How To Generate a Random Password Using C# and .NET Core.

Random Password Using C# and .NET Core

In this article, you’ll learn how to generate random numbers and random strings and combine them to create a random password using C# and .NET Core.

A random password is a combination of numbers, characters, and special characters. We can generate a random password by combining random numbers and strings.

Random class constructors have two overloaded forms. It takes no value or it takes a seed value.

The Random class has three public methods – NextDouble, NextBytes, and Next. The NextBytes returns a variety of bytes filled with random numbers, the Next method returns a random number, and NextDouble returns a random number in the range of 0.0 and 1.0.

Generate a random number

//The following code in Steps 1 returns a random number.

// Generate a random number  
Random random = new Random();  
// Any random integer   
int num = random.Next();

Steps 1.

Generate a random string

The following example, in Steps 2 generates a random string with a given size. The second value of the RandomString method use for setting if the string is a lowercase string.

// Generate the random string with a given size and case.   
// If the second parameter is true, the return string is lowercase  

public string RandomString(int size, bool lowerCase)  
{  
    StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();  
    Random random = new Random();  
    char ch;  
    for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)  
    {  
        ch = Convert.ToChar(Convert.ToInt32(Math.Floor(26 * random.NextDouble() + 65)));  
        builder.Append(ch);  
    }  
    if (lowerCase)  
        return builder.ToString().ToLower();  
    return builder.ToString();  
}  

Steps 2.

Creating a random password

A random password can basically be a combination of a random string and a random number. To make it more progressively unpredictable, you can even include special characters and mix them up.

we’ll combine the two methods – RandomString and RandomNumber.

The following example, in Steps 3 generates a password of length 10 with first 4 letters lowercase. next 4 letters numbers, and the last 2 letters as uppercase.

// Generate the random password of a given length (optional) 
 
public string RandomPassword(int size = 0)  
{  
    StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();  
    builder.Append(RandomString(4, true));  
    builder.Append(RandomNumber(1000, 9999));  
    builder.Append(RandomString(2, false));  
    return builder.ToString();  
}  

Steps 3.

The majority of the above functionality listed here in Steps 4. Create a .NET Core Console app in Visual Studio and utilize this code.

using System;  
using System.Text;  
  
class RandomNumberSample  
{  
    static void Main(string[] args)  
    {  
        // Generate a random number  
        Random random = new Random();  
        // Any random integer   
        int num = random.Next();  
  
        // A random number below 100  
        int randomLessThan100 = random.Next(100);  
        Console.WriteLine(randomLessThan100);  
  
        // A random number within a range  
        int randomBetween100And500 = random.Next(100, 500);  
        Console.WriteLine(randomBetween100And500);  
  
        // Use other methods   
        RandomNumberGenerator generator = new RandomNumberGenerator();  
        int rand = generator.RandomNumber(5, 100);  
        Console.WriteLine($"Random number between 5 and 100 is {rand}");  
  
        string str = generator.RandomString(10, false);  
        Console.WriteLine($"Random string of 10 chars is {str}");  
  
        string pass = generator.RandomPassword();  
        Console.WriteLine($"Random password {pass}");  
  
        Console.ReadKey();  
    }  
} 
public class RandomNumberGenerator  
{  
    // Generate a random number between two numbers    
    public int RandomNumber(int min, int max)  
    {  
        Random random = new Random();  
        return random.Next(min, max);  
    }
}
// Generate the random string with a given size and case.   
// If second parameter is true, then return string is lowercase 
 
public string RandomString(int size, bool lowerCase)  
{  
    StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();  
    Random random = new Random();  
    char ch;  
    for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)  
    {  
        ch = Convert.ToChar(Convert.ToInt32(Math.Floor(26 * random.NextDouble() + 65)));  
        builder.Append(ch);  
    }  
    if (lowerCase)  
        return builder.ToString().ToLower();  
    return builder.ToString();  
}  
  
    // Generate a random password of a given length (optional)  
    public string RandomPassword(int size = 0)  
    {  
        StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();  
        builder.Append(RandomString(4, true));  
        builder.Append(RandomNumber(1000, 9999));  
        builder.Append(RandomString(2, false));  
        return builder.ToString();  
    }  
} 

Steps 4.

The random password and random string look like Figure 1. Generate A Random Password In C# And .NET Core
Figure 1.

Random password with given characters

Now, if you want to create a password that allows some specific characters only. The following example in Steps 5 has a string of valid characters. The code utilizes this string to pick one character at a time for the password and stops at the given length. The default length of the password is 15.

private static string CreateRandomPassword(int length = 15)  
{  
    // Create a string of characters, numbers, special characters that allowed in the password  
    string validChars = "ABCDEFGHJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789!@#$%^&*?_-";  
    Random random = new Random();  
  
    // Select one random character at a time from the string  
    // and create an array of chars  
    char[] chars = new char[length];  
    for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)  
    {  
        chars[i] = validChars[random.Next(0, validChars.Length)];  
    }  
    return new string(chars);  
} 

Steps 5.

You can also change validChars string with the characters you allowed in the password.

Steps 6 is the complete program written in .NET Core.

using System;  
  
class Program  
{  
    static void Main(string[] args)  
    {   
        Console.WriteLine(CreateRandomPassword());  
        Console.WriteLine(CreateRandomPassword(10));  
        Console.WriteLine(CreateRandomPassword(30));  
  
        Console.WriteLine(CreateRandomPasswordWithRandomLength());  
  
        Console.ReadKey();  
    }  
  
  
    // Default size of random password is 15  
    private static string CreateRandomPassword(int length = 15)  
    {  
        // Create a string of characters, numbers, special characters that allowed in the password  
        string validChars = "ABCDEFGHJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789!@#$%^&*?_-";  
        Random random = new Random();  
  
        // Select one random character at a time from the string  
        // and create an array of chars  
        char[] chars = new char[length];  
        for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)  
        {  
            chars[i] = validChars[random.Next(0, validChars.Length)];  
        }  
        return new string(chars);  
    }  
  
    private static string CreateRandomPasswordWithRandomLength()  
    {  
        // Create a string of characters, numbers, special characters that allowed in the password  
        string validChars = "ABCDEFGHJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789!@#$%^&*?_-";  
        Random random = new Random();  
  
        // Minimum size 8. Max size is number of all allowed chars.  
        int size = random.Next(8, validChars.Length);  
  
        // Select one random character at a time from the string  
        // and create an array of chars  
        char[] chars = new char[size];  
        for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)  
        {  
            chars[i] = validChars[random.Next(0, validChars.Length)];  
        }  
        return new string(chars);  
    }  
}

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