Introduction to shortid

shortid is a remarkable library that enables generation of unique, random short IDs. These IDs are url-friendly, z-index-friendly, and operate across different platforms, making them a great choice for various applications.

Installing shortid

  
    npm install shortid
  

Generating IDs

The primary function of shortid is to create short unique IDs as shown below:

  
    const shortid = require('shortid');
    console.log(shortid.generate());
  

Verifying IDs

It is possible to check if an ID is valid:

  
    const id = shortid.generate();
    console.log(shortid.isValid(id)); // true
  

Generating a Short ID with Specific Characters

If desired, you can customize the characters used in the generated IDs:

  
    shortid.characters('0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ-_');
    const id = shortid.generate();
    console.log(id);
  

Setting a Seed for IDs

To produce a series of IDs that are dependent on a given seed:

  
    shortid.seed(123456);
    const id1 = shortid.generate();
    const id2 = shortid.generate();
    console.log(id1, id2);
  

Customized Worker ID

You can set a specific worker ID to avoid conflicts in a distributed system:

  
    shortid.worker(8);
    const id = shortid.generate();
    console.log(id);
  

App Example Using Shortid

Below is a simple application that demonstrates how to use shortid for generating user IDs:

  
    const express = require('express');
    const shortid = require('shortid');

    const app = express();

    app.get('/new_user', (req, res) => {
      const userId = shortid.generate();
      res.send(`Your new user ID is: ${userId}`);
    });

    const port = 3000;
    app.listen(port, () => {
      console.log(`Server listening on port ${port}`);
    });
  

In this application, a new user ID is generated and sent back to the client whenever the “/new_user” endpoint is hit.

With this powerful library, generating, validating, and customizing short IDs has never been simpler!

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