A random text (Lorem Ipsum) generator.

Installation

gem install random-words

Depending on your setup, you may need gem install --user-install random-words, or in worst case scenario, sudo gem install random-words. You can also use brew gem install random-words if you use Homebrew.

CLI

The gem installs a binary randw. It can generate random characters, sentences, paragraphs, markdown, html, and passwords.

“nsole Usage: randw [options] OPTIONS: -S, –source SOURCE Specify the source language (default: latin) -l, –length LENGTH Specify the length of the sentence [short|medium|long|very_long] –graf-length NUMBER Specify the number of sentences in a paragraph –[no-]extended Specify whether to use extended punctuation in generated text GENERATORS: -s, –sentences [NUMBER] Generate NUMBER of random sentences (default: 3) -p, –paragraphs [NUMBER] Generate NUMBER of random paragraphs (default: 3) -w, –words [NUMBER] Generate NUMBER of random words (default: 10) -c, –characters [NUMBER] Generate random characters of length (default: 100) -m, –markdown [SETTINGS] Generate random markdown text, comma separated string like “latin,10,all” dec: add em and strong link: add links ul: add unordered lists ol: add ordered lists dl: add definition lists bq: add block quotes code: add code spans and block mark: add ==highlights== headers: add headlines image: add images table: add tables -H, –html [SETTINGS] Generate random html text, comma separated string like “latin,10,all” –password [LENGTH] Generate a random password of LENGTH (default: 20) PASSWORD OPTIONS: –separator CHAR Specify the separator character for the password (default: “ ”) -n, –[no-]whitespace Specify whether to remove whitespace in generated text (characters only) DICTIONARIES: –list-dictionaries List available dictionaries –create-dictionary [NAME] Create a new dictionary OTHER OPTIONS: -d, –debug Enable debug mode, displays sentence/word/character counts -h, –help Display this help message -v, –version Display the version -t, –test Run the full debug test

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Generating Markdown text

The --markdown flag takes a SETTINGS argument. This is a comma- or slash-separated string that determines the elements to include.

First, the source language (defaults to latin), then the length of paragraphs and tables: e.g. english/medium. You can add any digits to determine how many paragraphs are generated (default 5), e.g. corporate/medium/10.

Then you can add individual elements, or use /all to trigger all elements. The elements available are:

trigger	element
dec	add em and strong
link	add links
ul	add unordered lists
ol	add ordered lists
dl	add definition lists
bq	add block quotes
code	add code spans and blocks
mark	add ==highlights==
headers	add headlines
image	add images
table	add tables
x	add extended punctuation

The number of elements inserted depends on the length you specify.

Example commands:

“nsole $ randw -m “latin/1/short/ol”

Illa brevis muros potior arcesso, apud multae octo centum nonaginta octo nodum! Haec ruosus misericordia mox contendo, apud nullus fors.

Hoc cognatus opus facile complor latus discendo
Aliqua apparens census quod nego
Nullus salvus dux apud habeo spectabilis
Quaedam sensus regnum cura gaudeo ornatus faeneo mox

$ randw -m “english,5,all”

Any shiny napkin effectively picks

Neither sudden lake exceedingly works, outside a clarity even if which is a source of an strength even if which holds one subtle horse the future. Any lovable tank remarkabl…

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Creating A New Dictionary

You can add your own sources for generating your random text. A dictionary is a directory containing several text files, one for each part of speech that RandomWords uses. All of the parts must exist. The directory name is the same as the name of the dictionary.

User dictionaries must be stored in ~/.config/random-words/words/[NAME].

The easiest way to generate a new language is to use the CLI:

“nsole randw –create-dictionary [NAME]

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Once this command is run, a new directory in ~/.config/random-words/words will be created containing all of the necessary files with English defaults. Simply edit these files, and then you’ll be able to call the language by its name (or triggers defined in the config, see below). If a language of the same name exists, missing files will be filled in, but existing files will not be overwritten.

