The UID Component
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The UID Component
The UID component provides utilities to work with unique identifiers (UIDs) such as UUIDs and ULIDs.
Installation
1
$ composer require symfony/uid
Note
If you install this component outside of a Symfony application, you must
require the vendor/autoload.php
file in your code to enable the class
autoloading mechanism provided by Composer. Read
this article for more details.
UUIDs
UUIDs (universally unique identifiers) are one of the most popular UIDs in
the software industry. UUIDs are 128-bit numbers usually represented as five
groups of hexadecimal characters: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-Mxxx-Nxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
(the M
digit is the UUID version and the N
digit is the UUID variant).
Generating UUIDs
Use the named constructors of the Uuid
class or any of the specific classes
to create each type of UUID:
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use Symfony\Component\Uid\Uuid;
// UUID type 1 generates the UUID using the MAC address of your device and a timestamp.
// Both are obtained automatically, so you don't have to pass any constructor argument.
$uuid = Uuid::v1(); // $uuid is an instance of Symfony\Component\Uid\UuidV1
// UUID type 4 generates a random UUID, so you don't have to pass any constructor argument.
$uuid = Uuid::v4(); // $uuid is an instance of Symfony\Component\Uid\UuidV4
// UUID type 3 and 5 generate a UUID hashing the given namespace and name. Type 3 uses
// MD5 hashes and Type 5 uses SHA-1. The namespace is another UUID (e.g. a Type 4 UUID)
// and the name is an arbitrary string (e.g. a product name; if it's unique).
$namespace = Uuid::v4();
$name = $product->getUniqueName();
$uuid = Uuid::v3($namespace, $name); // $uuid is an instance of Symfony\Component\Uid\UuidV3
$uuid = Uuid::v5($namespace, $name); // $uuid is an instance of Symfony\Component\Uid\UuidV5
// the namespaces defined by RFC 4122 (see https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4122#appendix-C)
// are available as PHP constants and as string values
$uuid = Uuid::v3(Uuid::NAMESPACE_DNS, $name); // same as: Uuid::v3('dns', $name);
$uuid = Uuid::v3(Uuid::NAMESPACE_URL, $name); // same as: Uuid::v3('url', $name);
$uuid = Uuid::v3(Uuid::NAMESPACE_OID, $name); // same as: Uuid::v3('oid', $name);
$uuid = Uuid::v3(Uuid::NAMESPACE_X500, $name); // same as: Uuid::v3('x500', $name);
// UUID type 6 is not part of the UUID standard. It's lexicographically sortable
// (like ULIDs) and contains a 60-bit timestamp and 63 extra unique bits.
// It's defined in http://gh.peabody.io/uuidv6/
$uuid = Uuid::v6(); // $uuid is an instance of Symfony\Component\Uid\UuidV6
If your UUID value is already generated in another format, use any of the
following methods to create a Uuid
object from it:
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// all the following examples would generate the same Uuid object
$uuid = Uuid::fromString('d9e7a184-5d5b-11ea-a62a-3499710062d0');
$uuid = Uuid::fromBinary("\xd9\xe7\xa1\x84\x5d\x5b\x11\xea\xa6\x2a\x34\x99\x71\x00\x62\xd0");
$uuid = Uuid::fromBase32('6SWYGR8QAV27NACAHMK5RG0RPG');
$uuid = Uuid::fromBase58('TuetYWNHhmuSQ3xPoVLv9M');
$uuid = Uuid::fromRfc4122('d9e7a184-5d5b-11ea-a62a-3499710062d0');
You can also use the UuidFactory
to generate UUIDs. First, you may
configure the behavior of the factory using configuration files:
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# config/packages/uid.yaml
framework:
uid:
default_uuid_version: 6
name_based_uuid_version: 5
name_based_uuid_namespace: ~
time_based_uuid_version: 6
time_based_uuid_node: ~
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<!-- config/packages/uid.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:framework="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony https://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony/symfony-1.0.xsd">
<framework:config>
<framework:uid
default_uuid_version="6"
name_based_uuid_version="5"
name_based_uuid_namespace=""
time_based_uuid_version="6"
time_based_uuid_node=""
/>
</framework:config>
</container>
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// config/packages/uid.php
<?php
namespace Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Loader\Configurator;
return static function (ContainerConfigurator $containerConfigurator): void {
$services = $configurator->services()
->defaults()
->autowire()
->autoconfigure();
$configurator->extension('framework', [
'uid' => [
'default_uuid_version' => 6,
'name_based_uuid_version' => 5,
'name_based_uuid_namespace' => '',
'time_based_uuid_version' => 6,
'time_based_uuid_node' => '',
],
]);
};
Then, you can inject the factory in your services and use it to generate UUIDs based on the configuration you defined:
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<?php
namespace App\Service;
use Symfony\Component\Uid\Factory\UuidFactory;
class FooService
{
public function __construct(private UuidFactory $uuidFactory)
{
}
public function generate(): void
{
// This creates a UUID of the version given in the configuration file (v6 by default)
$uuid = $this->uuidFactory->create();
$nameBasedUuid = $this->uuidFactory->nameBased(/** ... */);
$randomBasedUuid = $this->uuidFactory->randomBased();
$timestampBased = $this->uuidFactory->timeBased();
// ...
