Studying mcrypt

Hello Php, It's my first time I use mcrypt. I've done everything like it's written in the php manuals, here is the code: <?php $d=mcrypt_module_open("rijndael-256", "", "ofb", ""); $iv=mcrypt_create_iv(mcrypt_enc_get_iv_size($d), MCRYPT_DEV_RANDOM); $ks=mcrypt_enc_get_key_size($d); $key=substr(md5("Secret key"), 0, $ks); mcrypt_generic_init($d, $key, $iv); $cpass=mcrypt_generic($d, $_POST['opass']); mcrypt_generic_deinit($d); mcrypt_module_close($d); ?> And here's what I get: Original password: asdfasdfasdf Encrypted password: Q�j�����* Question: Is it normal to have such strange characters in the encrypted string? I'm hosted at http://godaddy.com/, shared hosting, if it does matter. Thanks! -- With best regards from Ukraine, Andre Skype: Francophile Twitter: http://twitter.com/m_elensule Facebook: http://facebook.com/menelion