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<refentry xml:id="function.mcrypt-generic" xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook">
 <refnamediv>
  <refname>mcrypt_generic</refname>
  <refpurpose>This function encrypts data</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>
 
 <refsect1 role="description">
  &reftitle.description;
  <methodsynopsis>
   <type>string</type><methodname>mcrypt_generic</methodname>
   <methodparam><type>resource</type><parameter>td</parameter></methodparam>
   <methodparam><type>string</type><parameter>data</parameter></methodparam>
  </methodsynopsis>
  <para>
   This function encrypts data. The data is padded with "<literal>\0</literal>"
   to make sure the length of the data is n * blocksize. This
   function returns the encrypted data. Note that the length
   of the returned string can in fact be longer then the input,
   due to the padding of the data.
  </para>
  <para>
   If you want to store the encrypted data in a database make sure to store
   the entire string as returned by mcrypt_generic, or the string will not
   entirely decrypt properly.  If your original string is 10 characters long
   and the block size is 8 (use
   <function>mcrypt_enc_get_block_size</function> to determine the
   blocksize), you would need at least 16 characters in your database field.
   Note the string returned by <function>mdecrypt_generic</function> will be
   16 characters as well...use rtrim($str, "\0") to remove the padding.
  </para>
  <para>
   If you are for example storing the data in a MySQL database remember that
   varchar fields automatically have trailing spaces removed during
   insertion. As encrypted data can end in a space (ASCII 32), the data will
   be damaged by this removal.  Store data in a tinyblob/tinytext (or
   larger) field instead.
  </para>
  <para>
   The encryption handle should always be initialized with
   <function>mcrypt_generic_init</function> with a key and an IV before
   calling this function. Where the encryption is done, you should free the
   encryption buffers by calling <function>mcrypt_generic_deinit</function>.
   See <function>mcrypt_module_open</function> for an example.
  </para>
  <para>
   See also <function>mdecrypt_generic</function>,
   <function>mcrypt_generic_init</function>, and
   <function>mcrypt_generic_deinit</function>.
  </para>
 </refsect1>
</refentry>

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