}
}
Converting UUIDs
Use these methods to transform the UUID object into different bases:
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$uuid = Uuid::fromString('d9e7a184-5d5b-11ea-a62a-3499710062d0');
$uuid->toBinary(); // string(16) "\xd9\xe7\xa1\x84\x5d\x5b\x11\xea\xa6\x2a\x34\x99\x71\x00\x62\xd0"
$uuid->toBase32(); // string(26) "6SWYGR8QAV27NACAHMK5RG0RPG"
$uuid->toBase58(); // string(22) "TuetYWNHhmuSQ3xPoVLv9M"
$uuid->toRfc4122(); // string(36) "d9e7a184-5d5b-11ea-a62a-3499710062d0"
Working with UUIDs
UUID objects created with the Uuid
class can use the following methods
(which are equivalent to the uuid_*()
method of the PHP extension):
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use Symfony\Component\Uid\NilUuid;
use Symfony\Component\Uid\Uuid;
// checking if the UUID is null (note that the class is called
// NilUuid instead of NullUuid to follow the UUID standard notation)
$uuid = Uuid::v4();
$uuid instanceof NilUuid; // false
// checking the type of UUID
use Symfony\Component\Uid\UuidV4;
$uuid = Uuid::v4();
$uuid instanceof UuidV4; // true
// getting the UUID datetime (it's only available in certain UUID types)
$uuid = Uuid::v1();
$uuid->getDateTime(); // returns a \DateTimeImmutable instance
// checking if a given value is valid as UUID
$isValid = Uuid::isValid($uuid); // true or false
// comparing UUIDs and checking for equality
$uuid1 = Uuid::v1();
$uuid4 = Uuid::v4();
$uuid1->equals($uuid4); // false
// this method returns:
// * int(0) if $uuid1 and $uuid4 are equal
// * int > 0 if $uuid1 is greater than $uuid4
// * int < 0 if $uuid1 is less than $uuid4
$uuid1->compare($uuid4); // e.g. int(4)
Storing UUIDs in Databases
If you use Doctrine, consider using the uuid
Doctrine
type, which converts to/from UUID objects automatically:
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// src/Entity/Product.php
namespace App\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
#[ORM\Entity(repositoryClass: ProductRepository::class)]
class Product
{
#[ORM\Column(type: 'uuid')]
private $someProperty;
// ...
}
There's also a Doctrine generator to help auto-generate UUID values for the entity primary keys:
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namespace App\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use Symfony\Component\Uid\Uuid;
class User implements UserInterface
{
#[ORM\Id]
#[ORM\Column(type: 'uuid', unique: true)]
#[ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy: 'CUSTOM')]
#[ORM\CustomIdGenerator(class: 'doctrine.uuid_generator')]
private $id;
public function getId(): ?Uuid
{
return $this->id;
}
// ...
}
When using built-in Doctrine repository methods (e.g. findOneBy()
), Doctrine
knows how to convert these UUID types to build the SQL query
(e.g. ->findOneBy(['user' => $user->getUuid()])
). However, when using DQL
queries or building the query yourself, you'll need to set uuid
as the type
of the UUID parameters:
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// src/Repository/ProductRepository.php
// ...
class ProductRepository extends ServiceEntityRepository
{
// ...
public function findUserProducts(User $user): array
{
$qb = $this->createQueryBuilder('p')
// ...
