uuidgen(1)

📦 version 0.3.13, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 uuidgen(1) — bestie edition 💖

okay so this is the uuidgen page from the General Commands Manual and honestly? it's giving ✨ identity crisis prevention ✨ because this is where you get yourself a UUID. no cap. 🦋

🌸 NAME 🌸

uuidgen — a universally unique identifier (UUID) generator for XPLC. that's it, that's the job, and it eats. 💅

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

uuidgen [ OPTION ] ...
uuidcdef [ OPTION ] ...

yes there's two names. uuidcdef is the sibling. they share a whole vibe. 👑

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so uuidgen generates a brand new universally unique identifier, a UUID, and you can literally assume it's unique. unique compared to every other UUID ever made on your local system, and unique compared to the ones made on any other system, at any time in the past or future. past. present. future. periodt. 🌈

by default, uuidgen will try to generate a UUID with as much randomness as possible. it tries to pick out a high-quality randomness source, because it has taste. 🙈 if it cannot find one, it will fall back on using a time-based algorithm. so it always comes through, one way or another. 🫶

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -c, --cdef — print the UUID as an initializer for a C structure, compatible with the type used by XPLC. lowkey iconic for the C girlies. this is the default mode for uuidcdef. 🎀
  • -r, --random — demand that the random-based algorithm be used to generate the UUID. this will prefer a high-quality randomness source, but may fall back on a low-entropy one. so like, it wants the good stuff, but it's not gonna leave you hanging. 😭
  • -t, --time — demand that the time-based algorithm be used to generate the UUID. clock-based behavior, on purpose, no accidents. ⏰
  • -u, --uuid — print the UUID like: "26175a27-c35d-4615-8dfb-1509eab28ef8". this is the printf(3) format: "%08x-%04x-%04x-%04x-%012x". this is the default mode for uuidgen. yes it's the classic hyphen moment, the one everybody recognizes. 👑

💫 AUTHOR 💫

Simon Law. (we stan. 🫶)

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

uuidgen(1). (yes it references itself. main character energy fr fr. 💅)

reminder bestie: -u/--uuid is the default for uuidgen, and -c/--cdef is the default for uuidcdef. don't mix them up, that's the whole tea. 🍓

this page shipped with tvtime 0.3.13, dated October 2005 — yeah it's vintage, it's archival, it's a little time capsule and we love her for it. 🧚✨ bye bestie, go make some UUIDs 💖

📦 where this page comes from