protected function get_random_string($length, $valid_chars = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ') { $string = ""; $num_valid_chars = strlen($valid_chars); for ($i = 0; $i < $length; $i++) { $random_pick = mt_rand(1, $num_valid_chars); $random_char = $valid_chars[$random_pick - 1]; $string .= $random_char; } return $string; }