Different results between PHP md5() and Ruby Digest::MD5.hexdigest

Question

I wanted to pass a MD5 hash generated by Ruby program to a PHP program, and found something strange.

Ruby code(result: ad0efdf609e99ec50d9333dc0bd1c11a)

Digest::MD5.hexdigest 'test str1&test str2&test str3&test str4'

PHP code(result: 804160119894a4cc8c376fffbcc21e1c)

PHP online MD5 generator

You can see the results are different... but if I remove the "&" in my string:

Ruby code(result: 45fa91e4c89aa6f3bb501531a5de6bf4)

Digest::MD5.hexdigest 'test str1test str2test str3test str4'

PHP code(result: 45fa91e4c89aa6f3bb501531a5de6bf4)

PHP online MD5 generator

They are the same. Why did this happen? The MD5 algorithm should be same in any language, shouldn't it?

I think these &$#% write different in strings per language. Sometimes it is written by 4 digit code. Have you try escape thise strings? — Poomrokc The 3years, Apr 14 '14 at 14:13
What is your default encoding? : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16753321/what-is-the-default-encoding-for-the-function-md5-in-php — Digital Chris, Apr 14 '14 at 14:13

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 14 '14 at 14:18

4

The results of that website are wrong.

Here comes an example (using PHP on the command line):

php -r 'echo md5("test str1&test str2&test str3&test str4");'

Output:

ad0efdf609e99ec50d9333dc0bd1c11a

answered Apr 14 '14 at 14:18

hek2mgl

152,036
28
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1

Correct, the MD5 generator is actually running the hash of `test str1` in the first example. – Phylogenesis Apr 14 '14 at 14:26
Thank you very much, I was totally confused with the results. You saved me. – Bigxiang Apr 14 '14 at 15:01
You are welcome. You could write an email to the owner of the site and inform him. I'm sure he will appreciate that. – hek2mgl Apr 14 '14 at 15:05

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 14 '14 at 14:26

804160119894a4cc8c376fffbcc21e1c is the MD5 hash for test str1, not test str1&test str2&test str3&test str4.

That on-line generator is obviously corrupting POST data ~~when reading it~~. According to Firebug, data is already sent corrupted to the server, so the issue is on its client-side form handling. It's easy to find what's wrong:

function sendHttpRequest(w){
    var url = "http://www.md5.cz/getmd5.php";
    var idWhat = document.getElementById('what');
    var params = "what=" + idWhat.value;
                           ^^^^ Pardon???

The correct hash is ad0efdf609e99ec50d9333dc0bd1c11a.

Thank you very much, your answer and above are both excellent, I want to accept you two but I can't. So I only can vote you up :) — Bigxiang, Apr 14 '14 at 15:03

Different results between PHP md5() and Ruby Digest::MD5.hexdigest

Ruby code(result: ad0efdf609e99ec50d9333dc0bd1c11a)

PHP code(result: 804160119894a4cc8c376fffbcc21e1c)

Ruby code(result: 45fa91e4c89aa6f3bb501531a5de6bf4)

PHP code(result: 45fa91e4c89aa6f3bb501531a5de6bf4)

2 Answers2