Re: Creating Unique Values

I wouldn't rely on microtime alone. Granted the chances are VERY slim that you would ever have 2 simultaneous requests for unique values, but the possiblitiy exists. I use: $uniquevalue = substr(strtoupper(md5(uniqid(rand()))),0,12); to generate a 12 digit, random string. You can change to 12 to a higher or lower length as needed. I have found them to be very unique. :} I generated 5 by echoing out the command one right after the other, and they are all completely different: CB6765E57B28 77C658B3870F EDEAC938B7F2 7AC4071CF40A 5ABBFBD1C47F To be fool proof you could prepend the microtime value as well. Suggestions welcome, always looking for a better way. > Thanks Andrew, > > I decided to use the function called erm.... the one that I can never > remember what it's called without looking in the manual. > > microtime(); that's it. > > Heres what I did: > > $uniquevalue = microtime(); > $uniquevalue = ereg_replace ("\.", "", $uniquevalue); #get rid of the > period. > setcookie("cookieset", $uniquevalue); > > As microtime() takes it start time from the Unix Epoch (0:00:00 January 1, > 1970 GMT) the chances of a duplicate are......shall we say slim. > > Thanks Mate. > > Andy > M.D. > www.databasewatch.com > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Andrew Hill" <ahill@openlinksw.com> > To: "Andy Woolley" <andy@milonic.com>; <php-general@lists.php.net> > Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2000 5:28 PM > Subject: RE: [PHP] Creating Unique Values > > > > Why don't you just use unix time? This is unique at a certain point, and > > will never be repeated. > > > > Best regards, > > Andrew > > ---------------------------------------------------- > > Andrew Hill > > Director Technology Evangelism > > OpenLink Software > > http://www.openlinksw.com > > XML & E-Business Infrastructure Technology Provider > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Andy Woolley [mailto:andy@milonic.com] > > > Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2000 12:30 PM > > > To: php-general@lists.php.net > > > Subject: [PHP] Creating Unique Values > > > > > > > > > Greetings people, > > > > > > Does any have a script that creates unique values in PHP. > > > > > > What I need is to do is create a value that will never be used again. I > > > think that a combination of date, time, milliseconds and some random > chars > > > would be good. > > > > > > If I can't get one pre-done, then I'll build one and post it to > > > you all, it > > > shouldnt be too complicated to do, but I'm in a rush and I'm > > > getting lazy in > > > my old age. > > > > > > Cheers Folks. > > > > > > Andy Woolley > > > M.D. > > > www.databasewatch.com > > > > > > > > > -- > > > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: php-general-unsubscribe@lists.php.net > > > For additional commands, e-mail: php-general-help@lists.php.net > > > To contact the list administrators, e-mail: php-list-admin@lists.php.net > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, e-mail: php-general-unsubscribe@lists.php.net > For additional commands, e-mail: php-general-help@lists.php.net > To contact the list administrators, e-mail: php-list-admin@lists.php.net