How to generate a random identifier using UUID

Written by Paul Hudson    @twostraws

A UUID is a universally unique identifier, which means if you generate a UUID right now using UUID it's guaranteed to be unique across all devices in the world. This means it's a great way to generate a unique identifier for users, for files, or anything else you need to reference individually – guaranteed.

Here's how to create a UUID as a string:

let uuid = UUID().uuidString

Available from iOS 6.0

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This is part of the Swift Knowledge Base, a free, searchable collection of solutions for common iOS questions.