Create a GUID / UUID in Java

Question

What are some of the best ways to create a GUID / UUID in Java?

Hazelton

The question at https://mcmap.net/q/81479/-likelihood-of-collision-using-most-significant-bits-of-a-uuid-in-java is more about GUID collisions, then just how what the equivalent of a GUID is in the Java tech stack, which is what (I think) is more the focus of this question. – Greggs

Answer 1

Have a look at the UUID class bundled with Java 5 and later.

For example:

• If you want a random UUID you can use the randomUUID method.
• If you want a UUID initialized to a specific value you can use the UUID constructor or the fromString method.

Elberfeld

If you include an example like Kaleb Brasee did, your good answer would be even better. – Burstone

Works in AndroidStudio 2.3 and on API levels 21 and beyond at least. Maybe further back too. – Dambro

TL;DR... " UUID uuid = UUID.randomUUID(); " – Heave

Answer 2

java.util.UUID.randomUUID();

Current

could it return repeat? because Guid never are going to repeat – Theoretical

@Theoretical Yes, it is theoretically possible for the UUID.randomUUID method to return a duplicate, but this is not at all a realistic concern. The Oracle/OpenJDK implementation uses a cryptographically-strong random number generator. Given that, and given the astronomical range given by so many bits in a UUID, you can generate many millions of such values in your app and still sleep well. Using one of the other variants further reduces the possibility of collisions even closer to zero because of using "space and time", [1] MAC address or name, and [2] current date-time, as constraints. – Bit

@RenniePet Eh, if you're that paranoid, and you got access to the list of the already-used IDs when creating a new one, you just generate new ones in a while until you got one that isn't inside your list :p – Halflight

The Oracle crypto random number generator is typically a PRNG with a random seed. The random seed is typically obtained using a source of "entropy" provided by the OS. If you can degrade or compromise that source, then the probability of a crypto random number generator producing the same number is increased. It is also worth noting that on some (e.g. virtualized) platforms, the OS can run out of entropy. There are "dodgy hacks" to workaround this, but they entail degrading the quality of the entropy. – Krug

This is not just an academic concern. I have seen an (unverified !!) claim that someone did run into problems with random-based UUIDs not being unique. – Krug

Answer 3

Just to extend Mark Byers's answer with an example:

import java.util.UUID;

public class RandomStringUUID {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        UUID uuid = UUID.randomUUID();
        System.out.println("UUID=" + uuid.toString() );
    }
}

Kiesha

@fluffy and where exactly it was asked for this in the question? – Kiesha

Answer 4

It depends what kind of UUID you want.

• The standard Java UUID class generates Version 4 (random) UUIDs. (UPDATE - Version 3 (name) UUIDs can also be generated.) It can also handle other variants, though it cannot generate them. (In this case, "handle" means construct UUID instances from long, byte[] or String representations, and provide some appropriate accessors.)

• The Java UUID Generator (JUG) implementation purports to support "all 3 'official' types of UUID as defined by RFC-4122" ... though the RFC actually defines 4 types and mentions a 5th type.

For more information on UUID types and variants, there is a good summary in Wikipedia, and the gory details are in RFC 4122 and the other specifications.

Krug

Not completely true, it can also generate name-based (version 3) UUIDs with UUID.nameUUIDFromBytes(byte[] name) – Shad

I stand corrected. I relied on the javadoc description which says "Static factory to retrieve a type 3 (name based) UUID based on the specified byte array. " – Krug

I don't think the post is accurate. The UUID Java docs state the constructor generates a type 2 variant, not random. For type 3 use public static UUID nameUUIDFromBytes(byte[] name). for type 4 use public static UUID randomUUID(). Type 1 is not available with the JDK class. – Iatric

No. I think I got it pretty much right. The javadocs state: "although the constructors allow the creation of any variant of UUID (described below)." and 4 variants are listed below, including type 1. Indeed, read the javadoc for clockSequence() – Krug

Answer 5

The other Answers are correct, especially this one by Stephen C.

Reaching Outside Java

Generating a UUID value within Java is limited to Version 4 (random) because of security concerns.

