Generating random string in command prompt

Question

I want to be able to generate random strings from the windows command prompt. This is so that i can create a temp file with that random name so that i am sure that the temp file absolutely does not exist.

Is this possible?

Answer 1

This isn't possible via the normal command prompt. However, you could write a script to accomplish the task.

If you were using powershell this woul be simple:

$tempFileName = [System.IO.Path]::GetTempFileName()

generates (for Windows 7)

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp\tmpAE1C.tmp

Answer 2

I finally wrote something like this..not very neat, but nevertheless serves the purpose.

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

set TMP_COUNT=0
:GET_TEMP_FILE
    if exist temp!TMP_COUNT!.txt (
        set /a TMP_COUNT+=1
        goto GET_TEMP_FILE
    ) 

    setlocal disabledelayedexpansion
echo temp file name is : temp!TMP_COUNT!.txt