The necessary files are:

“nsole adjectives.txt adverbs.txt articles-plural.txt articles-singular.txt clauses.txt config.yml conjunctions-coordinating.txt conjunctions-subordinate.txt names.txt nouns-plural.txt nouns-singular.txt numbers.txt phrases.txt prepositions.txt terminators.txt verbs-passive.txt verbs-plural.txt verbs-singular.txt

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Language Configuration

The config.yml file in a language directory is a simple YAML configuration. It contains the keys:

“ml

name: english description: English words triggers: [english] extended_punctuation: false

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A default configuration file will be created when running --create-dictionary with the CLI.

name: The name of the dictionary

This should be the same as the directory name in most cases
description: Just used for display when running --list-dictionaries
triggers: An array of triggers that can be used to trigger the language.

For example, the bacon language has the triggers [bacon, meat, carnivore], so you can use randw -S meat on the command line (or with the library).
extended_punctuation: Whether to include extended punctuation like parenthesis, quotes, and ellipsis.

Terminators

The terminators.txt file contains pairs of punctuation, separated by commas, one per line. If a sentence terminator doesn’t have opening punctuation, start the line with a comma. More than one character can be used in either side of the pair. For example, to create a double quoted sentence with a period inside the closing quote, you would use:

",."

A blank line (or any line not containing a comma) will separate regular punctuation from extended punctuation. In the default file, ., ?, and ! are considered regular punctuation, and parenthesis and quotes are considered extended punctuation. Extended punctuation is off by default, but in the CLI can be enabled with --extended, and using the library you can include use_extended_punctuation: true in the options when initializing, or use @rw.use_extended_punctuation = true to set it after initializing.

Repeating words or terminators more than once in the config files increases their likelihood of being used. In the default terminator.txt files, the period, question mark, and exclamation point are repeated multiple times to make them the most likely to be used.

Names

The names.txt file is just used when creating random names. Sections are split by blank lines: first names, last names, and optionally full names. If the first line contains characters other than letters, single quotes, and dashes, it will be assumed that you’ve skipped straight to full names and those will be used instead of generating random combinations.

Language Notes

RandomWords loosely uses English rules for sentence construction, so non-English languages will likely generate even more nonsensical strings.

If you create a fun dictionary, please let me know (or make a PR) and I’ll gladly include (most) new dictionaries in the main distribution.

The easiest way to get words is with AI. A ChatGPT prompt like “give me 100 plural nouns related to the medical profession, in plain text, one per line, sorted alphabetically” will get you a good list of words you can then just paste into nouns-plural.txt in your dictionary.

Library

“by require ‘random-words’

Argument defines source dictionary (latin, english, corporate, bacon, etc.)

rw = RandomWords::Generator.new(:corporate)

rw.sources # List all available dictionaries

Change source dictionary and re-init

rw.source = :bacon

rw.paragraph_length = 5 # Number of sentences in a paragraph (default 3) rw.sentence_length = :short # :short, :medium, :long, :verylong (default :medium)

Redefine lengths, can include :short, :medium, :long, and :verylong

rw.lengths = { short: 100, medium: 300 }

Characters

Outputs words but limits total to characters

puts rw.characters(20)

limits total characters, allowing truncation

puts rw.characters(20, whole_words: false)

Sentences

Output a sentence based on @sentence_length

puts rw.sentence

Output a sentence with a specific number of characters

puts rw.sentence(300)

Output an array of # sentences

puts rw.sentences(3)

Paragraphs

Output a paragraph based on @paragraph_length

puts rw.paragraph

Output a paragraph with a specified number of sentences

Sentence length is still determined by @sentence_length

puts rw.paragraph(2)

Attributes

Parts of speech (arrays, r/w)

rw.adjectives rw.articles rw.clauses rw.nouns rw.plural_nouns rw.verbs rw.plural_verbs rw.subordinate_conjunctions rw.numbers

Other attributes (r/w)

rw.source rw.paragraph_length rw.sentence_length

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