>Hi Sergey
>
>>It's hard to suggest anything because it's not clear what the problem is.
>
>I want to generate some sort of short code number or name for pathnames strings. I intend to attach this code/name to my ODBC/alias names, but this is secondary.
>
>I want this code/name to be short but consistent and unique for each pathname that I feed the procedure/function for this case.

Sorry but I still don't understand why do you need it. Anyway, would SYS(2007) work for you?