OpenSSL Secure Generation

Generate cryptographically secure random data using openssl rand.

Password/Secret Generation

# 32 random bytes as base64 (43 chars, URL-safe with tr)
openssl rand -base64 32 | tr '+/' '-_' | tr -d '='

# 24 random bytes as hex (48 chars)
openssl rand -hex 24

# alphanumeric password (32 chars)
openssl rand -base64 48 | tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' | head -c 32

Common Lengths

Use Case	Command
Password (strong)	`openssl rand -base64 24`
API key	`openssl rand -hex 32`
Session token	`openssl rand -base64 48`
Short PIN (8 digits)	`openssl rand -hex 4

Notes

-base64 outputs ~1.33x the byte count in characters
-hex outputs 2x the byte count in characters
Pipe through tr -dc to filter character sets
Always use at least 16 bytes (128 bits) for secrets