llHash

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Summary

Function: integer llHash( string val );
0.0 Forced Delay
10.0 Energy

Returns a 32bit hash for the provided string. Returns 0 if the input string is empty.
Returns an integer

• string val String to hash.

Specification

The SDBM algorithm provides a good general purpose hash function with a fairly even distribution across the 32 bit space in the general case. The characters fed into the hash function are 32bit wide.

<source lang="cpp"> U32 SDBMHash(const std::wstring &val) {

   U32 hash(0);
   for(const wchar_t &c: val)
   {
       hash = c + (hash << 6) + (hash << 16) - hash;
   }
   return hash;

} </source>

In LSL: <source lang="lsl2"> integer llSDBMHash(string value) {

   integer hash = 0;
   integer index = 0;
   for (index = 0; index < llStringLength(value); ++index)
   {
       hash = llOrd(value, index) + (hash << 6) + (hash << 16) - hash;
   }
   
   return hash;

}

</source>

Caveats

This hash value is not cryptographically secure and should not be used as part of any security protocol. SDBM provides a good distribution of hash values across its range, however with only 32 bits the chance of a collision is unacceptably high.(with 1000 entries, the odds for a collision are about 1 in 10000.)

Examples

Given the combination of the object name and the owner's key generate a unique number. This number could be used for things like selecting a chat channel that has a low probability of colliding with another object. <source lang="lsl2"> integer pickIDForObject() {

   /* Generate an arbitrary integer ID for the combination of the
    * object name and the ower's key.  This value could be used 
    * for selecting a chat/listen channel. 
    */
   string obj_name = llGetObjectName();
   key obj_owner = llGetOwner();
   
   integer hash = llHash(obj_name + (string)obj_owner);
   
   return hash;

}

</source>

See Also

Functions

• llOrd Convert a character into an ordinal
• llChar Convert an ordinal into a character

Articles

•  "Wikipedia logo"List of hash functions
•  Hash Collision Probabilities

Deep Notes

Signature

function integer llHash( string val );