We made mention of an application called MD5.app on episode 11 of our podcast, as well as the ability to check MD5 hashes from the terminal. OS X has a built in MD5 generator so if you want to avoid installing another application use the following commands in the terminal.
1.) To get the MD5 has of any file simply type “MD5” then drag the file of your choosing to the terminal window. This will put in the path (directions to the files location). Hit Enter.
2.) A second quick tip: if you need to generate your own hash for a string, say a password (most internet blog passwords are stored in MD5 hashes), you type MD5 -s blahblahblah. The -s is telling the application MD5 that you will be inputting a string instead of a file. The blahblahblah is the text you want to convert.
3.) Quick aside, if you want more information on the built in MD5 application simply type “man MD5” into the terminal. The “man” part of that command sequence is asking the terminal for the manual for the application. You can navigate the menu by hitting enter to scroll down the document. Push q when you want to exit the manual, and it will return you to your prompt.
Joshua Schnell