If you want other versions of UUIDs, one avenue is to have your Java app reach outside the JVM to generate UUIDs by calling on:

• Command-line utility
  Bundled with nearly every operating system.
  For example, uuidgen found in Mac OS X, BSD, and Linux.
• Database server
  Use JDBC to retrieve a UUID generated on the database server.
  For example, the uuid-ossp extension often bundled with Postgres. That extension can generates Versions 1, 3, and 4 values and additionally a couple variations:
• uuid_generate_v1mc() – generates a version 1 UUID but uses a random multicast MAC address instead of the real MAC address of the computer.
• uuid_generate_v5(namespace uuid, name text) – generates a version 5 UUID, which works like a version 3 UUID except that SHA-1 is used as a hashing method.
• Web Service
  For example, UUID Generator creates Versions 1 & 3 as well as nil values and GUID.

Bit

I have some issues with your answer: First, it was already shown to be wrong that you can only get V4 from the standard Java library (V3 is also possible). Secondly, you make it sound like there's no options within Java besides the standard library, along with a hand-wavy "because of security concerns". And last, it's just generally inefficient (programming- and/or performance-wise) to start depending on outside sources when there's plenty of ways to do it within Java (unless you need it in those, of course, e.g. as part of creating a record in the SQL server). – Shad

Answer 6

This answer contains 2 generators for random-based and name-based UUIDs, compliant with RFC-4122. Feel free to use and share.

RANDOM-BASED (v4)

This utility class that generates random-based UUIDs:

package your.package.name;

import java.security.SecureRandom;
import java.util.Random;
import java.util.UUID;

/**
 * Utility class that creates random-based UUIDs.
 * 
 */
public abstract class RandomUuidCreator {

    private static final int RANDOM_VERSION = 4;

    /**
     * Returns a random-based UUID.
     * 
     * It uses a thread local {@link SecureRandom}.
     * 
     * @return a random-based UUID
     */
    public static UUID getRandomUuid() {
        return getRandomUuid(SecureRandomLazyHolder.THREAD_LOCAL_RANDOM.get());
    }

    /**
     * Returns a random-based UUID.
     * 
     * It uses any instance of {@link Random}.
     * 
     * @return a random-based UUID
     */
    public static UUID getRandomUuid(Random random) {

        long msb = 0;
        long lsb = 0;

        // (3) set all bit randomly
        if (random instanceof SecureRandom) {
            // Faster for instances of SecureRandom
            final byte[] bytes = new byte[16];
            random.nextBytes(bytes);
            msb = toNumber(bytes, 0, 8); // first 8 bytes for MSB
            lsb = toNumber(bytes, 8, 16); // last 8 bytes for LSB
        } else {
            msb = random.nextLong(); // first 8 bytes for MSB
            lsb = random.nextLong(); // last 8 bytes for LSB
        }

        // Apply version and variant bits (required for RFC-4122 compliance)
        msb = (msb & 0xffffffffffff0fffL) | (RANDOM_VERSION & 0x0f) << 12; // apply version bits
        lsb = (lsb & 0x3fffffffffffffffL) | 0x8000000000000000L; // apply variant bits

        // Return the UUID
        return new UUID(msb, lsb);
    }

    private static long toNumber(final byte[] bytes, final int start, final int length) {
        long result = 0;
        for (int i = start; i < length; i++) {
            result = (result << 8) | (bytes[i] & 0xff);
        }
        return result;
    }

    // Holds thread local secure random
    private static class SecureRandomLazyHolder {
        static final ThreadLocal<Random> THREAD_LOCAL_RANDOM = ThreadLocal.withInitial(SecureRandom::new);
    }

    /**
     * For tests!
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {

        System.out.println("// Using thread local `java.security.SecureRandom` (DEFAULT)");
        System.out.println("RandomUuidCreator.getRandomUuid()");
        System.out.println();
        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
            System.out.println(RandomUuidCreator.getRandomUuid());
        }

        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("// Using `java.util.Random` (FASTER)");
        System.out.println("RandomUuidCreator.getRandomUuid(new Random())");
        System.out.println();
        Random random = new Random();
        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
            System.out.println(RandomUuidCreator.getRandomUuid(random));
        }
    }
}

