Search code examples
pythonpassword-generator

How can I make random letters, numbers or symbols in 1 or more lists not have quote-symbols around them


I'm trying to make a random password generator in Python 3. I managed to finnish the project, but i ran into a problem during completion: Instead of my programme just typing out the password, it displays the letters one after another in quotes, making it very inconvenient for someone using this. It's not really a problem for me, but since im a beginner, I want to learn this properly.

import random

print("Welcome to the password generator! (Your password should at least total 6 characters) ")
non_capitals = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
capitals = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
numbers = "1234567890"
symbols = "!@#¤%&/()?"
notcapcount = int(input("How many lower-case letters?"))
capcount = int(input("How many upper-case letters ?"))
numcount = int(input("How many numbers?"))
symcount = int(input("How many symbols?"))
passlen = notcapcount + capcount + numcount + symcount

password = (random.choices(non_capitals, k = notcapcount)) + (random.choices(capitals, k = capcount)) + (random.choices(numbers, k = numcount)) + (random.choices(symbols, k = symcount))

if passlen < 6:
    print("password is too short")
elif passlen >= 6:
    print(password)`

If you run this, you will get something among the lines of this (excluding the places were you're asked for input):

['r', 'r', 'i', 'k', 'W', 'W', 'B', '7', '6', '(']

I'd assume there's a way to fix this, since it was a recommended beginner project on a website, but I can't seem to figure it out.


Solution

  • Here is your corrected code; see comments for details. Also I would highly advise against using the random module for any cryptographic tasks. See Can I generate authentic random number with python? on how to do it properly.

    import random
    
    print("Welcome to the password generator! (Your password should at least total 6 characters) ")
    non_capitals = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
    capitals = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
    numbers = "1234567890"
    symbols = "!@#¤%&/()?"
    notcapcount = int(input("How many lower-case letters?"))
    capcount = int(input("How many upper-case letters ?"))
    numcount = int(input("How many numbers?"))
    symcount = int(input("How many symbols?"))
    passlen = notcapcount + capcount + numcount + symcount
    
    #get all the right characters
    password = (random.choices(non_capitals, k = notcapcount)) + (random.choices(capitals, k = capcount)) + (random.choices(numbers, k = numcount)) + (random.choices(symbols, k = symcount)) 
    
    random.shuffle(password) #randomize list order, do this first, because string is immutable
    "".join(password) #make string
    
    if passlen < 6:
        print("password is too short")
    elif passlen >= 6:
        print(password)