HASHBYTES
Returns the MD2, MD4, MD5, SHA, SHA1, or SHA2 hash of its input.
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.
@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.
Return types
varbinary (maximum 8000 bytes)
Example
SELECT HASHBYTES('SHA2_256', 0x4234123412341234);