Is it possible to decrypt an encrypted string in perl without a key?

I'm trying to figure out some way to crypt a string, put it in a file, have a perl script open the file, read the string, decrypt it, and save the decrypted value as a variable ... all this without using a key or anything ... i want to be able to load a password into a perl script without having to save the password (or key to decrypt) in raw text anywhere on the system

is this possible?

thanks,
Ryan

>>decrypt it, and save the decrypted value as a variable, is this possible?

Technically yes, but pratically no, since it would take you forever. That is what the crypt mechanism is.

I see why people want to do this mainly due to the need for "lost password" part of your site. The only way to do it is to store the original (unencrypted) password somewhere, either clear text or database on your system.