How to store secure password

Hi

I want to store password in encrypted format(Non visible i.e *** ) in mysql tables?

Please help me !

use md5('the password');

Alex

use SHA1 and not MD5, it is more secure. You will need your password field to be of type char(40) to hold SHA1 passwords.

here's some more info:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/encryption-functions.html

If you are going to use md5 then apply a salt to the password before calling md5. That will make the md5 method more secure.