# Examples Overview
This section provides practical examples for common idt use cases.
## Quick Examples
### Generate and Use
```bash
# Generate a UUID and store it
ID=$(idt gen uuidv7 --no-newline)
echo "Created resource with ID: $ID"
# Generate and insert into database
### Inspect Unknown IDs
```bash
# What type of ID is this?
idt inspect 01ARZ3NDEKTSV4RRFFQ69G5FAV
# When was it created?
### Batch Operations
```bash
# Generate 1000 UUIDs to file
idt gen uuid -n 1000 -o uuids.txt
# Validate all IDs in a file
# Convert a list of IDs
## Example Categories
- [Generating IDs](./generation.md) - ID generation patterns
- [Inspecting IDs](./inspection.md) - Analyzing and decoding IDs
- [Converting Formats](./conversion.md) - Format transformation
- [Shell Scripting](./scripting.md) - Integration with shell scripts
- [JSON Output](./json-output.md) - Machine-readable output
## Common Patterns
### Database Primary Keys
```bash
# Generate sortable primary key
idt gen uuidv7
# Generate for existing UUID column
idt gen uuid
```
### API Tokens
```bash
# Long, secure token
idt gen nanoid --length 32
# URL-safe token
idt gen nanoid --alphabet "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"
```
### Debugging
```bash
# Decode ID from logs
idt inspect "01ARZ3NDEKTSV4RRFFQ69G5FAV"
# Compare two IDs for ordering
idt compare "$OLD_ID" "$NEW_ID"
# Sort IDs from logs by creation time
cat log_ids.txt | idt sort --show-time
```
### Data Migration
```bash
# Convert UUID format for different system
idt convert "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000" -f base64
# Validate IDs before import