What is SALT and how do i use it?

Question

I have been searching around and I am still unsure of what a \"salt\" is and how to use/implement it. Sorry for the noobish question, I am self learning php.

Answer 1

A salt is a (short) string that is added to the string you want to encrypt or hash. An Example:

This adds security to the hash, as it's unlikely that "anythingyouwant_abcdefg" is already stored in a hash-database ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_tables )