About the Random Time Generator
Each draw picks an hour from 00 to 23 and a minute from 00 to 59 independently, then pads both to two digits, so the output is always five characters wide and sorts correctly as plain text. Values such as 00:07 and 23:59 appear as readily as mid afternoon ones, which matters when you are hunting for the off by one bugs that only show up around midnight.
The whole clock is covered evenly, giving 1,440 possible values. With repeats switched off you can ask for up to 500 distinct times without the generator running out of room, which is enough for a decent test fixture. Turn repeats on and the same minute may appear twice, which is closer to how real timestamps behave in a busy log file.
Typical uses are quality assurance data for time input fields, clock reading practice worksheets for a class, shuffled slot times for a schedule draw, and seed values for a spreadsheet formula. Times come out without a date attached; if you need the date part as well, run the Random Date Generator and paste the two columns side by side, or use the Random CSV Generator, which can emit a full timestamp column in one pass.
How to use
- Set How many times to the number of values you need, up to 500.
- Leave No repeats ticked when every value in a test fixture must be distinct.
- Press Generate, then use Copy for a quick paste or Download to save the column.
Common questions
- Is the output 12 hour or 24 hour?
- Twenty four hour, always as HH:MM with a leading zero, so 7 minutes past midnight shows as 00:07.
- Does it include seconds?
- No, the format stops at minutes. For seconds or a full timestamp use the CSV generator with a datetime column.
- How many different times can it produce?
- There are 1,440 minute values in a day, so any request up to 500 unique times is comfortably within range.
- Are the times evenly spread across the day?
- Yes. The hour and the minute are drawn independently and uniformly, so night hours are as likely as working hours.