On a mac you might want to try cat /dev/urandom | openssl base64 | head -c 12; e... | Hacker News

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		hieronymusN on Dec 14, 2010 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: The Dirty Truth About Web Passwords On a mac you might want to try `cat /dev/urandom \| openssl base64 \| head -c 12; echo;` Which can give you a nice random string.

js2 on Dec 14, 2010 [–]

  openssl rand -hex 6

will give you 6 random bytes hex-encoded. Your specific command line can be done with:

  openssl rand -base64 9 | cut -c-12

Note, I think you wanted -c-12, not -c12.

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