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Posted on Sat Jul 16 21:05:13 2005 by suntech
Digest::MD5 Question
Ok... It seems usefull to use for storing passwords and comparing for login situations but how do I, if at all, take the digest and view it? I dont see any routines for returning the digest to its original state. Or is this not its purpose?
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Posted on Wed Jul 20 01:28:15 2005 by itub in response to 749
Re: Digest::MD5 Question
The whole point of the MD5 digest is that you cannot return them to their original state. They are one way functions.

First, consider that you may be reducing a huge string to a small fixed-length digest. That means that information got lost; there may be many long strings that also map to the exact same digest. However, if the digest works properly, it should be very computationally expensive to figure out a plain text value that results in a given digest.

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