uuid-browser

What is uuid-browser?

The uuid-browser npm package is a simple, lightweight library for generating UUIDs (Universally Unique Identifiers) in browser environments. It provides various methods to create different versions of UUIDs, such as v1, v3, v4, and v5.

What are uuid-browser's main functionalities?

Generate UUID v1

UUID v1 is generated based on the current timestamp and the MAC address of the machine. This is useful for generating unique IDs that are time-based.

const uuidv1 = require('uuid-browser/v1');
const id = uuidv1();
console.log(id);

Generate UUID v3

UUID v3 is generated based on a namespace and a name using MD5 hashing. This is useful for generating deterministic UUIDs based on input strings.

const uuidv3 = require('uuid-browser/v3');
const id = uuidv3('name', uuidv3.DNS);
console.log(id);

Generate UUID v4

UUID v4 is generated randomly. This is the most commonly used version for generating unique IDs that do not need to be deterministic.

const uuidv4 = require('uuid-browser/v4');
const id = uuidv4();
console.log(id);

Generate UUID v5

UUID v5 is similar to v3 but uses SHA-1 hashing instead of MD5. This is useful for generating deterministic UUIDs with a different hashing algorithm.

const uuidv5 = require('uuid-browser/v5');
const id = uuidv5('name', uuidv5.DNS);
console.log(id);

Other packages similar to uuid-browser

uuid

The 'uuid' package is a popular library for generating UUIDs in both Node.js and browser environments. It supports the same versions of UUIDs (v1, v3, v4, v5) and is widely used in the JavaScript community. It is more versatile as it can be used in both server-side and client-side applications.

shortid

The 'shortid' package generates short, non-sequential, URL-friendly unique IDs. While it does not generate standard UUIDs, it is useful for cases where shorter IDs are sufficient and URL-friendliness is important. It is simpler and faster for generating unique IDs compared to uuid-browser.

nanoid

The 'nanoid' package is a tiny, secure, URL-friendly unique string ID generator for JavaScript. It is smaller and faster than uuid-browser and is suitable for generating unique IDs in performance-critical applications. It does not generate standard UUIDs but provides a good alternative for unique ID generation.

README

ALL THE CODE IN THIS PACKAGE COMES FROM THE UUID-PACKAGE

Like seriously, nothing in this package is made by me

uuid-browser

Simple, fast generation of RFC4122 UUIDS.

Features:

• Support for version 1, 4 and 5 UUIDs
• Cross-platform
• Uses cryptographically-strong random number APIs (when available)
• Zero-dependency, small footprint (... but not this small)

Quickstart - CommonJS (Recommended)

npm install uuid

Then generate your uuid version of choice ...

Version 1 (timestamp):

const uuidv1 = require('uuid/v1');
uuidv1(); // -> '6c84fb90-12c4-11e1-840d-7b25c5ee775a'

Version 4 (random):

const uuidv4 = require('uuid/v4');
uuidv4(); // -> '110ec58a-a0f2-4ac4-8393-c866d813b8d1'

Version 5 (namespace):

const uuidv5 = require('uuid/v5');

// ... using predefined DNS namespace (for domain names)
uuidv5('hello.example.com', uuidv5.DNS)); // -> 'fdda765f-fc57-5604-a269-52a7df8164ec'

// ... using predefined URL namespace (for, well, URLs)
uuidv5('http://example.com/hello', uuidv5.URL); // -> '3bbcee75-cecc-5b56-8031-b6641c1ed1f1'

// ... using a custom namespace
const MY_NAMESPACE = '<UUID string you previously generated elsewhere>';
uuidv5('Hello, World!', MY_NAMESPACE); // -> '90123e1c-7512-523e-bb28-76fab9f2f73d'

Quickstart - Browser-ready Versions

Browser-ready versions of this module are available via wzrd.in.

For version 1 uuids:

<script src="http://wzrd.in/standalone/uuid%2Fv1@latest"></script>
<script>
uuidv1(); // -> v1 UUID
</script>

For version 4 uuids:

<script src="http://wzrd.in/standalone/uuid%2Fv4@latest"></script>
<script>
uuidv4(); // -> v4 UUID
</script>

For version 5 uuids:

<script src="http://wzrd.in/standalone/uuid%2Fv5@latest"></script>
<script>
uuidv5('http://example.com/hello', uuidv5.URL); // -> v5 UUID
</script>

API

Version 1

const uuidv1 = require('uuid/v1');

// Allowed arguments
uuidv1();
uuidv1(options);
uuidv1(options, buffer, offset);

Generate and return a RFC4122 v1 (timestamp-based) UUID.