// add 'uuid' as the third argument to tell Doctrine that this is a UUID
->setParameter('user', $user->getUuid(), 'uuid')
// alternatively, you can convert it to a value compatible with
// the type inferred by Doctrine
->setParameter('user', $user->getUuid()->toBinary())
;
// ...
}
}
ULIDs
ULIDs (Universally Unique Lexicographically Sortable Identifier) are 128-bit
numbers usually represented as a 26-character string: TTTTTTTTTTRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
(where T
represents a timestamp and R
represents the random bits).
ULIDs are an alternative to UUIDs when using those is impractical. They provide 128-bit compatibility with UUID, they are lexicographically sortable and they are encoded as 26-character strings (vs 36-character UUIDs).
Note
If you generate more than one ULID during the same millisecond in the same process then the random portion is incremented by one bit in order to provide monotonicity for sorting. The random portion is not random compared to the previous ULID in this case.
Generating ULIDs
Instantiate the Ulid
class to generate a random ULID value:
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use Symfony\Component\Uid\Ulid;
$ulid = new Ulid(); // e.g. 01AN4Z07BY79KA1307SR9X4MV3
If your ULID value is already generated in another format, use any of the
following methods to create a Ulid
object from it:
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// all the following examples would generate the same Ulid object
$ulid = Ulid::fromString('01E439TP9XJZ9RPFH3T1PYBCR8');
$ulid = Ulid::fromBinary("\x01\x71\x06\x9d\x59\x3d\x97\xd3\x8b\x3e\x23\xd0\x6d\xe5\xb3\x08");
$ulid = Ulid::fromBase32('01E439TP9XJZ9RPFH3T1PYBCR8');
$ulid = Ulid::fromBase58('1BKocMc5BnrVcuq2ti4Eqm');
$ulid = Ulid::fromRfc4122('0171069d-593d-97d3-8b3e-23d06de5b308');
Like UUIDs, ULIDs have their own factory, UlidFactory
, that can be used to generate them:
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<?php
namespace App\Service;
use Symfony\Component\Uid\Factory\UlidFactory;
class FooService
{
public function __construct(private UlidFactory $ulidFactory)
{
}
public function generate(): void
{
$ulid = $this->ulidFactory->create();
// ...
}
}
There's also a special NilUlid
class to represent ULID null
values:
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use Symfony\Component\Uid\NilUlid;
$ulid = new NilUlid();
// equivalent to $ulid = new Ulid('00000000000000000000000000');
Converting ULIDs
Use these methods to transform the ULID object into different bases:
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$ulid = Ulid::fromString('01E439TP9XJZ9RPFH3T1PYBCR8');
$ulid->toBinary(); // string(16) "\x01\x71\x06\x9d\x59\x3d\x97\xd3\x8b\x3e\x23\xd0\x6d\xe5\xb3\x08"
$ulid->toBase32(); // string(26) "01E439TP9XJZ9RPFH3T1PYBCR8"
$ulid->toBase58(); // string(22) "1BKocMc5BnrVcuq2ti4Eqm"
$ulid->toRfc4122(); // string(36) "0171069d-593d-97d3-8b3e-23d06de5b308"
Working with ULIDs
ULID objects created with the Ulid
class can use the following methods:
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use Symfony\Component\Uid\Ulid;
$ulid1 = new Ulid();
$ulid2 = new Ulid();
// checking if a given value is valid as ULID
$isValid = Ulid::isValid($ulidValue); // true or false
// getting the ULID datetime
$ulid1->getDateTime(); // returns a \DateTimeImmutable instance
// comparing ULIDs and checking for equality
$ulid1->equals($ulid2); // false
// this method returns $ulid1 <=> $ulid2
$ulid1->compare($ulid2); // e.g. int(-1)
Storing ULIDs in Databases
If you use Doctrine, consider using the ulid
Doctrine
type, which converts to/from ULID objects automatically:
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// src/Entity/Product.php
namespace App\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
#[ORM\Entity(repositoryClass: ProductRepository::class)]
class Product
{
#[ORM\Column(type: 'ulid')]
private $someProperty;
// ...
}
There's also a Doctrine generator to help auto-generate ULID values for the entity primary keys:
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namespace App\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use Symfony\Component\Uid\Ulid;
class Product
{
#[ORM\Id]
#[ORM\Column(type: 'ulid', unique: true)]
#[ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy: 'CUSTOM')]
#[ORM\CustomIdGenerator(class: 'doctrine.ulid_generator')]
private $id;
public function getId(): ?Ulid
{
return $this->id;
}
// ...
