---
name: "cwgen"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "cw"
version: "3.6.1-2+b1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/cwgen"
---

# cwgen(1)

generate groups of random characters for Morse code practice

## NAME

cwgen - generate groups of random characters for Morse code practice

## SYNOPSIS

**cwgen** \[-g --groups=*groups*\] \[-n --groupsize=*groupsize*\] \[-n --groupsize=*group\_min-group\_max*\] \[-r --repeat=*repeat*\] \[-x --limit=*limit*\] \[-c --charset=*charset*\] \[-h --help\] \[-V --version\]

**cwgen** installed on GNU/Linux systems understands both short form and long form command line options.  **cwgen** installed on other operating systems may understand only the short form options.

Options may be predefined in the environment variable **CWGEN\_OPTIONS**. If defined, these options are used first; command line options take precedence.

## DESCRIPTION

**cwgen** provides a simple method to generate groups of random characters for use as input into **cw**.  Command line options control the group size, number of groups, and character set from which the random characters are selected.

### COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

**cwgen** understands the following command line options.  The long form options may not be available in non-LINUX versions.

- *-g, --groups*

  Specifies the number of groups of random characters to generate.  The default value is 128.

- *-n, --groupsize*

  Specifies either the number of random characters in each group, if a single value is given, or a range for the number of random characters in each group if a dash-separated pair of values is given.  If a range is given, **cwgen** generates groups sized randomly between 'group\_min' and 'group\_max'.  The default value is 5.

- *-r, --repeat*

  Specifies the number of times to repeat each group.  The default value is 0, indicating that each group is printed just once.

- *-x, --limit*

  Specifies an upper limit on the number of characters printed.  This option is useful when using random group sizes, to ensure a given amount of practice text.  The default value is 0, indicating no upper limit on the number of characters printed.

- *-c, --charset*

  Defines the character set from which the random characters are selected.  The default value is 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789'.

## EXAMPLES

Generate 20 groups of 10 characters from the set EISH5, and sound them as Morse code.  Both short-form and long-form option examples are shown:

-

  cwgen -g 20 -n 10 -c "EISH5" \| cw -w 25 -t 850

-

  cwgen --groups=20 --groupsize=10 --charset="EISH5" \| cw --wpm=25 --tone=850

## SEE ALSO

Man pages for **cw**(7,LOCAL), **libcw**(3,LOCAL), **cw**(1,LOCAL), **cwcp**(1,LOCAL), and **xcwcp**(1,LOCAL).