uuidgen:tldr:63a3d
The uuidgen --time
command is used to generate a universally unique identifier (UUID) based on the time when the command is executed.
UUIDs are 128-bit values that are generally used to uniquely identify information in computer systems, without the need for centralized coordination. They are typically represented as a string of alphanumeric characters, separated by hyphens (e.g., "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000").
By adding the --time
option to the uuidgen
command, it instructs the command to generate a UUID based on the current time. This means that the generated UUID will have a timestamp component that reflects the time when the command was executed.
The time-based UUIDs generated by this command are created using a combination of the current time, a clock sequence value, and the MAC address of the network interface. This combination helps ensure that the generated UUIDs are unique, even if multiple systems generate them at the same time.
It's worth noting that the uuidgen
command is commonly available on Unix-like operating systems, such as Linux, and it may not be available on all systems by default.