}
When using built-in Doctrine repository methods (e.g. findOneBy()
), Doctrine
knows how to convert these ULID types to build the SQL query
(e.g. ->findOneBy(['user' => $user->getUlid()])
). However, when using DQL
queries or building the query yourself, you'll need to set ulid
as the type
of the ULID parameters:
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// src/Repository/ProductRepository.php
// ...
class ProductRepository extends ServiceEntityRepository
{
// ...
public function findUserProducts(User $user): array
{
$qb = $this->createQueryBuilder('p')
// ...
// add 'ulid' as the third argument to tell Doctrine that this is a ULID
->setParameter('user', $user->getUlid(), 'ulid')
// alternatively, you can convert it to a value compatible with
// the type inferred by Doctrine
->setParameter('user', $user->getUlid()->toBinary())
;
// ...
}
}
Generating and Inspecting UUIDs/ULIDs in the Console
This component provides several commands to generate and inspect UUIDs/ULIDs in the console. They are not enabled by default, so you must add the following configuration in your application before using these commands:
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# config/services.yaml
services:
Symfony\Component\Uid\Command\GenerateUlidCommand: ~
Symfony\Component\Uid\Command\GenerateUuidCommand: ~
Symfony\Component\Uid\Command\InspectUlidCommand: ~
Symfony\Component\Uid\Command\InspectUuidCommand: ~
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<!-- config/services.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd">
<services>
<!-- ... -->
<service id="Symfony\Component\Uid\Command\GenerateUlidCommand"/>
<service id="Symfony\Component\Uid\Command\GenerateUuidCommand"/>
<service id="Symfony\Component\Uid\Command\InspectUlidCommand"/>
<service id="Symfony\Component\Uid\Command\InspectUuidCommand"/>
</services>
</container>
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// config/services.php
namespace Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Loader\Configurator;
use Symfony\Component\Uid\Command\GenerateUlidCommand;
use Symfony\Component\Uid\Command\GenerateUuidCommand;
use Symfony\Component\Uid\Command\InspectUlidCommand;
use Symfony\Component\Uid\Command\InspectUuidCommand;
return static function (ContainerConfigurator $containerConfigurator): void {
// ...
$services
->set(GenerateUlidCommand::class)
->set(GenerateUuidCommand::class)
->set(InspectUlidCommand::class)
->set(InspectUuidCommand::class);
};
Now you can generate UUIDs/ULIDs as follows (add the --help
option to the
commands to learn about all their options):
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# generate 1 random-based UUID
$ php bin/console uuid:generate --random-based
# generate 1 time-based UUID with a specific node
$ php bin/console uuid:generate --time-based=now --node=fb3502dc-137e-4849-8886-ac90d07f64a7
# generate 2 UUIDs and output them in base58 format
$ php bin/console uuid:generate --count=2 --format=base58
# generate 1 ULID with the current time as the timestamp
$ php bin/console ulid:generate
# generate 1 ULID with a specific timestamp
$ php bin/console ulid:generate --time="2021-02-02 14:00:00"
# generate 2 ULIDs and ouput them in RFC4122 format
$ php bin/console ulid:generate --count=2 --format=rfc4122
In addition to generating new UIDs, you can also inspect them with the following commands to show all the information for a given UID:
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$ php bin/console uuid:inspect d0a3a023-f515-4fe0-915c-575e63693998
---------------------- --------------------------------------
Label Value
---------------------- --------------------------------------
Version 4
Canonical (RFC 4122) d0a3a023-f515-4fe0-915c-575e63693998
Base 58 SmHvuofV4GCF7QW543rDD9
Base 32 6GMEG27X8N9ZG92Q2QBSHPJECR
---------------------- --------------------------------------
$ php bin/console ulid:inspect 01F2TTCSYK1PDRH73Z41BN1C4X
--------------------- --------------------------------------
Label Value
--------------------- --------------------------------------
Canonical (Base 32) 01F2TTCSYK1PDRH73Z41BN1C4X
Base 58 1BYGm16jS4kX3VYCysKKq6
RFC 4122 0178b5a6-67d3-0d9b-889c-7f205750b09d
--------------------- --------------------------------------
Timestamp 2021-04-09 08:01:24.947
--------------------- --------------------------------------