This is the output:

// Using thread local `java.security.SecureRandom` (DEFAULT)
RandomUuidCreator.getRandomUuid()

'ef4f5ad2-8147-46cb-8389-c2b8c3ef6b10'
'adc0305a-df29-4f08-9d73-800fde2048f0'
'4b794b59-bff8-4013-b656-5d34c33f4ce3'
'22517093-ee24-4120-96a5-ecee943992d1'
'899fb1fb-3e3d-4026-85a8-8a2d274a10cb'

// Using `java.util.Random` (FASTER)
RandomUuidCreator.getRandomUuid(new Random())

'4dabbbc2-fcb2-4074-a91c-5e2977a5bbf8'
'078ec231-88bc-4d74-9774-96c0b820ceda'
'726638fa-69a6-4a18-b09f-5fd2a708059b'
'15616ebe-1dfd-4f5c-b2ed-cea0ac1ad823'
'affa31ad-5e55-4cde-8232-cddd4931923a'

NAME-BASED (v3 and v5)

This utility class that generates name-based UUIDs (MD5 and SHA1):

package your.package.name;

import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import java.security.MessageDigest;
import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
import java.util.UUID;

/**
 * Utility class that creates UUIDv3 (MD5) and UUIDv5 (SHA1).
 *
 */
public class HashUuidCreator {

    // Domain Name System
    public static final UUID NAMESPACE_DNS = new UUID(0x6ba7b8109dad11d1L, 0x80b400c04fd430c8L);
    // Uniform Resource Locator
    public static final UUID NAMESPACE_URL = new UUID(0x6ba7b8119dad11d1L, 0x80b400c04fd430c8L);
    // ISO Object ID
    public static final UUID NAMESPACE_ISO_OID = new UUID(0x6ba7b8129dad11d1L, 0x80b400c04fd430c8L);
    // X.500 Distinguished Name
    public static final UUID NAMESPACE_X500_DN = new UUID(0x6ba7b8149dad11d1L, 0x80b400c04fd430c8L);

    private static final int VERSION_3 = 3; // UUIDv3 MD5
    private static final int VERSION_5 = 5; // UUIDv5 SHA1

    private static final String MESSAGE_DIGEST_MD5 = "MD5"; // UUIDv3
    private static final String MESSAGE_DIGEST_SHA1 = "SHA-1"; // UUIDv5

    private static UUID getHashUuid(UUID namespace, String name, String algorithm, int version) {

        final byte[] hash;
        final MessageDigest hasher;

        try {
            // Instantiate a message digest for the chosen algorithm
            hasher = MessageDigest.getInstance(algorithm);

            // Insert name space if NOT NULL
            if (namespace != null) {
                hasher.update(toBytes(namespace.getMostSignificantBits()));
                hasher.update(toBytes(namespace.getLeastSignificantBits()));
            }

            // Generate the hash
            hash = hasher.digest(name.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));

            // Split the hash into two parts: MSB and LSB
            long msb = toNumber(hash, 0, 8); // first 8 bytes for MSB
            long lsb = toNumber(hash, 8, 16); // last 8 bytes for LSB

            // Apply version and variant bits (required for RFC-4122 compliance)
            msb = (msb & 0xffffffffffff0fffL) | (version & 0x0f) << 12; // apply version bits
            lsb = (lsb & 0x3fffffffffffffffL) | 0x8000000000000000L; // apply variant bits

            // Return the UUID
            return new UUID(msb, lsb);

        } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Message digest algorithm not supported.");
        }
    }

    public static UUID getMd5Uuid(String string) {
        return getHashUuid(null, string, MESSAGE_DIGEST_MD5, VERSION_3);
    }

    public static UUID getSha1Uuid(String string) {
        return getHashUuid(null, string, MESSAGE_DIGEST_SHA1, VERSION_5);
    }

    public static UUID getMd5Uuid(UUID namespace, String string) {
        return getHashUuid(namespace, string, MESSAGE_DIGEST_MD5, VERSION_3);
    }

    public static UUID getSha1Uuid(UUID namespace, String string) {
        return getHashUuid(namespace, string, MESSAGE_DIGEST_SHA1, VERSION_5);
    }

    private static byte[] toBytes(final long number) {
        return new byte[] { (byte) (number >>> 56), (byte) (number >>> 48), (byte) (number >>> 40),
                (byte) (number >>> 32), (byte) (number >>> 24), (byte) (number >>> 16), (byte) (number >>> 8),
                (byte) (number) };
    }

    private static long toNumber(final byte[] bytes, final int start, final int length) {
        long result = 0;
        for (int i = start; i < length; i++) {
            result = (result << 8) | (bytes[i] & 0xff);
        }
        return result;
    }

    /**
     * For tests!
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {

        String string = "JUST_A_TEST_STRING";
        UUID namespace = UUID.randomUUID(); // A custom name space

        System.out.println("Java's generator");
        System.out.println("UUID.nameUUIDFromBytes():      '" + UUID.nameUUIDFromBytes(string.getBytes()) + "'");
        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("This generator");
        System.out.println("HashUuidCreator.getMd5Uuid():  '" + HashUuidCreator.getMd5Uuid(string) + "'");
        System.out.println("HashUuidCreator.getSha1Uuid(): '" + HashUuidCreator.getSha1Uuid(string) + "'");
        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("This generator WITH name space");
        System.out.println("HashUuidCreator.getMd5Uuid():  '" + HashUuidCreator.getMd5Uuid(namespace, string) + "'");
        System.out.println("HashUuidCreator.getSha1Uuid(): '" + HashUuidCreator.getSha1Uuid(namespace, string) + "'");
    }
}

This is the output:

// Java's generator
UUID.nameUUIDFromBytes():      '9e120341-627f-32be-8393-58b5d655b751'

// This generator
HashUuidCreator.getMd5Uuid():  '9e120341-627f-32be-8393-58b5d655b751'
HashUuidCreator.getSha1Uuid(): 'e4586bed-032a-5ae6-9883-331cd94c4ffa'

// This generator WITH name space
HashUuidCreator.getMd5Uuid():  '2b098683-03c9-3ed8-9426-cf5c81ab1f9f'
HashUuidCreator.getSha1Uuid(): '1ef568c7-726b-58cc-a72a-7df173463bbb'

ALTERNATE GENERATOR

You can also use the uuid-creator library. See these examples:

// Create a random-based UUID
UUID uuid = UuidCreator.getRandomBased();

// Create a name based UUID (SHA1)
String name = "JUST_A_TEST_STRING";
UUID uuid = UuidCreator.getNameBasedSha1(name);

Project page: https://github.com/f4b6a3/uuid-creator

Carline

Answer 7

For many cases, we need global UUID for objects and especially in Event-Driven Architecture or Event Sourcing we have to sort events based on the date, but we don't need full information about timestamps.

There we can use one of the implementations of ULID which is lexicographically sortable.

The format is different from standard UUID, but is still simple:

example value: 01AN4Z07BY79KA1307SR9X4MV3

 01AN4Z07BY      79KA1307SR9X4MV3

|----------|    |----------------|
 Timestamp          Randomness
   48bits             80bits

There are implementations in many languages.

For example in Java, there is simple lib for that.

Code example:

import de.huxhorn.sulky.ulid.ULID;

ULID ulid = new ULID();

// with current timestamp
String newId = ulid.nextULID(); 

// with selected timestamp
String newId2 = ulid.nextULID(Instant
    .parse("2021-12-01T00:00:00.00Z")
    .toEpochMilli()
); 

With Spring you can create Bean for ULID generator as well.

@Configuration
public class UUIDGeneratorConfig {

    @Bean
    public ULID ulidGenerator() {
        return new ULID();
    }
}

@Component
public class ULIDGenerator {

    private final ULID ulid;

    public ULIDGenerator(ULID ulid) {
        this.ulid = ulid;
    }

    public String generateUUID() {
        return ulid.nextULID();
    }

    public String generateUUID(Instant timestamp) {
        return ulid.nextULID(timestamp.toEpochMilli());
    }
}

Raby