string - "sample larger than population" in random.sample python

Question

creating a simple pass generator for myself, i noticed that if i want my population to be digits only (0-9) which is overall 10 options, if i want my length over 10, it wont use any of the digits more then once and return the "sample larger then population" error.

is it possible to maintain the code, but add/reduce code lines so it works? or do i HAVE To use a use random choice?

import string
import random

z=int(raw_input("for: 
 numbers only choose 1, 
 letters only choose 2, 
 letters and numbers choose 3, 
 for everything choose 4:"))

if z==1:
    x=string.digits
elif z==2:
    x=string.letters
elif z==3:
    x=string.letters+string.digits
elif z==4:
    x=string.letters+string.digits+string.punctuation
else:
    print "die in a fire"

y=int(raw_input("How many passwords would you like?:"))
v=int(raw_input("How long would you like the password to be?:"))

for i in range(y):
    string=""
    for n in random.sample(x,v):
        string+=n
    print string

ty

Answer 1

The purpose of random.sample() is to pick a subset of the input sequence, randomly, without picking any one element more than once. If your input sequence has no repetitions, neither will your output.

You are not looking for a subset; you want single random choices from the input sequence, repeated a number of times. Elements can be used more than once. Use random.choice() in a loop for this:

for i in range(y):
    string = ''.join([random.choice(x) for _ in range(v)])
    print string

This creates a string of length v, where characters from x can be used more than once.

Quick demo:

>>> import string
>>> import random
>>> x = string.letters + string.digits + string.punctuation
>>> v = 20
>>> ''.join([random.choice(x) for _ in range(v)])
'Ms>V\0Mf|W@R,#/.P~Rv'
>>> ''.join([random.choice(x) for _ in range(v)])
'TsPnvN&qlm#mBj-!~}3W'
>>> ''.join([random.choice(x) for _ in range(v)])
'{:dfE;VhR:=_~O*,QG<f'