Thread: Randomise Placement of Variables in Outputted String

public class PasswordGen {
 
	public static void main (String[] args) {
 
		Generator();
 
	}
 
		public static void Generator() {
 
		char[] alphabet = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz".toCharArray();
 
		int w = (int) ((Math.random() * 25 +1));
		int x = (int) ((Math.random() * 25 +1));
		int y = (int) ((Math.random() * 25 +1));
		int z = (int) ((Math.random() * 25 +1));
 
		char place1 = (alphabet[w]);
		char place2 = (alphabet[x]);
		char place3 = (alphabet[y]);
		char place4 = (alphabet[z]);
 
		char[] numgen = "0123456789".toCharArray();
 
		int a = (int) ((Math.random() * 9 + 1));
		int b = (int) ((Math.random() * 9 + 1)); 
		int c = (int) ((Math.random() * 9 + 1)); 
		int d = (int) ((Math.random() * 9 + 1)); 
 
		char place5 = (numgen[a]);
		char place6 = (numgen[b]);
		char place7 = (numgen[c]);
		char place8 = (numgen[d]);
 
		char[] symgen = "!@£$%^&*_".toCharArray();
 
		int sym1 = (int) ((Math.random() * 8 + 1));
		int sym2 = (int) ((Math.random() * 8 + 1)); 
 
 
		char placex = (symgen[sym1]);
		char placey = (symgen[sym2]);
 
 
		StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
 
			sb.append(placey);
			sb.append(place1);
			sb.append(place8);
			sb.append(place2);
			sb.append(place7);
				String passcode1 = sb.toString();
 
		StringBuilder se = new StringBuilder();		
 
			se.append(place3);
			se.append(place6);
			se.append(placex);
			se.append(place4);
			se.append(place5);
				String passcode2 = se.toString();
 
 
 
			if (Math.random() * 2 + 1 <= 2) {
 
				passcode1  = passcode1.toUpperCase(); }
 
			else {
 
				passcode2 = passcode2.toUpperCase(); }
 
 
			System.out.print(passcode1);
			System.out.print(passcode2);
 
 
	}
}

Hi there,

I'm trying to make a random password generator, but it isn't as random as I'd like it to be. I have set places where either a number, letter or symbol can go. I'd like to randomise the placement of these set types in the output from "symbol + letter + number + letter etc" to "? + ? + ?". I hope that makes sense. Sample output from this code:

@W1L5m8%j4
^Y2L8z4@d1
£D6X5i3^i8

Thanks for the suggestions but I think that it might be beyond my capabilities right now - I understand the logic but not how to implement it.

Similar to Norm's suggestion:

1. Generate the necessary number of symbols, letters, and numbers
2. Pass them to a method that uses a StringBuilder object and 'randomized' branching logic to add them to the StringBuilder object in different orders
3. Return the resulting StringBuilder object as the password

The 'randomized branching logic' that comes first to mind is a switch statement with a randomly chosen expression, and int probably. Each switch case builds the StringBuilder object from the symbols, letters, and numbers in different orders. The number of cases could be quite large, but there are likely clever ways to combine or cascade the cases to reduce the number, and in the end, it doesn't really matter. Yes, it may take time to type them all out, but ultimately, only one of them may be executed.

If you haven't learned the switch statement yet, refer to this tutorial.