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Python UUID Generator Program

Python UUID Generator Program

By Ramandeep singh
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Last updated: 9 Mar 2023
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Overview

The UUID Python module is used to generate unique ids of 128 bits which have a lot of uses in databases, addressing, primary key generation, etc. The keys generated have great advantages over traditional methods.

What is UUID in Python?

UUID stands for Universal Unique Identifier which is a 128-bit label used for information in computer systems. In Python UUID is a python library that is used to generate these types of objects, these 128-bit objects are called ids and are unique because they are generated based on the time, hardware,e, etc of the computer. These are also called GUID i.e Globally Unique Identifiers.

These randomly generated unique ids are useful for different situations requiring unique ids such as hashing, cryptography, addresses, primary keys, etc.

The UUID Python module has different versions of functions like uuid1(),uuid3(),uuid4(),uuid5() etc which are used for generating UUID of various versions.

Let's understand the generation ofUUIDss using the UUID generator Python module and its implementation.

UUID Generation in Python

In Python, the inbuilt module or library UUID is used for generating these unique identifiers. Python UUID is implemented as per RFC 4122 which contains all the details and algorithms to generate all versions of the UUID generator Python module.

Structure of UUID Generator Python Module

The id is present in hexadecimal digits i.e. contains numbers from 1 to 9 and letters from A to F. It contains 32 characters grouped as 8-4-4-4-12 i.e. there are four sections of a UUID for example consider an id as 123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000

time_low: This represents the first 32 bits of the id giving the low 32 bits of the time.

time_mid: This represents the next 16 bits of the id giving the mid 16 bits of the time.

time_high_and_version: This represents the next 16 bits of the id giving 4-bit "version" in the most significant bits, followed by the high 12 bits of the time.

clock_seq_and_reserved_And_clock_seq_low: This represents the next 16 bits of the id giving the 1-3 bit variant in the most significant bits and 13 to 15 bits of clock sequence.

Node: It is the last 48 bits of the node id.

Let's see the implementation of the above module.

Output:

In the code above we are importing the uuid module or library and we are generating the uuid using uuid4() finally,y we are printing the uuid bytype-castingg it into a string using the str() function of Python.

Let's understand a few advantages of the uuid generator Python module.

Advantages of UUID Generator Python Module

There are a lot of advantages of the UUID generator Python module in Databases, hashing, addresses, etc. Let's understand a few advantages of the UUID generator Python module.

  1. Since the ids generated are unique therefore are hard to guess.
  2. Delayed Saves: In the database while creating an object if we are auto-incrementing integers for the sake of unique identifiers one needs to save those objects immediately before returning them so that they can have their ID. In the case of UUIDS one knows the ids already before saving them to the database,e therefore,e it can be returned before saving to the database.
  3. Distributed Databases: It allows easy distribution of databases across multiple servers
  4. Most replication scenarios require UUID/GUID columns.
  5. Merging of records: With UUID, merging records becomes easy and reliable.

Disadvantages of UUID Generator

  1. UUID is associated with the MAC address of a computer, Hence, it can create an issue with security and privacy.
  2. While using a database, new records are pushed into random locations because the UUID is completely random.
  3. In the case of using them as indices, it takes 4 times the space as taken by the normal indices.
  4. UUID is database dependent if generated using a database function.

Method - 1: Using uuid1()

Let's understand how to create a UUID using the first version of the UUID generator Python module.

uuid1() is defined in the UUID generator Python module or library and it is used to generate the random uuid using MAC address and time component

Output:

uuid1() does not produce any collisions, Since it uses a MAC address to generate the id it may compromise privacy in some cases.

Method - 2: Using uuid4()

Let's understand how to create a UUID using uuid4().

uuid4() is defined in the UUID generator Python module or library and it is used to generate the random uuid while guaranteeing the random number.

Output:

This function uuid4() ensures that privacy is maintained unlike uuid1() because it does not use a MAC address to generate the uuid.

FAQs

Q. What are the read-only attributes that the Python module UUID provides?

A. There are five attributes that the UUID generator Python module provides as follows:

  1. UUID.bytes which includes a 16-byte string.
  2. UUID.int which includes a 128-bit integer.
  3. UUID.hex which includes a 32-bit hexadecimal string.
  4. UUID.fields which includes fields like time, clock_seq, node etc.
  5. UUID.Safe which includes the information that whether the given version is safe or not.

Code Implementation:

Output:

Q. How to convert from a string to UUID?

A. In some cases, we need to convert the string representation of UUID back into the instance of UUID. In those cases, we use the uuid.UUID method to convert from the given string to UUID.

Implementation:

Initially, we are importing the uuid module, then we are converting the uuid module into the string format,t, and the function uuid. UUID converts the given string formatted uuid into the UUID id instance and finally, we assert if both the ids are the same or not.

Conclusion

  1. We conclude that the UUID generator Python module is used to generate unique UUIDs.
  2. The UUID generator Python module has functions uuid1() and uuid4() to generate the uuids.
  3. A uuid is a unique 128-bit id separated by a dash(-) where the boys are separated as 8-4-4-12.
  4. They are used in databases, addressing, primary keys, etc.