Question on random character generation code.

[jj12689]

I have made this code to generate a random key for a registration system, I keep getting an error and can not seam to figure out why, if anyone can assist it would be great. Here is the code:

function random_char($string) {
$length = strlen($string);
$postition = mt_rand(0, $length-1);
return($string[$position]);
}
function random_string ($charset_string, $length) {
$return_string = "";
for ($x < $length $x++);

^This is line 23 here...

$return_string .= random_char($charset_string);
return($return_string);
}
mt_srand((double)microtime() * 1000000);

$charset = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789";
$random_key = random_string($charset, 30);

Here Is My Error:

Parse error:  syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE, expecting ';' in /home/jewuypq/public_html/budget/scripts/p_reg.php on line 23

[bregent]

Well I don't know php but it seems obvious to me that you are missing a semicolon between your expression in the for loop

for ($x < $length $x++);

You probably want something like:

for ($x=1 ;$x < $length; $x++)

But I know there are many variants of the php 'for loop' and like I said, I don't use php.

[David_Powers · Accepted solution]

bregent wrote:

You probably want something like:

for ($x=1 ;$x < $length; $x++)

Close. It should be this:

for ($x = 0; $x < $length; $x++) {
  // loop code goes here
}

The counter needs to start at 0. If it begins at 1 you need this:

for ($x = 1; $x <= $length; $x++) {
  // loop code goes here
}

The middle condition becomes "less than or equal to".