are there any functions built in that will encrpyt and decrpyt a string, they dont need to be high security or anything just need to no if ther is one
There is an encryption add-on, refer to your phpinfo to see if it's supported on your host.
Or. Write your own.
Is this for a password? Use SHA-1 or MD5.
mySQL and PHP have those always.
no its not for a password.