Yurttas/PL/SL/python/docs/core-python-programming/doc/152/lib/module-crypt.html
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8.4 crypt -- Function to check Unix passwords
Availability: Unix.
This module implements an interface to the crypt(3) routine, which is a one-way hash function based upon a modified DES algorithm; see the Unix man page for further details. Possible uses include allowing Python scripts to accept typed passwords from the user, or attempting to crack Unix passwords with a dictionary.
- crypt (word, salt)
- word will usually be a user's password as typed at a prompt or in a graphical interface. salt is usually a random two-character string which will be used to perturb the DES algorithm in one of 4096 ways. The characters in salt must be in the set [./a-zA-Z0-9]. Returns the hashed password as a string, which will be composed of characters from the same alphabet as the salt (the first two characters represent the salt itself).
A simple example illustrating typical use:
import crypt, getpass, pwd
def login():
username = raw_input('Python login:')
cryptedpasswd = pwd.getpwnam(username)[1]
if cryptedpasswd:
if cryptedpasswd == 'x' or cryptedpasswd == '*':
raise "Sorry, currently no support for shadow passwords"
cleartext = getpass.getpass()
return crypt.crypt(cleartext, cryptedpasswd[:2]) == cryptedpasswd
else:
return 1
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