Generate random symbol (eg: ! _ #)

[pkuczynski]

Clear and concise description of the problem

Provide a method which would generate random symbol (non alphanumeric character), for example !#_-/\.$.

Suggested solution

faker.random.symbol() // #

Alternative

No response

Additional context

No response

[ST-DDT]

What is the difference to faker.string.special?
https://next.fakerjs.dev/api/string.html#special

Should we rename that method?

[pkuczynski]

No difference at all! It's actually what I was looking for, but could not find it... It's also on the next branch and I was looking at the stable. But yeah, I think it should be renamed to symbol as it is more common term... string.special does not sound like it generates a symbol to me... If we want to stick to special it should be rather specialCharacters but that's more in light of passwords. symbol seems more like a general term...

By the way, why method generating UTF-16 is called sample? :)

[Shinigami92]

We can rename it without making a breaking change, as the current released alpha is not intended to be "stable"

I would be ok with renaming it, but should it be symbol or symbols? it can generate more then one char 🤔

[pkuczynski]

I would be ok with renaming it, but should it be symbol or symbols? it can generate more then one char 🤔

I was thinking the same, but if you look at alpha or alphanumeric - they also in a singular form. So I would keep it symbol. Especially default length is 1 (I assume)?

[pkuczynski]

I can provide a PR if everybody agrees...

[ST-DDT]

I'm fine with renaming.
How about symbolic? Similar to numeric?
Not sure if that conveys the correct meaning.

The jsdoc should contain both the symbol and special characters terms.

[import-brain]

I would be ok with renaming it, but should it be symbol or symbols? it can generate more then one char 🤔

I was thinking the same, but if you look at alpha or alphanumeric - they also in a singular form. So I would keep it symbol. Especially default length is 1 (I assume)?

I would also keep it as symbol, considering the other methods are in singular form.

[matthewmayer]

FWIW i think the documentation should list out what "special" characters this pulls from. Only simple punctation marks? Spaces? Dingbats and emojis? Accented letters? The list seems short enough you could just list them explicitly.

! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < = > ? @ [ \ ] ^ _ ` { | } ~

[xDivisionByZerox]

@pkuczynski Are you still interested in providing a PR for this Issue (or even already working on it)? Since this is blocking for v8 I'd like to not keep this around any longer.

[pkuczynski]

Go ahead. I am still tied with my personal life :(