• options - (Object) Optional uuid state to apply. Properties may include:

  • node - (Array) Node id as Array of 6 bytes (per 4.1.6). Default: Randomly generated ID. See note 1.
  • clockseq - (Number between 0 - 0x3fff) RFC clock sequence. Default: An internally maintained clockseq is used.
  • msecs - (Number | Date) Time in milliseconds since unix Epoch. Default: The current time is used.
  • nsecs - (Number between 0-9999) additional time, in 100-nanosecond units. Ignored if msecs is unspecified. Default: internal uuid counter is used, as per 4.2.1.2.

• buffer - (Array | Buffer) Array or buffer where UUID bytes are to be written.

• offset - (Number) Starting index in buffer at which to begin writing.

Returns buffer, if specified, otherwise the string form of the UUID

Note: The id is generated guaranteed to stay constant for the lifetime of the current JS runtime. (Future versions of this module may use persistent storage mechanisms to extend this guarantee.)

Example: Generate string UUID with fully-specified options

uuidv1({
  node: [0x01, 0x23, 0x45, 0x67, 0x89, 0xab],
  clockseq: 0x1234,
  msecs: new Date('2011-11-01').getTime(),
  nsecs: 5678
});   // -> "710b962e-041c-11e1-9234-0123456789ab"

Example: In-place generation of two binary IDs

// Generate two ids in an array
const arr = new Array(32); // -> []
uuidv1(null, arr, 0);   // -> [02 a2 ce 90 14 32 11 e1 85 58 0b 48 8e 4f c1 15]
uuidv1(null, arr, 16);  // -> [02 a2 ce 90 14 32 11 e1 85 58 0b 48 8e 4f c1 15 02 a3 1c b0 14 32 11 e1 85 58 0b 48 8e 4f c1 15]

Version 4

const uuidv4 = require('uuid/v4')

// Allowed arguments
uuidv4();
uuidv4(options);
uuidv4(options, buffer, offset);

Generate and return a RFC4122 v4 UUID.

• options - (Object) Optional uuid state to apply. Properties may include:
  • random - (Number[16]) Array of 16 numbers (0-255) to use in place of randomly generated values
  • rng - (Function) Random # generator function that returns an Array[16] of byte values (0-255)
• buffer - (Array | Buffer) Array or buffer where UUID bytes are to be written.
• offset - (Number) Starting index in buffer at which to begin writing.

Returns buffer, if specified, otherwise the string form of the UUID

Example: Generate string UUID with fully-specified options

uuid.v4({
  random: [
    0x10, 0x91, 0x56, 0xbe, 0xc4, 0xfb, 0xc1, 0xea,
    0x71, 0xb4, 0xef, 0xe1, 0x67, 0x1c, 0x58, 0x36
  ]
});
// -> "109156be-c4fb-41ea-b1b4-efe1671c5836"

Example: Generate two IDs in a single buffer

const buffer = new Array(32); // (or 'new Buffer' in node.js)
uuid.v4(null, buffer, 0);
uuid.v4(null, buffer, 16);

Version 5

const uuidv5 = require('uuid/v4');

// Allowed arguments
uuidv5(name, namespace);
uuidv5(name, namespace, buffer);
uuidv5(name, namespace, buffer, offset);

Generate and return a RFC4122 v4 UUID.

• name - (String | Array[]) "name" to create UUID with
• namespace - (String | Array[]) "namespace" UUID either as a String or Array[16] of byte values
• buffer - (Array | Buffer) Array or buffer where UUID bytes are to be written.
• offset - (Number) Starting index in buffer at which to begin writing. Default = 0

Returns buffer, if specified, otherwise the string form of the UUID

Example:

// Generate a unique  namespace (typically you would do this once, outside of
// your project, then bake this value into your code)
const uuidv4 = require('uuid/v4');
const MY_NAMESPACE = uuidv4();  //

// Generate a couple namespace uuids
const uuidv5 = require('uuid/v5');
uuidv5('hello', MY_NAMESPACE);
uuidv5('world', MY_NAMESPACE);

Testing

npm test

Deprecated / Browser-ready API

The API below is available for legacy purposes and is not expected to be available post-3.X

const uuid = require('uuid');

uuid.v1(...); // alias of uuid/v1
uuid.v4(...); // alias of uuid/v4
uuid(...);    // alias of uuid/v4

// uuid.v5() is not supported in this API

Legacy node-uuid package

The code for the legacy node-uuid package is available in the node-uuid branch.