fourword 1.2.1

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FourWord

Overview

A new generation method for random identifiers.

It includes a timestamp at the beginning and uses Base32 Hex as the character set for text representation, allowing for sorting in chronological order. Since 'Z' is used instead of '=' for padding, it should be usable in any environment that supports alphanumeric characters.

To minimize the possibility of collisions while preventing overflow, the timestamp is not fixed; instead, it occupies 1/4 of the total bits generated. This allows for longer continuous use simply by increasing the total number of bits. However, as a trade-off, unnecessary leading zeros will appear at the beginning of the timestamp portion.

It is intended for use in databases and similar applications.

Etymology

The "Four" part comes from the fact that the timestamp occupies 1/4 of the total bits. It is also a play on the word "Forward."

Python Library

# Install using pip
pip3 install fourword

# Install using uv
uv pip install fourword

# Add to Project using uv
uv add fourword

from fourword.lib import FourWord

fourword = FourWord(bits=256)
print(fourword.text)

In Python, you can generate FourWord using the fourword library. The fourword library works without any external dependencies.

The default bit size is 256.

The total number of bits must be divisible by 32.

Specifications

A FourWord is represented as a byte sequence (big endian) as follows:

[ (Total bits/4) bit UNIX timestamp (UTC, ns) ] + [ (Total bits/4*3) bit CSPRNG ]

For example, when the total bit size is 256 bits, the timestamp is 64 bits and the random part is 192 bits.

The ratio is fixed so that when retrieving the timestamp from an ID, the exact length can be easily determined without needing a separator.

Unlike other methods like UUID, FourWord does not require text representation. It supports both byte sequence and text formats.

Text Representation

Text representation uses something similar to Base32 Hex.

As mentioned above, it uses 'Z' instead of '=' as a padding character, but otherwise, it is identical to Base32 Hex.

Collision Probability

IDs with different timestamps will not collide. The values below are for the worst-case scenario (all IDs generated within the same nanosecond).

Bits	Random Bit Width	IDs for 10⁻¹⁸ Collision Probability	IDs for 10⁻⁹ Collision Probability	IDs for 50% Collision Probability
256	192 bit	Approx. 1.12 × 10²⁰	Approx. 3.54 × 10²⁴	Approx. 9.33 × 10²⁸
512	384 bit	Approx. 8.88 × 10⁴⁸	Approx. 2.81 × 10⁵³	Approx. 7.39 × 10⁵⁷
768	576 bit	Approx. 7.03 × 10⁷⁷	Approx. 2.22 × 10⁸²	Approx. 5.85 × 10⁸⁶
1024	768 bit	Approx. 5.57 × 10¹⁰⁶	Approx. 1.76 × 10¹¹¹	Approx. 4.64 × 10¹¹⁵
1280	960 bit	Approx. 4.41 × 10¹³⁵	Approx. 1.40 × 10¹⁴⁰	Approx. 3.67 × 10¹⁴⁴
1536	1152 bit	Approx. 3.50 × 10¹⁶⁴	Approx. 1.11 × 10¹⁶⁹	Approx. 2.91 × 10¹⁷³
1792	1344 bit	Approx. 2.77 × 10¹⁹³	Approx. 8.76 × 10¹⁹⁷	Approx. 2.31 × 10²⁰²
2048	1536 bit	Approx. 2.20 × 10²²²	Approx. 6.94 × 10²²⁶	Approx. 1.83 × 10²³¹

Overflow Timeline

Overflow will occur at the following times for each bit size:

Bits	Timestamp Bit Width	Max Seconds	Overflow Date (Approx.)
256	64 bit	Approx. 1.84 × 10¹⁹ seconds	Approx. 584.4 billion years AD (5.845 × 10¹¹ years)
512	128 bit	Approx. 3.40 × 10³⁸ seconds	Approx. 1.07 × 10³¹ years later
768	192 bit	Approx. 6.28 × 10⁵⁷ seconds	Approx. 1.99 × 10⁵⁰ years later
1024	256 bit	Approx. 1.16 × 10⁷⁷ seconds	Approx. 3.67 × 10⁶⁹ years later
1280	320 bit	Approx. 2.14 × 10⁹⁶ seconds	Approx. 6.77 × 10⁸⁸ years later
1536	384 bit	Approx. 3.94 × 10¹¹⁵ seconds	Approx. 1.25 × 10¹⁰⁸ years later
1792	448 bit	Approx. 7.26 × 10¹³⁴ seconds	Approx. 2.30 × 10¹²⁷ years later
2048	512 bit	Approx. 1.34 × 10¹⁵⁴ seconds	Approx. 4.24 × 10¹⁴⁶ years later

License

The source code and libraries in this repository are free to use under the MIT License.

Credit is not required for software that utilizes the FourWord specification itself or for data generated using FourWord.