Calculate a MD5 hash from a string

Question

I use the following C# code to calculate a MD5 hash from a string. It works well and generates a 32-character hex string like this: 900150983cd24fb0d6963f7d28e17f72

Answer 1

Depends entirely on what you are trying to achieve. Technically, you could just take the first 12 characters from the result of the MD5 hash, but the specification of MD5 is to generate a 32 char one.

Reducing the size of the hash reduces the security, and increases the chance of collisions and the system being broken.

Perhaps if you let us know more about what you are trying to achieve we may be able to assist more.