JavaScript how to make a password

This article shows you how to create a secure password in Javascript with an example. Learn how to generate a strong, unique password to protect your data.

Creating a Password in JavaScript

Creating a password in JavaScript involves two main steps: generating a random string of characters and then hashing the string to create a secure password. In this article, we'll look at how to generate and hash a password using JavaScript.

Generating a Password

The first step to creating a password in JavaScript is to generate a random string of characters. To do this, we'll use the JavaScript Math.random() function. The Math.random() function returns a random floating-point number between 0 (inclusive) and 1 (exclusive). We can use this function to generate a random string of characters by looping a certain number of times and generating a random character each time.

// Generate a random string of characters
function randomString(length) {
  let result = '';
  let characters = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789';
  let charactersLength = characters.length;
  for (let i = 0; i < length; i++) {
    result += characters.charAt(Math.floor(Math.random() * charactersLength));
  }
  return result;
}

In the above code, we've created a function called randomString() which takes a length parameter. Inside the function, we've declared a result and characters string. The characters string contains all the possible characters that can be generated. We then loop the number of times specified by the length parameter and generate a random character each time. The Math.random() function is used to generate a random number between 0 (inclusive) and 1 (exclusive). We then use the charAt() function to return the character at the specified index in the characters string. Finally, we return the generated string.

Hashing the Password

Once we have the random string of characters, we need to hash it to create a secure password. We can do this using the JavaScript Crypto API. The Crypto API provides a set of cryptographic features that allow us to generate secure hashes. To generate a secure hash, we'll use the Crypto API's digest() method.

// Generate a secure hash
function hashPassword(password) {
  const crypto = window.crypto || window.msCrypto;
  const hash = crypto.subtle.digest('SHA-256', new TextEncoder().encode(password));
  return hash;
}

In the above code, we've created a function called hashPassword() which takes a password parameter. Inside the function, we've declared a crypto variable which is set to either the window.crypto or window.msCrypto depending on the browser being used. We then use the Crypto API's digest() method to generate a secure hash. The digest() method takes a hashing algorithm ('SHA-256') and a string of text ('password'). Finally, we return the generated hash.

Putting it All Together

Now that we've seen how to generate and hash a password, let's combine the two functions to create a password in JavaScript.

// Generate and hash a password
function generatePassword(length) {
  let password = randomString(length);
  let hash = hashPassword(password);
  return hash;
}

In the above code, we've created a function called generatePassword() which takes a length parameter. Inside the function, we call the randomString() function to generate a random string of characters. We then call the hashPassword() function to hash the string. Finally, we return the generated hash.

With this, we have now seen how to generate and hash a secure password using JavaScript. We can use this technique to create secure passwords for our applications.