What's the coolest program you've made in Python?

The coolest Python program I have ever made is Python password hasher. Let's first understand what python password hashing is.

What is Password Hashing?

Python Password hashing is a form of advanced encryption which can be used to store passwords online safely. In today’s world of everything being online, user passwords are one of the most easily attacked sensitive information on the internet. The password string is converted to a string of random characters using different hashing algorithms, which have been used in my program. The user is instructed to input the password string, then select the appropriate hashing algorithm to be used. The output hash is then shown, which can be stored online.

Steps Used

• Create the functions for different hashing methods

• Take user input for password string

• Take user input for choice of hashing method

• Convert the string and provide output

Step 1: Create the functions for different hashing methods

First, we create the different functions which take as an argument the password string and convert it into the ciphertext form. Ciphertext is actually the form of the data after it has been hashed. The different functions contain different hashing algorithms.

Syntax

def hash_with_MD5(message):
   print ("MD5:", hashlib.md5(message).hexdigest()) 

Here the function takes the message as the argument, and converts it into ciphertext using the MD5 hashing algorithm. The hash digest is then printed for the user. Instead of MD5, if any other hashing algorithm is used, then the syntax will be the same, just the calling of the hash function will be changed.

Algorithm

Step 1 − Define the different functions for different hashing algorithms

Step 2 − Take the user inputted string as argument for the function

Step 3 − In the function body, print the hexdigest of the hashed password

Example

def hash_with_MD5(message):
   encoded=message.encode()
   print ("Hashed with MD5:", hashlib.md5(encoded).hexdigest())
def hash_with_SHA(message):
   encoded=message.encode()
   print ("Hashed with SHA:", hashlib.sha256(encoded).hexdigest())
def hash_with_blake(message):
   encoded=message.encode()
   print ("Hashed with blake2b:",   hashlib.blake2b(encoded).hexdigest())
message='tutorialspoint'
hash_with_MD5(message)
hash_with_SHA(message)
hash_with_blake(message)

Output

Hashed with MD5: 6c60b3cfe5124f982eb629e00a98f01f
Hashed with SHA:
15e6e9ddbe43d9fe5745a1348bf1535b0456956d18473f5a3d14d6ab06737770
Hashed with blake2b:
109f6f017d7a77bcf57e4b48e9c744280ae7f836477c16464b27a3fe62e1353c70ec4c7f938080
60ee7c311094eede0235a43151c3d2b7401a3cb5a8f8ab3fbb 

Step 2: Take user input for password string

The next step is taking input from the user, for the password that needs to be stored. The password to be stored must be hashed for security reasons, and before hashing, the password inputted by the user must be encoded to ensure it is suitable for passing to the hashing function. This encoding action is performed by the encode() function.

Syntax

password=input("message").encode()

The password that we receive from the user using the input() function cannot be used for hashing, thus it is encoded using the encode() function. These two steps are combined in a single command here, for ease of coding and simplicity.

Algorithm

Step 1 − Receive input from user using input() function

Step 2 − Convert the input into encoded format

Example

password=input(“Enter the password for hashing: ”).encode()

Output

Enter the password for hashing: Python 

Step 3: Take user input for choice of hashing method

We will provide users choices, as to which hashing algorithm we will use for securely hashing the password. There are different benefits and demerits of different methods, so we have given the user the choice to decide which will be the most suitable for the particular password. Here we use a simple If-else structure to determine the choice inputted by the user.

Syntax

while True:
   choice = input("Enter choice(1/2/3): ")
      if choice in ('1', '2', '3'):
      try:
      ………………… 

Here we ask the user the type of hashing they perform, along with the list of options. The input is then checked for in a valid list of inputs, if it is true, then the asked operation is performed. Otherwise, the program control breaks out of the loop.

Algorithm

Step 1 − Ask user for input

Step 2 − Check if user input is valid

Step 3 − Perform actions as selected

Step 4 − Ask if more actions are to be performed

Example

import hashlib
def hash_with_MD5(password):
   
   #encoded=password.encode()
   print ("Hashed with MD5:", hashlib.md5(password).hexdigest())
def hash_with_SHA(password):
   
   #encoded=password.encode()
   print ("Hashed with SHA:", hashlib.sha256(password).hexdigest())
def hash_with_blake(password):
   
   #encoded=password.encode()
   print ("Hashed with blake2b:", hashlib.blake2b(password).hexdigest())
print("Select hashing operation.") 
print("1.MD5")
print("2.SHA")
print("3.blake")
while True:
   
   # take input from the user
   choice = input("Enter choice(1/2/3): ")
   
   # check if choice is one of the four options
   if choice in ('1', '2', '3'):
      try:
         password=input('Enter the password for hashing: ').encode()
      except ValueError:
         print("Invalid input. Please enter a string.")
         continue
      if choice == '1':
         hash_with_MD5(password)
      elif choice == '2':
         hash_with_SHA(password)
      elif choice == '3':
         hash_with_blake(password)
            
            # checking if user wants another calculation
      # break the while loop if answer is no
      next_calculation = input("Let's do next calculation? (yes/no): ")
      if next_calculation == "no":
         break
      else:
         print("Invalid Input")

Output

Select hashing operation.
1.MD5
2.SHA
3.blake
Enter choice(1/2/3): 2
Enter the password for hashing:Python
Hashed with SHA:
18885f27b5af9012df19e496460f9294d5ab76128824c6f993787004f6d9a7db
Let's do next calculation? (yes/no): yes
Enter choice(1/2/3): 1
Enter the password for hashing:Tutorialspoint 
Hashed with MD5: da653faa9f00528be9a57f3474f0e437
Let's do next calculation? (yes/no): no 

Conclusion

Thus here we have built the program for hashing user passwords and returning for safe storage. The program runs successfully and solves an important purpose. Further modifications can be also done to implement newer features, which we will do later.