Base58

Note:

This is a fork from: https://github.com/stephen-hill/base58php but since its being used in a private project i had to import it to our git repository to stabilize the versioning structure. Please give credit to Stephen Hill for his work.

REPOSITORY: https://git.ryuu.technology/KryuuCommon/Base58

GITHUB: Is mirrored from this repository

Base 58 is a close to the same as the more commonly known Base64, the main difference in Base64 and Base58 is that Base58 is used for crypto currencies, eg, encoding a public key or transactions.

Lets take a look at an example, by encoding the text "0testingWorks=" (decided on this string as its a good representation of the differences):

In base64 we get

MHRlc3RpbmdXb3Jrcz0=

and in base58

JpBuDCbgWiyS4HkVihS

One thing that should be noticeable about these two is that the Base58 is easier to read. this is because Base58 is made for reading. Base58 is not using the 0 character, in fact, it doesn't use "0" (zero), "O" (uppercase letter O), "l" (lowercase letter L), and I (uppercase letter i) as they visually conflict with each other. Depending on the font "0" looks like "O" and "1" looks like "l" the same goes for "I" can look like either "1" or "l". Further more the letters "+" (plus) and "/" (slash) are not used at there is a small risk of the to be wrongly interpreted, and makes the reading harder.

I have created a Base58 Library for PHP that can be found here; https://git.ryuu.technology/KryuuCommon/Base58

Usage

encoding

<?php

use KryuuCommon\Base58\Base58;

$b58 = new Base58();
$encoded = $b58->encode('0testingWorks='); 

result:

JpBuDCbgWiyS4HkVihS

decoding

<?php

use KryuuCommon\Base58\Base58;

$b58 = new Base58();
$decoded= $b58->decode('JpBuDCbgWiyS4HkVihS');

result:

0testingWorks=

Further information will be available in the repository