generating random codes

Posted on 16th Feb 2014 07:03 pm by admin

Hi guys n gals,

I have a requirement to generate 250,000 unique codes...

These codes are for a tracking service and will be stored in the database (table field has a unique index).

Now I am working on the assumption this must work on the command line as the script will take a long time to complete... here is the salient pat of my code...

Code: <?php
...
function appendToCode( &$val , $key , $append )
{
$val = $val . $append;
}

$chars = "ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZ";
$charend = strlen ( $chars );

$date = date ( 'md' );

$month = $date[0].$date[1];
$year = $date[2].$date[3];

$datecode = $chars[$month] . $chars[$year[0]] . $chars[$year[1]];
$codes = array();
$no_codes = isset( $_GET['no_codes'] ) ? $_GET['no_codes'] : 250000;
$codecount = 0;

do
{
for ( $j = $codecount ; $j < $no_codes ; $j++ )
{
$trackcode = NULL;
for ( $i = 0 ; $i < 7 ; $i++ )
{
$trackcode .= $chars[rand( 0 , $charend - 1 )];
echo ( time() - $start ) . PHP_EOL;
}
$codes[] = $trackcode . $date;

}
//$t = count($codes);
//echo 'Codes Generated: ' . $t . PHP_EOL;
//echo 'Last Code: ' . $codes[--$t] . PHP_EOL;

$codes = array_unique( $codes );
$codecount = count ( $codes );

//echo 'Unique Codes: ' . $codecount . PHP_EOL;
// the following statement prevents infinite loop in dev mode...
if (
(time() - $start) > 150
)
{
break;
}


} while ( $codecount < ($no_codes) - 1 );
...
The last characters of the code relate to the date - as these codes will only be developed every now and then - not a frequent occurrence and will allow a check on the database to see if codes ending in that 3 character string exist...

What I am asking is, is there a more efficient method of performing this operation.

Any tips would be most welcome.

Your Answer:

Login to answer

Other forums

Creating Images from images in PHP
Okay well I am trying to make a 'dynamic' calender image with PHP.

I have images like this:

SAP Project Module
I have seen in the SAP Project Module,plan cost and budget are not equal and even difference is sign

Attempt to assign property of non-object in...
I'm having issues with the following function in PHP 5...

function getTreeWithChildre

removing space from the end of a variable
i have a variable $image which contains the following url "http://tiles.xbox.com/tiles/oo/P5/0m

Casting Decimals in Oracle
This code worked as a query in DB2, but I am not sure what the syntax is for casting decimals in Ora

IP Based Cron Jobs
I run cronjobs on my website. After one of my visitors got curious and tinkered around he realized h

Staff Induction System - No idea where to go from here!!!
Hi there, I'm pretty new to PHP and Mysql so could really do with being pointed in the right directi

Help with parsing this html
Hi,
I've got some html i just need a couple of strings from.. argh, it's freaking me out. I've t

Best PHP Documentation generator
Hello guys!

I would like to hear from you what is the best PHP documentation generator. Perso

Is there a way to override built in php functions without APD?
I am trying to use the
rename_function()
override_function()
options that are built into