In reply to Chris Hemedinger.

Whoops, sorry.

IB, PIB, PD, and RB are informats that can be applied to binary data.

IB (integer binary) and PIB (positive integer binary) are similar and the high-level description reads, "Reads [positive] integer binary (fixed-point) values."

RB (real binary) "[r]eads numeric data that is stored in real binary (floating-point) notation."

PD is for reading an IBM packed-decimal format, so maybe that rules itself out here.

As I said, but did not elaborate on, I am using MD5 to anonymize identifiers, and was trying to create a numeric ID that I could use instead of a beastly hex. I know hex is prettier than binary, but that's sort of like saying a cow is prettier than a pig (individual tastes may vary).

So I'm experimenting with using these informats on the results of MD5 (and plan to try SHA256) and finding the results a bit unwieldy. Maybe trying to use the hash like this is a fundamentally flawed premise? I don't know.