Convert string to int in bash.

str_to_int.sh

#!/bin/bash
# This is a simple bash function to change strings (of arbitrary length) into integers (of arbitrary maximums).
# I use this to convert my "user@hostname" to a number between 1-255 and use that as a persistent color for the 
# termnal prompt to remind me what box/user I am on.
#
# It just hashes whatever string you give it, converts the hex to a decimal and then mods around whatever your max int is.

# Usage:   str_to_int [string_to_convert]  [max_int_size]
# Example: str_to_int "user@hostname" 255
#
function str_to_int {
  echo $(( 0x$(echo -n "$1" | sha1sum | cut -d " " -f 1) % $2 ))
}