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uuid — Generate and decode Universally Unique Identifiers (UUID). See also: `uuidgen`. More information: <h

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

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commandandclidecodeuniqueuuidgenerateuniversally

linux

Problem

How to use the uuid command: Generate and decode Universally Unique Identifiers (UUID). See also: uuidgen. More information: <https://manned.org/uuid>.

Solution

uuid — Generate and decode Universally Unique Identifiers (UUID). See also: uuidgen. More information: <https://manned.org/uuid>.

Generate a UUIDv1 (based on time and system's hardware address, if present):

uuid

Generate a UUIDv4 (based on random data):

uuid -v {{4}}

Generate multiple UUIDv4 identifiers at once:

uuid -v {{4}} -n {{number_of_uuids}}

Generate a UUIDv4 and specify the output format:

uuid -v {{4}} -F {{BIN|STR|SIV}}

Generate a UUIDv4 and write the output to a file:

uuid -v {{4}} -o {{path/to/file}}

Generate a UUIDv5 (based on the supplied object name) with a specified namespace prefix:

uuid -v {{5}} ns:{{DNS|URL|OID|X500}} {{object_name}}

Decode a given UUID:

uuid -d {{uuid}}

Code Snippets

Generate a UUIDv1 (based on time and system's hardware address, if present)

uuid

Generate a UUIDv4 (based on random data)

uuid -v {{4}}

Generate multiple UUIDv4 identifiers at once

uuid -v {{4}} -n {{number_of_uuids}}

Generate a UUIDv4 and specify the output format

uuid -v {{4}} -F {{BIN|STR|SIV}}

Generate a UUIDv4 and write the output to a file

uuid -v {{4}} -o {{path/to/file}}

Context

tldr-pages: linux/uuid

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