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phpmysqlencryptionmcrypt

mcrypt characters causing mysql errors

I'm having trouble getting php's mcrypt function to encrypt text in a way that can be stored in my mysql database.

Here's an example of a query that doesn't work:

UPDATE mydatabase.clients SET firstname='\'å»”é¶Q' WHERE id_client=65

But if I change it to be:

UPDATE mydatabase.clients SET firstname='Test' WHERE id_client=65

Then it works. So it must be those crazy mcrypt characters throwing things off.

What do I do to my mysql database so it accepts those characters?

Solution

  • The output of a cipher is a string of bytes, not characters. You shouldn't store cipher text directly as text. Use a "binary" data type, or transform the byte string to text with something like Base-64.