Building A Password Generator With Python

Data breaches and cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly common, the importance of strong, unique passwords cannot be overstated. However, creating and remembering complex passwords for multiple accounts can be a daunting task. That’s where a password generator comes in handy. In this blog post, I’ll walk you through the process of building a customizable password generator using Python.

Python is known for its readability and versatility, making it an excellent choice for a variety of projects, including this password generator. With Python’s extensive libraries and straightforward syntax, creating a robust password generator is a breeze.

Tools You Will Need:

For this project you will need the following libraries:
– random
– string

Password Generator/ Code Breakdown:

Import The Libraries

Start by importing the libraries.
– random: To generate random characters.
– string: To access predefined string constants for ASCII characters, digits, and punctuation.

import random
import string

Defining the Function:

We define a function named “generate_password” with three parameters:
– length : The length of the password (default is 12).
– use_special_chars : A boolean to include/exclude special characters(default is True).
– use_digits : A boolean to include/exclude digits(default is True).

def generate_password(length=12, use_special_chars=True, use_digits=True):

Creating Character Pools:

We create four separate pools of characters:
– lowercase: All lowercase ASCII letters.
– uppercase: All uppercase ASCII letters.
– digits: All digits from 0-9, included only if “use_digits” is True.
– special_chars: All special characters, included only if “use_special_chars” is True.

    lowercase = string.ascii_lowercase
    uppercase = string.ascii_uppercase
    digits = string.digits if use_digits else ''
    special_chars = string.punctuation if use_special_chars else ''

Combining All Characters:

We concatenate all the character pools to form a single string containing all possible characters for the password.

    all_chars = lowercase + uppercase + digits + special_chars

Generating the Password:

We use a list comprehension to generate a list of length random characters from the all_chars string. We then join these characters to form the password.

    password = ''.join(random.choice(all_chars) for i in range(length))

Returning the Password:

The function returns the generated password.

    return password

Main Function:

We test the function by generating a 16-character password with both special characters and digits, and then print it.

if __name__ == "__main__":
    password = generate_password(16, True, True)
    print(f"Generated Password: {password}")

Full Code:

import random
import string

def generate_password(length=12, use_special_chars=True, use_digits=True):
    lowercase = string.ascii_lowercase
    uppercase = string.ascii_uppercase
    digits = string.digits if use_digits else ''
    special_chars = string.punctuation if use_special_chars else ''
    all_chars = lowercase + uppercase + digits + special_chars
    password = ''.join(random.choice(all_chars) for i in range(length))
    return password

if __name__ == "__main__":
    password = generate_password(16, True, True)
    print(f"Generated Password: {password}")

Overview/ Summary

1. Importing Libraries: We use Python’s random and string libraries for random character selection and predefined character sets, respectively.
2. Function Definition: The generate_password function takes three parameters—length, use_special_chars, and use_digits—to customize the password.
3. Character Sets: We define sets for lowercase letters, uppercase letters, digits, and special characters using ascii.
4. Password Generation: A random character is selected from the combined set for each position in the password.
5. Testing: The script includes a test block to demonstrate its functionality.

Results

Here we have generated a random password that has successfully taken our three set parameters! I would not recommend ever using it as its purpose for an example.

Conclusion

Creating a customizable password generator is a great way to improve your cybersecurity posture. This Python script offers flexibility in password creation, allowing you to specify the length and types of characters to include. Feel free to extend this code to meet your specific needs. Happy learning!