sub getUid {
    my @existing_uids = @_;
    my $uid = int(($max_uid-$min_uid) * rand(1));

    foreach my $existing_uid (@existing_uids) {
        if ( $uid == $existing_uid ) {
            $found = 1;        
            }
        }
    
    if ( $found = 0 ) { 
        return $uid;       
        }

    return getUid(@existing_uids);
    }