Everything2
Near Matches
Ignore Exact
Full Text
Everything2

hash collision

created by everyone

(idea) by WWWWolf (1.4 y) (print)   ?   (I like it!) Thu Nov 30 2000 at 13:17:28

Hash collision is a condition in which a hash function gives the same hash code or hash table location for two different keys.

In practice, this would mean that there might be, for example, two passwords that encrypt to same value - thus there are two passwords that can be used to enter the system.

A more practical example: Suppose you have a lot of forms from different people and you want to sort them to piles by the first letter of their surname. If there are many people that have names that start with same letter (probability approximately 1/26), there will be more than one paper in those piles. Then, your "hashing system" would need to cope with this hash collision, probaby by sorting the piles again by the second letter of the surname: Again there's a 1/26 possibility that there's more than one with same second letter... Now you have 26*26=676 piles labeled 'aa', 'ab' and so on, but at least you get low piles!

For some hash functions, like MD5, hash collisions are extremely unlikely, but nevertheless they do occurr. This is because of the nature of hashing (the idea is to find a short representation for arbitrary-length data).

See: Birthday Paradox


(idea) by Jargon (1.8 y) (print)   ?   (I like it!) Thu Jul 19 2001 at 10:13:56

hash bucket = H = hat

hash collision n.

[from the techspeak] (var. `hash clash') When used of people, signifies a confusion in associative memory or imagination, especially a persistent one (see thinko). True story: One of us [ESR] was once on the phone with a friend about to move out to Berkeley. When asked what he expected Berkeley to be like, the friend replied: "Well, I have this mental picture of naked women throwing Molotov cocktails, but I think that's just a collision in my hash tables." Compare hash bucket.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.


printable version
chaos

Birthday Paradox hash bucket hat hash function
MD5 hash function thinko Hash bash Cats in Bomber Jackets
hash table hash hash oil How to destroy the Earth
rescdsk GIS CGI November 30, 2000
Y'know, if you log in, you can write something here, or contact authors directly on the site. Create a New User if you don't already have an account.
  Epicenter
Login
Password

password reminder
register

Everything2 Help

Cool Staff Picks
Things you could have written:
Harry's Bar
Ballet
Turkana Boy
24
test5
I don't remember what life was like when I was seven. I like the taste of air. What should I do?
The Goddess of the Black Fan
Vlad Tepes
I can't live without you
The Sleeping Gypsy
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
monitor
To Love Everything
New Writeups
Heitah
Posthumous Oscar(thing)
ignis_glaciesque
University of South Florida(place)
ignis_glaciesque
Flogstaskriket(idea)
liveforever
Caesar's last breath(idea)
dagnyswaggart
she wants to believe(personal)
antigravpussy
he doesn't know, but her eyes widen too far(thing)
dagnyswaggart
Wild tides guard her secrets(poetry)
Lord Brawl
Caesar's last breath(poetry)
locke baron
Forgotten things in space(fiction)
sitaraika
Colours(idea)
etouffee
Wild tides guard her secrets(poetry)
Lord Brawl
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog(review)
a8ksh4
regret(idea)
Heisenberg
Editor Log: July 2008(log)
sam512
halfway homes, catacombs, twilight zones(fiction)
This page courtesy of The Everything Development Company