will give you a number based on the numbers and letters 0-9 and az.

Answer 2

Use base_convert($number, 10, 36)will not relate to a-zanything other than a-zas indicated in the question. Custom features required.

int , , base-62 (62 0-9, az AZ).

:

<?php

/**
 * Convert decimal int to a base-62 string
 *
 * @param int $dec
 * @returns string
 */
function toBase62 ($dec) {

  // 0 is always 0
  if ($dec == 0)
    return "0";

  // this array maps decimal keys to our base-62 radix digits
  $values = array(
    "0", "1", "2", "3", "4", 
    "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", 
    "A", "B", "C", "D", "E",
    "F", "G", "H", "I", "J",
    "K", "L", "M", "N", "O",
    "P", "Q", "R", "S", "T",
    "U", "V", "W", "X", "Y", 
    "Z", "a", "b", "c", "d", 
    "e", "f", "g", "h", "i", 
    "j", "k", "l", "m", "n", 
    "o", "p", "q", "r", "s", 
    "t", "u", "v", "w", "x", 
    "y", "z"
  );

  // convert negative numbers to positive.
  $neg = $dec < 0;
  if ($neg)
    $dec = 0 - $dec;

  // do the conversion:
  $chars = array(); // this will store our base-62 chars

  while ($dec > 0) {

    $val = $dec % 62;

    $chars[] = $values[$val];

    $dec -= $val;
    $dec /= 62;

  }

  // add zero-padding:
  while (count($chars) < 6)
    $chars[] = '0';

  // convert to string
  $rv = implode( '' , array_reverse($chars) );

  // if input was negative:
  return $neg ? "-$rv" : $rv;

}


// Usage example:

// ... do mysql insert here and retrieve new insert_id into var $id ...

$permalink = toBase62($id);

?>

:

<?php

/**
 * Convert base-62 string to a decimal int
 *
 * @param string $str
 * @returns int on success, FALSE on failure
 */
function base62ToInt ($str) {

  // validate str:
  if ( ! preg_match('/^\-?[0-9A-Za-z]+$/', $str) )
    return FALSE; // not a valid string

  // 0 is always 0
  if ($str == "0" )
    return 0;

  // this array maps decimal keys to our base-62 radix digits
  $values = array(
    "0", "1", "2", "3", "4", 
    "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", 
    "A", "B", "C", "D", "E",
    "F", "G", "H", "I", "J",
    "K", "L", "M", "N", "O",
    "P", "Q", "R", "S", "T",
    "U", "V", "W", "X", "Y", 
    "Z", "a", "b", "c", "d", 
    "e", "f", "g", "h", "i", 
    "j", "k", "l", "m", "n", 
    "o", "p", "q", "r", "s", 
    "t", "u", "v", "w", "x", 
    "y", "z"
  );

  // flip $values so it maps base-62 digits to decimal values:
  $values = array_flip($values);

  // get chars from $str:
  $chars = str_split($str);

  // convert negative numbers to positive.
  $neg = $chars[0] == '-';

  if ($neg)
    array_shift($chars);

  // do the conversion:
  $val = 0;
  $i = 0;

  while ( count($chars) > 0 ) {

    $char = array_pop($chars);
    $val += ($values[$char] * pow(62, $i) );
    ++$i;

  }

  return $neg ? 0 - $val : $val;
}


// Usage example:

// ... assuming permalink has been put in a var called $permalink

$id = base62ToInt($permalink);

// ... now look up $id in DB

?>