c++ - Shortening unique identifiers -

i generating uuid in following way

 uuidgenerator& generator = uuidgenerator::defaultgenerator();  uuid uuid2(generator.createrandom());  return uuid2.tostring() ; //returns f21cf9e1-feb1-4b44-9a24-11400b41d4e8 

i want know if there way of shortening uuid preferably 8 or fewer character ?

of course there's way shorten it.

you chop off parts of it. hash hash generates shorter results. run through compression algorithm. , many other simple, silly things.

problem is; wouldn't uuid more.