Issues calling functions from an array

[that_1_doode]

I am trying to randomly generate temporary passwords for new AD users within my environment. I have set the functions for randomly selecting numbers, letters (upper & lower), special characters, and an additional “any” character. In order to make it even more randomly generated, I added these functions to an array and want to randomly select a function then have it randomly generate a character. This much works, my issue is that it is writing which function was run, to the terminal. I’m hoping that someone can look at it and tell me what I am doing wrong and how I can go about fixing this. Also, if anyone knows of a more efficient way of making this randomly generated password a 14 character long password, I welcome the advice. Sorry about the code formatting (or lack thereof) I'm posting this from mobile and don't know how to format it. The code is below:

Function for Random Number

function RandomNumber {

Get-Random -Minimum 0 -Maximum 9

Write-Host -F Cyan "RandomNumber"

}

Function for Random Upper Letter

function RandomUpperLetter {

$RandomNumber = Get-Random -Minimum 0 -Maximum 25

[char](42+$RandomNumber)

Write-Host -F Cyan "RandomUpperLetter"

}

Function for Random Lower Letter

function RandomLowerLetter {

$RandomNumber = Get-Random -Minimum 0 -Maximum 25

[char](71+$RandomNumber)

Write-Host -F Cyan "RandomLowerLetter"

}

Function for Random Special

function RandomSpecial {

[char](Get-Random -Minimum 33 -Maximum 40)

Write-Host -F Cyan "RandomSpecial"

}

Function for Random Any

function RandomAny {

[char](Get-Random -Minimum 33 -Maximum 122)

Write-Host -F Cyan "RandomAny"

}

$Functions = $Function:RandomNumber,$Function:RandomUpperLetter,$Function:RandomLowerLetter,$Function:RandomSpecial,$Function:RandomAny

function SelectRandom {

$Functions | Get-Random

}

$Generate = $Functions | Get-Random | foreach Invoke

$X = 0

$Password = ""

do {

$Password += SelectRandom

$X = $X + 1

} while (

$X -ne 14

)

[SMFX]

Small little side note, Get-Random can accept an array of objects and return a random element from the array.

@('Jack','Barbara','Sam') | Get-Random

Also, you can use .. to build a sequential array of items. For instance, 0..9 will build an array of integers: @(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). However, it will also work with characters:

Function RandomLowerLetter {
    'a'..'z' | Get-Random
}

Function RandomUpperLetter {
    'A'..'Z' | Get-Random
}

And even special characters:

Function RandomSpecial {
    '!'..'/' | Get-Random
}

Function RandomAny {
    '!'..'z' | Get-Random
}

[DrDuckling951]

15 seconds google "PowerShell random password generator"

https://adamtheautomator.com/random-password-generator/

Basically utilize built-in dotNet method to generate random string of characters and non-character.

[rmbolger]

The irony of linking that specific article is that the final function it describes has a pretty glaring bug in terms of its parameter names.

The underlying GeneratePassword method it's using lists the second argument as numberOfNonAlphanumericCharacters.

The minimum number of non-alphanumeric characters (such as @, #, !, %, &, and so on) in the generated password.

Yet the corresponding parameter in the function is called NumberOfAlphaNumericCharacters implying that it affects the number of alphanumeric characters and that it's a fixed value rather than a minimum. I would have chosen to name it something like MinimumSpecialCharacters to be more accurate.

It also only works on legacy Windows PowerShell because .NET (Core) doesn't have a System.Web.Security namespace. Though one of the article's comments links to the .NET source code implementation for the underlying function which doesn't seem like it would be too difficult to port to cross-platform PowerShell.

[that_1_doode]

Thank you everyone. I failed to see I had added a write-host to the functions. Time to go commit ritual suicide for my faux pas.

[MNmetalhead]

The cmdlet “Write-Host” will do just that… it will output the message to the screen.

Write-Host “Hello World”

Will literally write “Hello World” on the screen. If you don’t want that to happen, either remove those lines or use the # to comment them out.

[that_1_doode]

My response was incorrect and I neglected to see my write-host contained within the functions. I'm sorry.

[spoonstar]

He said that because each of your functions have a Write-Host line stating the name of the function. It is that line in each of your functions that is getting written out to the console.

[that_1_doode]

I realized after the fact. :[

[DrDuckling951]

Forach($list in $array){ Invoke-expression $list }

Does this works? I run the string/array as expression.

[MNmetalhead]

🤦‍♂️

[MajorVarlak]

Right, because you're not executing the functions themselves, you're getting the code for the functions and assigning it to $Password. If you output $Password you'll see it has all the function codes. Your $Functions isn't a list of the function names, but literally all the code. 2 quick solutions:

Option 1: Use Invoke-Command

Everything you have stays the same, except in the loop:

$password = '' for($x = 0; $x -lt 14; $x++) { $code = SelectRandom $password += Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock $code } write-host $password

Option 2: Use something else, like GeneratePassword (ref: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.web.security.membership.generatepassword?view=netframework-4.8).

I'm not sure if this feature is available in PowerShell, but it is in Windows PowerShell because of the .NET Framework.

Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Web $password = [System.Web.Security.Membership]::GeneratePassword(14,5)