base36.py

# Base 36 functions: useful for generating compact URLs

def decode(s):
    """
    Converts a base 36 string to an ``int``. Raises ``ValueError` if the
    input won't fit into an int.
    """
    # To prevent overconsumption of server resources, reject any
    # base36 string that is long than 13 base36 digits (13 digits
    # is sufficient to base36-encode any 64-bit integer)
    if len(s) > 13:
        raise ValueError("Base36 input too large")
    value = int(s, 36)
    # ... then do a final check that the value will fit into an int.
    if value > sys.maxint:
        raise ValueError("Base36 input too large")
    return value

def encode(i):
    """
    Converts an integer to a base36 string
    """
    digits = "0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
    factor = 0
    # Find starting factor
    while True:
        factor += 1
        if i < 36 ** factor:
            factor -= 1
            break
    base36 = []
    # Construct base36 representation
    while factor >= 0:
        j = 36 ** factor
        base36.append(digits[i / j])
        i = i % j
        factor -= 1
    return ''.join(base36)