Suggestion on encrypting data for unique IDs

[kasuals]

I'm creating unique IDs within a table for members. For my purposes it has to be unique and at least 10 chars long.

Is this pretty much a given that the ID will come out unique?

$mix = date("BisZU"
$mix = $mix."".$_POST[username]."";
$memberID = base64_encode(pack("H*",md5($mix)));

Or should I handle it some other way?

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-kas

 

[sleipnir214]

Yes, it will not be unique, but no more so than concatenating the date with the userid, so there's no reason to use it. The base64 encoding algorithm is designed to be nothing more than a way of encoding 8-bit data for transmission on a 7-bit stream.

Try an MD5 hash instead -- what you want to do is what it is designed for.

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[cs7536]

or you can always use the password function..

password(); much like md5();

but from my understanding you can not undo the encryption, qould be interested in knowing what can someone do in the event that you want to retreive your password and it is displayed in encrypted form.. is there a way to turn in back to human reading form to email back to a user in the event that they forget they password?.

Max

Nothing is hard when you realy want to learn it.

Max

 

[DRJ478]

To my knowledge it is irreversible - and that's good so. It is intended to provide one-way encryption, and that's just what it does.
If someone forgets their password, forget it! A new one serves better and is the safe thing to do.