String Encryption

If you're building a user system, or any other method of authentication, this is definitely a necessity for you. You can't just store raw passwords, that's unsafe and unmoral - keep your user's privacy at hand, and encrypt those passwords.

There are two foolproof ways of encrypting strings. md5(), and sha1().

First on the list is md5(). This function returns a 128bit string of randomly assigned characters, and is probably the most common function used from encryption today. Every string has a unique set of characters, that always stays the same.

Here is an example of md5's usage, in encrypting the word 'string'.

$string = 'string';
  $hash = md5($string);

It word return $hash as this:

b45cffe084dd3d20d928bee85e7b0f21

The next encryption method is sha1(). SHA stands for Secure Hash Algorithm, and is equally as safe as md5(). This function returns a 160bit string of assigned characters to the specified string, that also always stays the same.

An example of sha1's usage is below.

$string = 'string';
  $hash = sha1($string);

This would return $hash as the following string:

ecb252044b5ea0f679ee78ec1a12904739e2904d

You can also get experimental, and combine both methods, to create something like the following.

$string = 'string';
  $hash = sha1(md5($string));

This would return $hash as the following:

68fe1f51772a8e68ad92cc929da539ff411149fe

That's all in another tutorial from phpecho.com! Thanks for reading!