Syntax
------ 
OLD_PASSWORD(str)
 
Description
----------- 
OLD_PASSWORD() was added to MySQL when the implementation of

PASSWORD() was changed to improve security. OLD_PASSWORD()
returns the
value of the old (pre-MySQL 4.1) implementation of
PASSWORD() as a
string, and is intended to permit you to reset passwords for
any
pre-4.1 clients that need to connect to a more recent MySQL
server version, or any version of MariaDB,
without locking them out.
 
As of MariaDB 5.5, the return value is a nonbinary string in
the connection character set and collation, determined by
the values of the character_set_connection and
collation_connection system variables. Before 5.5, the
return value was a binary string.
 
The return value is 16 bytes in length, or NULL if the
argument was NULL.
 


URL: https://mariadb.com/kb/en/old_password/