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https://github.com/2called-chaos/usernamegen

Usernamegen - a not so serious name generator
https://github.com/2called-chaos/usernamegen

gem name-generation rails ruby

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Usernamegen - a not so serious name generator

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# Usernamegen - a not so serious name generator



[![Gem Version](https://badge.fury.io/rb/usernamegen.svg)](http://badge.fury.io/rb/usernamegen)

[![Build Status](https://github.com/2called-chaos/usernamegen/actions/workflows/spec.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/2called-chaos/usernamegen/actions/workflows/spec.yml)



We thought our users should be able to comment even when they haven't choose a username yet.

To make it easier to follow conversations we didn't want to show "anonymous" or some boring incrementing name á la "guest 1234".



This gem uses two lists (descriptive words and nouns) and multiplies them with each and another resulting in a list of mostly meaningful and often silly name combinations.



**The current list generates at least 1,367,631 unique usernames**. Please help increasing the size by providing more words.



## Example names



  * Delicate Puppy

  * Mysterious Wheatley

  * Tough Goldfish

  * Chemical Rabbit

  * [surprise me](https://de.gamesplanet.com/namegen)



## Installation



Requires Ruby >= 1.9.3



Simple as:



    $ gem install usernamegen



Or list in your Gemfile



    gem 'usernamegen'



## Usage



You can use the generator class like so (also see Caching/Benchmark):



```ruby

# Assembles whole list each time (yielding more than 1 million strings, cache them!)

Usernamegen.all



# Samples one item from both lists and assembles them (fast)

Usernamegen.one



# Uses multiple `#one` calls to give you an array of names without having to take a subset of `#all`.

# You may get duplicate names! This is just a shorthand as simple as `AMOUNT.times.map{ one }`.

Usernamegen.some(10)



# Assembles a list for a given thing (huge result set)

Usernamegen.all_for_thing("thing")



# Assembles a list for a given description (huge result set)

Usernamegen.all_for_desc("description")

```



Initiating the class will instantly load the two text files into memory (as array). You can also use the instance approach if you have multiple calls to the generator.



```ruby

generator = Usernamegen.new(opts = {}, &formatter)

generator.one

generator.all_for_thing

```



## Custom format



You can return usernames in your custom format at all methods. Just pass a block, e.g.:



```ruby

Usernamegen.one { |combination| combination.join("-").downcase }

=> "able-action"

```



If you use the instance approach you may also want to redefine the default format.



```ruby

generator = Usernamegen.new format: ->(combination){ combination.join("-").downcase }



# or sugar version

generator = Usernamegen.new { |combination| combination.join("-").downcase }



generator.one

=> "malicious-expert"

```



## Options



The generator class has a few options but except for the format option there is little reason for you to change them.



```ruby

Usernamegen.new({

  # The default format (note that passing a block to #new will overwrite the hash option)

  format: ->(combination){ combination.join(" ").titleize },



  # This option only exists for testing

  rng: ::SecureRandom.urlsafe_base64(128),



  # You could point to different word lists here

  descriptions: "#{ROOT}/lib/usernamegen/descriptions.txt",

  things: "#{ROOT}/lib/usernamegen/things.txt",

})

```



## Caching / Benchmark



While the `#one` and `#some` methods are quite fast it's still advised to import the combinations to your database in a batch fashion opposed to generate single names on the fly.



We suggest a separate _Codename_ model and assign a free name to a user when he needs one (usually upon registration or first post). You can find an example ActiveRecord model + rake import tasks in the following gist.



  * [» Benchmarks](https://gist.github.com/2called-chaos/a0ea619fdc7ef245719d)

  * [» ActiveRecord model example and rake import task](https://gist.github.com/2called-chaos/46705324d913e4f9cc6b)



## Testing



Just `bundle` and invoke `rake`.



## Contributing



1. Fork it ( http://github.com/2called-chaos/usernamegen/fork )

2. Create your feature branch (`git checkout -b my-new-feature`)

3. Commit your changes (`git commit -am 'Add some feature'`)

4. Push to the branch (`git push origin my-new-feature`)

5. Create new Pull Request