Generate random alpha characters in Numbers

You can try something like this:

In A2, filled down:

=CHAR(RANDBETWEEN(65,90))&CHAR(RANDBETWEEN(65,90))&CHAR(RANDBETWEEN(65,90))&CHAR(RANDBETWEEN(65,90))

In B2, filled down:

=COUNTIF(A,A2)=1

Filter on column be for TRUE to ensure only "unique" values.

If you need the values elsewhere, select the cells in column A, command c to copy, click once in a cell in an existing table, and Edit > Paste Formula Results.

SG

A minimalist script approach could be as follows:

set theChars to {"A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G", "H", "I", "J", "K", "L", "M", "N", "O", "P", "Q", "R", "S", "T", "U", "V", "W", "X", "Y", "Z"}
set listSize to length of theChars

set outSeq to {}
set i to 0
repeat until i is 1000
	set pick1 to (random number from 1 to listSize)
	set pick2 to (random number from 1 to listSize)
	set pick3 to (random number from 1 to listSize)
	set pick4 to (random number from 1 to listSize)
	tell theChars to set theSeq to item pick1 & item pick2 & item pick3 & item pick4
	if theSeq is not in outSeq then
		set end of outSeq to theSeq
		set i to i + 1
	end if
end repeat
set text item delimiters to return
set outSeq to outSeq as text
set the clipboard to outSeq
return outSeq -- optional line to view in Results pane

1. Copy-paste into Script Editor (in Applications > Utilities) -- be sure to scroll right to get the whole script
2. Make sure Script Editor is listed and checked at System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility.
3. Click the triangle "run" button.
4. Click once in a cell in Numbers and command-v or Edit > Paste and Match Style to paste.

SG

CHAR(RANDBETWEEN(65,90)) will give you a random character from A-Z. How you propose to make 4 of them in a cell with no duplicated characters might be the same as what you know to do with numbers. If duplication was not a criteria, you would simply concatenate four of these together with the & operator. I would like to see the solution to the no duplicates part of the problem after you adapt the methodology to this problem.

chris9771 wrote:

Great help, thank you!

Except my reading comprehension was lacking and I misunderstood the duplicates part.