rig – The Random Identity Generator

📅 December 7, 2016
Seeking fun with random identities? Need a fake name and address but cannot seem to think of anything?

Try rig!

rig is a command line program that generates simple names and addresses for use with registration where you might need a fake name in order to avoid spam or for whatever reason…like just plain fun.

rig is freely available in the repository. Use Synaptic or the command line to install it.

sudo apt-get install rig

Usage is easy. In a terminal, type rig, and you will see a random identity appear.

By default, rig returns a name and address.

man rig will show a few command line arguments that you can use to adjust the output.

rig -c 10 returns ten random identities.

The -m option returns male names only.

While the -f option returns female names only. By default, both male and female names are returned.

The data files are simple text files named with .idx file extensions located in /usr/share/rig.

A Few Limitations

rig is simple, so do not expect complex identities complete with histories.

• Addresses. Addresses appear to be limited to United States addresses. Addresses in other countries, such as UK addresses, are not possible unless additional .idx files are added. You might need to create these yourself, but, in theory, it should be feasible.
• Phone Numbers. Complete phone numbers are not given. They are listed with an area code plus xxx-xxxx, which is a United States format. Again, custom data files should remedy this issue.
• English Names Only. Names are limited to the most common English names. If you need names in other languages, such as Cyrillic or Korean names, then you might need to experiment with custom name files. Names are stored in the mnames.idx, fnames.idx, and lnames.idx text files.

Other than the limitations mentioned, this is a fun program to play with.

rig piped to cowsay and lolcat for color and ASCII fun!