Short unique id in php

Question

I want to create a unique id but uniqid() is giving something like \'492607b0ee414\'. What i would like is something similar to what tinyurl gives:

Answer 1

You could use the Id and just convert it to base-36 number if you want to convert it back and forth. Can be used for any table with an integer id.

function toUId($baseId, $multiplier = 1) {
    return base_convert($baseId * $multiplier, 10, 36);
}
function fromUId($uid, $multiplier = 1) {
    return (int) base_convert($uid, 36, 10) / $multiplier;
}

echo toUId(10000, 11111);
1u5h0w
echo fromUId('1u5h0w', 11111);
10000

Smart people can probably figure it out with enough id examples. Dont let this obscurity replace security.