Intro

Pwgen is a password generator for creating easily memorable passwords. I stumbled across this tool and found it to be one of the best for Linux and macOS.

Installation

Arch Linux

$ pacman -S pwgen

Most Linux distributions should have a package management system with pwgen in their own repositories.

macOS

$ brew install pwgen

Pwgen is also available in MacPorts.

Usage

$ pwgen -h

Usage: pwgen [ OPTIONS ] [ pw_length ] [ num_pw ]

Options supported by pwgen:
  -c or --capitalize
       	Include at least one capital letter in the password
  -A or --no-capitalize
       	Don't include capital letters in the password
  -n or --numerals
       	Include at least one number in the password
  -0 or --no-numerals
       	Don't include numbers in the password
  -y or --symbols
       	Include at least one special symbol in the password
  -s or --secure
       	Generate completely random passwords
  -B or --ambiguous
       	Don't include ambiguous characters in the password
  -h or --help
       	Print a help message
  -H or --sha1=path/to/file[#seed]
       	Use sha1 hash of given file as a (not so) random generator
  -C
       	Print the generated passwords in columns
  -1
       	Don't print the generated passwords in columns
  -v or --no-vowels
       	Do not use any vowels so as to avoid accidental nasty words

Examples

Generate one single password.

$ pwgen -c -n -y 100 1
9S3UKhXUmoFMl7Nfm2E093EFTWVyX2d711AEKuOnCqWnkAQIJyPjgd3pgITmvove9wx0MbqLAnl8t8EsgMARigM5rSHFLDeopEuD

This password uses

at least 1 capital letter
at least 1 number
at least 1 symbol
100 characters
1 total password

Tell Pwgen to give 10 passwords.

$ pwgen -c -n -y -s 100 10
8Jjnm7RDTmMbMVs1gJotHo0esHR0GAJPaDErSjqyWZmdMJxh4xe5uiScHu4LfK8AbCj5lH5Iyu7P9Ia9nJyNZENJqmqruzQVIcO9
QatpFsxT7uHCWdEO5d0x7oKX1SKzv9w1gJkrYd8lXcaJyoZr1BCMe2xuaWbyy7Zidf9ueCZOv3oAFO0aWhTRT0T44o9OLdtPOWR3
9Zm70DICfcvfHPTsyz83VuLJ1MyUSHJE9kkuXDltGorouwaXsHuRfdvJDXg40XmPSOTC6K4omfinqGefU6oQ7pj4sOCnplhiMxAD
bi8DOCfMmDmTQ3EL8RXDgInEUqV0mTk0ZeUXDstiEm2pj3PQ6kjSRcVawQw0jIuuaq4ZQGsyNzIBnNJJVkT42hgPLtJD9WaxIICE
DfdQiPEwPytSHBD5vDqgqxxbBuqlNFbADRvljtfTUAf2eCheuGLsLBUJGvs4YZ3MUglrY3ebKLQBQ20aEJu0RAeC0M1mjdNNJp3z
ZnL0oJSh45a2yAVvaS4HM2GTuUWgitX5pGRjF2LjXnmsp2kRvQYrxkQxo2yqWmJ6Lqh6uaDmckQhlcujoJvZgRruSbUZxZniLjNi
UaeFRz4rcMfVtarft7J5Lspu2tamL9i9fu9J394exCfRDj2k6UN5HsCi7shWy8bD2IB1ISAGyIb8qIpXvygQuzQJaZ9V5dYaCRaj
NLRZSsmtDCA2sVtjIse8brhMM0GWskJffOvarAYBZEagz179AdwtgnmpaRz2sZo3Yw36RO15Nls9QbJrvWQbKek0ULq4dNMaNK1N
1TOvS5zuKB1LC9PaewvOO8jEn8lij1KYJyvvfLIgbLP8zlo4vzf2uOcJmkXa9ukpXxxcTuoYRNpscwbfx8HiSDWLJQ4jNjxUICz6
AwmHShhV8WQGjvOwyM8mTIjex6APatAVEGHcACCji53ClfnPKsiO7cacdQK5zTSxdLIqe4bwqWImlQJYMY0P4Uj6PckdfMWRptWX

I think anyone should get the idea right away. In short, you can easily fine tune Pwgen to give as complex of passwords as needed.