--- title: Generate UUIDs with uuidgen on Linux | daily.dev description: A comprehensive guide to generating UUIDs on Linux using the uuidgen command. Covers all four UUID versions: Version 1 (time-based, encodes MAC address),... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/generate-uuids-with-uuidgen-on-linux-h4qaichhz twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Generate UUIDs with uuidgen on Linux | daily.dev og:description: A comprehensive guide to generating UUIDs on Linux using the uuidgen command. Covers all four UUID versions: Version 1 (time-based, encodes MAC address),... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/generate-uuids-with-uuidgen-on-linux-h4qaichhz og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/H4QaicHhz.png og:image:alt: Generate UUIDs with uuidgen on Linux og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Generate UUIDs with uuidgen on Linux **[DigitalOcean Community](https://daily.dev/sources/do_community)** · 11 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A comprehensive guide to generating UUIDs on Linux using the uuidgen command. Covers all four UUID versions: Version 1 (time-based, encodes MAC address), Version 3 (MD5 namespace hash), Version 4 (random, default), and Version 5 (SHA-1 namespace hash). Explains installation on Debian/Ubuntu (uuid-runtime) and RHEL/Fedora (util-linux), practical shell scripting patterns including loops, command substitution, and filename generation. Also covers alternative methods like reading from /proc/sys/kernel/random/uuid and Python's uuid module. Includes a comparison table of all methods with RFC 4122 compliance notes and guidance on choosing the right UUID version for database keys, distributed systems, and idempotent operations. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Time-based Universally Unique Identifiers \(UUIDs v7\)](https://daily.dev/posts/time-based-universally-unique-identifiers-uuids-v7--wdmbzpve0) · Marius Bancila · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [UUID v4 vs v7, and what's inside a UUID](https://daily.dev/posts/uuid-v4-vs-v7-and-what-s-inside-a-uuid-buf3wbyzk) · Flavio Copes · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [UUIDs, ULIDs and Sqids: A Practical Deep Dive](https://daily.dev/posts/uuids-ulids-and-sqids-a-practical-deep-dive-79nwblyzu) · W endell Adriel · 16 upvotes · 0 comments - [UUID v7 vs. ULID: Which Sortable ID Should You Choose?](https://daily.dev/posts/uuid-v7-vs-ulid-which-sortable-id-should-you-choose--xlgz26hfk) · Ruby Flow · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#shell](https://daily.dev/tags/shell), [#bash](https://daily.dev/tags/bash) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/generate-uuids-with-uuidgen-on-linux-h4qaichhz) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Generate UUIDs with uuidgen on Linux","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/generate-uuids-with-uuidgen-on-linux-h4qaichhz","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/generate-uuids-with-uuidgen-on-linux-h4qaichhz"},"datePublished":"2026-03-18T21:20:28.770Z","dateModified":"2026-03-18T21:20:55.002Z","description":"A comprehensive guide to generating UUIDs on Linux using the uuidgen command. Covers all four UUID versions: Version 1 (time-based, encodes MAC address),...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/f8c621694aef2795410a288946f911e1?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/f8c621694aef2795410a288946f911e1?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"DigitalOcean Community","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"DigitalOcean Community","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/c1b9d07730e34ea388c39a498a753d6c","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/do_community"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/generate-uuids-with-uuidgen-on-linux-h4qaichhz","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"linux,shell,bash","timeRequired":"PT11M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DigitalOcean Community","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/do_community"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Generate UUIDs with uuidgen on Linux"}]} ```