Code Clarification - bin2hex mhash

[kellyalan]

Just want to get clarification on what this does and why you'd want it displayed in email output:

 

.bin2hex(mhash(MHASH_MD5, time()))

 

Thanks

[Jacques1]

Hi,

 

I guess even the author of the code doesn't know what it's for. Where on earth does this come from?

 

The code is an extremely cumbersome way of writing

 

md5(time())

 

Why would one hash the current Unix time? I have absolutely no idea. Maybe they wanted a fixed length. Or maybe it's a botched security feature.

[Ansego]

Hi,

 

I also agree with @Jacques1;

 

Has the explanation in more detail on the php manual:

 

bin2hex

Reference: http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.bin2hex.php

 

Mhash

Reference: http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.mhash.php

 

md5

Reference: http://au2.php.net/md5

[kellyalan]

Thanks for the replies and links -- I inherited this code and wasn't quite sure why this was used