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Updated on 2025-03-04

Detailed explanation of the application example of uuid module in Python

Preface

In Python,uuidThe module is used to generate a universal unique identifier (UUID). UUID is a standard identifier format that is often used to uniquely identify information in a distributed system, ensuring that the identifiers generated between different systems or components are not duplicated.

The main functions of the uuid module:

  • Generate UUID：uuidThe module provides a variety of ways to generate different versions of UUIDs, including:

    • uuid1(): Generate UUID based on the host's MAC address and current time.
    • uuid3(namespace, name): Generate UUID based on namespace and name, using MD5 hashing algorithm.
    • uuid4(): Randomly generated UUID, usually used in scenarios where randomness is required.
    • uuid5(namespace, name):anduuid3()Similar, but using SHA-1 hashing algorithm.

  • UUID format: The generated UUID is usually represented by 32 hexadecimal numbers, divided into five parts, and the format is8-4-4-4-12,For example:123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000。

Example of usage:

import uuid  

# Generate a random UUIDrandom_uuid = uuid.uuid4()  
print("Randomly generated UUID:", random_uuid)  

# Generate a time-based UUIDtime_based_uuid = uuid.uuid1()  
print("Time-based UUID:", time_based_uuid)  

# Generate a UUID based on a namespacenamespace_uuid = uuid.uuid3(uuid.NAMESPACE_DNS, '')  
print("UUID based on namespace:", namespace_uuid)

Application scenarios:

  • Generate unique identifiers for records in the database.
  • Identify different services or components in a distributed system.
  • Identify a session or transaction in a network protocol.

Anyway,uuidModules are powerful tools in Python for handling unique identifiers, suitable for a variety of scenarios that require uniqueness.

Things to note about UUID

Although UUID has many advantages, the following points should be paid attention to in actual use:

1. Performance

Although the generation speed of UUIDs is very fast, frequent generation of UUIDs may have a certain impact on performance in some high concurrency scenarios. Therefore, in performance-sensitive systems, the relationship between the uniqueness of UUID and performance needs to be weighed.

2. Storage and Transfer Overhead

The length of the UUID is fixed (128 bits), and the storage and transmission overhead of UUID will be greater than that of traditional auto-increment primary keys or short string identifiers. Therefore, in the case of limited storage space or limited network bandwidth, it is necessary to carefully consider whether to use UUID.

3. Readability

Although UUID is globally unique, it is poorly readable. It is difficult for humans to interpret any meaningful information from UUID. Therefore, in scenarios where human participation is required (such as IDs in URLs), other better readable identifiers may need to be considered.

4. Security

Although UUID itself does not provide security guarantees, in some scenarios, it can be used as one of the means to enhance security. For example, when generating API tokens or session IDs, UUIDs can be used to ensure the uniqueness of each token or session ID, thereby reducing the risk of being guessed or forged.

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