Here's a bit of encrypt/decrypt code.
If you're using this on the win32 platform, BEWARE! The latest DLL (19-Jan-2004) contains a bug that keeps mdecrypt_generic from functioning. Nearly drove me over the edge... The 30-Dec-2002 version seems to work with no trouble.
<?
$key = "this is a secret key";
$input = "Let us meet at 9 o'clock at the secret place.";
$td = mcrypt_module_open('tripledes', '', 'ecb', '');
$iv = mcrypt_create_iv (mcrypt_enc_get_iv_size($td), MCRYPT_RAND);
mcrypt_generic_init($td, $key, $iv);
$encrypted_data = mcrypt_generic($td, $input);
mcrypt_generic_deinit($td);
mcrypt_module_close($td);
echo "Encrypt: ".$encrypted_data;
echo "<br><br>";
$td = mcrypt_module_open('tripledes', '', 'ecb', '');
$iv = mcrypt_create_iv (mcrypt_enc_get_iv_size($td), MCRYPT_RAND);
$key = substr($key, 0, mcrypt_enc_get_key_size($td));
mcrypt_generic_init($td, $key, $iv);
$decrypted_data = mdecrypt_generic($td, $encrypted_data);
echo "Decrypt: ".$decrypted_data;
mcrypt_generic_deinit($td);
mcrypt_module_close($td);
?>