Hash function that produces short hashes?

Question

Is there a way of encryption that can take a string of any length and produce a sub-10-character hash? I want to produce reasonably unique ID\'s but based on message content

Answer 1

It is now 2019 and there are better options. Namely, xxhash.

~ echo test | xxhsum                                                           
2d7f1808da1fa63c  stdin