How to calculate a hash value of a byte string using the MD5() function?

MD5(str) is a MySQL built-in function that calculates a hash value of a given byte string using the MD5 (Message Digest 5) algorithm. It always returns a 32 hexadecimal digits string presenting a 128-bit (16-byte) hash value. For example:

SELECT MD5('FYI'), LENGTH(MD5('FYI')) AS Chars, 
  LENGTH(UNHEX(MD5('FYI'))) AS Bytes;
  -- +----------------------------------+-------+-------+
  -- | MD5('FYI')                       | Chars | Bytes |
  -- +----------------------------------+-------+-------+
  -- | 89a0ec69fae5a63c6724cc9b146971a0 |    32 |    16 |
  -- +----------------------------------+-------+-------+

SELECT MD5('FYIcenter.com'), LENGTH(MD5('FYIcenter.com')) AS Chars, 
  LENGTH(UNHEX(MD5('FYIcenter.com'))) AS Bytes;
  -- +----------------------------------+-------+-------+
  -- | MD5('FYIcenter.com')             | Chars | Bytes |
  -- +----------------------------------+-------+-------+
  -- | a742082a673f5d14258342a033173b2f |    32 |    16 |
  -- +----------------------------------+-------+-------+

Reference information of the MD5() function:

MD5(str): hash
  Calculates a hash value of a given byte string using the MD5 algorithm.

Arguments, return value and availability:
  str: Required. The byte string to be processed.
  hash: Return value. The MD5 hash value in hexadecimal digits
  Available since MySQL 4.1.

⇒ RANDOM_BYTES() - Generating Random Bytes

⇐ CRC32() - Cyclic Redundancy Check 32-Bit

⇑ MySQL Functions for Encryption and Compression

⇑⇑ MySQL Function References