Random password generator: many, in columns, on command line, in Linux

A while back, I came across a random password generator for the command line that displayed a grid of "memorable" passwords. Output was something like this:

adam@host:~$ CantRememberThisCommand
lkajsdf   aksjdfl
kqwrupo   qwerpoi
qwerklw   zxlkelq

The idea was that you could run this utility while someone was looking over your shoulder, and still pick a password with some level of secrecy due to the large number of choices.

I cannot remember what this utility was called. Oh interwebs, can you help?

Sounds like you want pwgen.

There are also some interesting ways to do this without installing additional software, but the 5-letter command is a bit easier to remember :)

According to your example output pwgen is a good guess (see the answer of John T). But there are many such tools available:

• pwgen - generate pronounceable passwords
• gpw - program to generate pronounceable passwords
• apg - generates several random passwords

Also password managers such as KeePassX provide a passwort generator (but it does not focus on commandline usage nor on pronouncable passwords).

No need to install extra packages as OpenSSL should be installed on most machines. we can use the following code to generate an random password:

openssl rand -base64 10