DIGEST()

The DIGEST() function returns the message digest string for a supplied string or file.

Format

DIGEST(string, is.file, mode)

where

string

is either the string to be encoded or the pathname of a file containing data to be encoded.

is.file

is a Boolean value indicating whether string is the actual data string or a pathname.

mode	evaluates to the name of the digest algorithm to be used. Supported algorithms are MD4, MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA384 and SHA512.

If successful, the DIGEST() returns the result of applying the specified digest algorithm to the supplied data and the STATUS() function will return zero. All error conditions return a null string and the STATUS() function can be used to determine the cause.

Example

DISPLAY 'Password: ' :

INPUT PASSWORD

IF DIGEST(PASSWORD, @FALSE, 'SHA256') # ENCRYPTED.PASSWORD THEN

DISPLAY 'Access denied'

RETURN

END

The above example compares a password entered by the user with a stored message digest value for the correct password. Because message digests are not reversible, there is no way to determine the actual password from the stored value.