pass_gen.py

import random
import string
import argparse

def create_password(length=12, include_numbers=True, include_symbols=True):
    """Generates a secure, random password."""
    
    # Start with the required pool of lowercase and uppercase letters
    character_pool = string.ascii_letters
    
    if include_numbers:
        character_pool += string.digits
        
    if include_symbols:
        character_pool += string.punctuation

    # Check if the character pool is empty (in case user excludes everything)
    if not character_pool:
        return "Error: Cannot generate password with no characters."

    # Generate the password
    # uses random.choices() to pick 'length' number of characters from the pool
    password_list = random.choices(character_pool, k=length)
    
    # Join the list of characters back into a single string
    return "".join(password_list)

# This part makes the script runnable from the command line
if __name__ == "__main__":
    # This sets up the command-line argument parser
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Generate a secure random password.")
    
    # Add an argument for length, default is 12, type is integer
    parser.add_argument("-l", "--length", type=int, default=12, help="Set the length of the password (default: 12)")
    
    # Add flag to exclude numbers
    parser.add_argument("--no-numbers", action="store_true", help="Do not include numbers in the password")
    
    # Add flag to exclude symbols
    parser.add_argument("--no-symbols", action="store_true", help="Do not include symbols in the password")

    # Parse the arguments provided by the user
    args = parser.parse_args()

    # Generate the password
    # Note: We pass the *opposite* of the "store_true" flags
    new_password = create_password(
        length=args.length,
        include_numbers=not args.no_numbers,
        include_symbols=not args.no_symbols
    )
    
    print(f"Generated Password: {new_password}")