ShortStr is a Python module to generate unambiguous, homoglyph-less "shortstrings" for URL shortners and similar services.
pip install shortstr
Websites such as Pastebin have unique alphanumeric strings IDs, like https://pastebin.com/mKxTdEeT. Code like ''.join([random.choice(string.ascii_letters + string.digits) for x in range(5)]) can be used to generate strings like 'DY6iv', but these can include similar-looking characters (called homoglyphs) like O and 0.
The shortstr module generates these shortstrings without the l, I, o, O, 0, and 1 homoglyphs. It also has checksum and can check for repeat shortstrings to ensure you only produce unique shortstrings, and uses os.urandom() to produce truly random shortstrings, not pseudorandom shortstrings.
>>> import shortstr
>>> shortstr.generate()
'kZXmL9'
>>> shortstr.generate('ddddd')
'67249f'
>>> shortstr.generate('ddddd', includeChecksum=False)
'39844'
>>> shortstr.generate('ccccc', includeChecksum=False)
'gKXda'
>>> shortstr.generate('lllll', includeChecksum=False)
'qibkp'
>>> shortstr.generate('uuuuu', includeChecksum=False)
'WWXGC'
>>> shortstr.generate('***dddcccllluuu', includeChecksum=False)
'5SP534FiBtxtMCG'
>>> shortstr.isValid('kZXmL9')
True
>>> shortstr.isValid('67249f')
True
>>> shortstr.isValid('invalid shortstring')
False
If you find this project helpful and would like to support its development, consider donating to its creator on Patreon.