title: Special characters in MySql Password
body: <p>Our app continues to have problem with MySql passwords.  We would like to create a function to test for password validity before it is presented to the database.</p>
  
  <p>Can anyone direct me to guidelines for MySql passwords involving these 2 topics:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>password max length  (hash is stored as 16 bit varchar which does not mean 16 is max length)  </li>
  <li>which punctuation / special characters can be used in a MySql password?  </li>
  </ol>