Python uuid

uuid is a python module providing immutable UUID (Universally Unique IDentifier URN Namespace) objects and functions e.g. uuid4().

The generated UUID objects are unique since it generates IDs based on time and computer hardware.

python> from uuid import uuid4
python> uuid_object = uuid4()
python> uuid_object
UUID('ce8d1fee-bc31-406b-8690-94c01caabcb6')

python> str(uuid_object)
'ce8d1fee-bc31-406b-8690-94c01caabcb6'

Those can be used to generate random strings that can serve as unique identifier across a given namespace – e.g. if you want to generate temporary filenames on the fly located under a specific folder:

for _ in range(10):
    file = open(f"/tmp/{uuid4()}.txt", "a")
    file.write("hello world!")
    file.close()

Note: despite the above snippet working like a charm, it is better to use open() with the context manager with to make sure the close() function will always be called should an error occurs during the write operation.

Hazardous: uuid1() compromises privacy since it uses the network address of the computer to generate the unique ID. Thus, it could be reverse-engineered and retrieved. To prevent this, always choose one of the latest functions e.g. uuid4() or uuid5() as the previous ones rapidly get depreciated.

Note: to know more about URIs, URLs and URNs https://olivierbenard.fr/change-the-url-of-a-git-repository/.