``md5`` --- MD5 message digest algorithm
****************************************

Deprecated since version 2.5: Use the ``hashlib`` module instead.

This module implements the interface to RSA's MD5 message digest
algorithm (see also Internet **RFC 1321**).  Its use is quite
straightforward: use ``new()`` to create an md5 object. You can now
feed this object with arbitrary strings using the ``update()`` method,
and at any point you can ask it for the *digest* (a strong kind of
128-bit checksum, a.k.a. "fingerprint") of the concatenation of the
strings fed to it so far using the ``digest()`` method.

For example, to obtain the digest of the string ``'Nobody inspects the
spammish repetition'``:

>>> import md5
>>> m = md5.new()
>>> m.update("Nobody inspects")
>>> m.update(" the spammish repetition")
>>> m.digest()
'\xbbd\x9c\x83\xdd\x1e\xa5\xc9\xd9\xde\xc9\xa1\x8d\xf0\xff\xe9'

More condensed:

>>> md5.new("Nobody inspects the spammish repetition").digest()
'\xbbd\x9c\x83\xdd\x1e\xa5\xc9\xd9\xde\xc9\xa1\x8d\xf0\xff\xe9'

The following values are provided as constants in the module and as
attributes of the md5 objects returned by ``new()``:

md5.digest_size

   The size of the resulting digest in bytes.  This is always ``16``.

The md5 module provides the following functions:

md5.new([arg])

   Return a new md5 object.  If *arg* is present, the method call
   ``update(arg)`` is made.

md5.md5([arg])

   For backward compatibility reasons, this is an alternative name for
   the ``new()`` function.

An md5 object has the following methods:

md5.update(arg)

   Update the md5 object with the string *arg*.  Repeated calls are
   equivalent to a single call with the concatenation of all the
   arguments: ``m.update(a); m.update(b)`` is equivalent to
   ``m.update(a+b)``.

md5.digest()

   Return the digest of the strings passed to the ``update()`` method
   so far. This is a 16-byte string which may contain non-ASCII
   characters, including null bytes.

md5.hexdigest()

   Like ``digest()`` except the digest is returned as a string of
   length 32, containing only hexadecimal digits.  This may  be used
   to exchange the value safely in email or other non-binary
   environments.

md5.copy()

   Return a copy ("clone") of the md5 object.  This can be used to
   efficiently compute the digests of strings that share a common
   initial substring.

See also:

   Module ``sha``
      Similar module implementing the Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA).
      The SHA algorithm is considered a more secure hash.