Sqids (pronounced "squids") is an open-source library that lets you generate YouTube-looking IDs from numbers. These IDs are short, can be generated from a custom alphabet and are guaranteed to be collision-free. Read more .
This is what they look like:
PHP code is located at https://github.com/sqids/sqids-php
To encode & decode:
$sqids = new Sqids();
$id = $sqids->encode([1, 2, 3]); // "86Rf07"
$numbers = $sqids->decode($id); // [1, 2, 3]
Randomize IDs by providing a custom alphabet:
$sqids = new Sqids('FxnXM1kBN6cuhsAvjW3Co7l2RePyY8DwaU04Tzt9fHQrqSVKdpimLGIJOgb5ZE');
$id = $sqids->encode([1, 2, 3]); // "B4aajs"
$numbers = $sqids->decode($id); // [1, 2, 3]
Enforce a minimum length for IDs:
$sqids = new Sqids('', 10);
$id = $sqids->encode([1, 2, 3]); // "86Rf07xd4z"
$numbers = $sqids->decode($id); // [1, 2, 3]
Read more at https://github.com/sqids/sqids-php
If you're looking for the original Hashids PHP, you can find it here .
The main use of Sqids is purely visual. If you'd like to use IDs instead of numbers in your webapp, Sqids could be a good choice: