hashbytes-transact-sql.md

title	HASHBYTES (Transact-SQL)
description	HASHBYTES (Transact-SQL)
author	VanMSFT
ms.author	vanto
ms.date	07/29/2016
ms.service	sql
ms.subservice	t-sql
ms.topic	reference
ms.custom	ignite-2025
f1_keywords	HASHBYTES_TSQL HASHBYTES
helpviewer_keywords	hash input HASHBYTES
dev_langs	TSQL
monikerRange	>=aps-pdw-2016 || =azuresqldb-current || =azure-sqldw-latest || >=sql-server-2016 || >=sql-server-linux-2017 || =azuresqldb-mi-current || =fabric || =fabric-sqldb

HASHBYTES (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDE sql-asdb-asdbmi-asa-pdw-fabricse-fabricdw-fabricsqldb]

Returns the MD2, MD4, MD5, SHA, SHA1, or SHA2 hash of its input in [!INCLUDEssNoVersion].

:::image type="icon" source="../../includes/media/topic-link-icon.svg" border="false"::: Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

HASHBYTES ( '<algorithm>', { @input | 'input' } )  
  
<algorithm>::= MD2 | MD4 | MD5 | SHA | SHA1 | SHA2_256 | SHA2_512   

Arguments

<algorithm>
Identifies the hashing algorithm to be used to hash the input. This is a required argument with no default. The single quotation marks are required. Beginning with [!INCLUDEsssql16-md], all algorithms other than SHA2_256, and SHA2_512 are deprecated.

@input
Specifies a variable containing the data to be hashed. @input is varchar, nvarchar, or varbinary.

'input'
Specifies an expression that evaluates to a character or binary string to be hashed.

The output conforms to the algorithm standard: 128 bits (16 bytes) for MD2, MD4, and MD5; 160 bits (20 bytes) for SHA and SHA1; 256 bits (32 bytes) for SHA2_256, and 512 bits (64 bytes) for SHA2_512.

Applies to: [!INCLUDEssSQL11] and later

For [!INCLUDEssSQL14] and earlier, allowed input values are limited to 8000 bytes.

Return Value

varbinary (maximum 8000 bytes)

Remarks

Consider using CHECKSUM or BINARY_CHECKSUM as alternatives to compute a hash value.

The MD2, MD4, MD5, SHA, and SHA1 algorithms are deprecated starting with [!INCLUDEsssql16-md]. Use SHA2_256 or SHA2_512 instead. Older algorithms will continue working, but they will raise a deprecation event.

Examples

Return the hash of a variable

The following example returns the SHA2_256 hash of the nvarchar data stored in variable @HashThis.

DECLARE @HashThis NVARCHAR(32);  
SET @HashThis = CONVERT(NVARCHAR(32),'dslfdkjLK85kldhnv$n000#knf');  
SELECT HASHBYTES('SHA2_256', @HashThis);  

Return the hash of a table column

The following example returns the SHA2_256 hash of the values in column c1 in the table Test1.

CREATE TABLE dbo.Test1 (c1 NVARCHAR(32));  
INSERT dbo.Test1 VALUES ('This is a test.');  
INSERT dbo.Test1 VALUES ('This is test 2.');  
SELECT HASHBYTES('SHA2_256', c1) FROM dbo.Test1;  

[!INCLUDEssResult]

-------------------------------------------  
0x741238C01D9DB821CF171BF61D72260B998F7C7881D90091099945E0B9E0C2E3 
0x91DDCC41B761ACA928C62F7B0DA61DC763255E8247E0BD8DCE6B22205197154D  
(2 row(s) affected)  

See Also

Choose an Encryption Algorithm CHECKSUM_AGG (Transact-SQL) CHECKSUM (Transact-SQL) BINARY_CHECKSUM (Transact-SQL)