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Does the MD5 algorithm always generate the same output for the same string?
Is using a salt the only to produce different output?
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Generally, two files can have the same md5 hash only if their contents are exactly the same. Even a single bit of variation will generate a completely different hash value. There is one caveat, though: An md5 sum is 128 bits (16 bytes).
A hash is a mathematical function that converts an input of arbitrary length into an encrypted output of a fixed length. Thus regardless of the original amount of data or file size involved, its unique hash will always be the same size.
A hash function takes an arbitrary-length input (a file, a message, a video, etc.) and produces a fixed-length output (for example 256 bits for SHA-256). Hashing the same input produces the same digest or hash. The input of this function can be of any size.
If MD5 hashes any arbitrary string into a 32-digit hex value, then according to the Pigeonhole Principle surely this can not be unique, as there are more unique arbitrary strings than there are unique 32-digit hex values.
Yes, otherwise MD5 would be useless for things like file verification. What reason would you have for non deterministic output?
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