terraform/website/docs/language/functions/sha256.html.md

---
layout: "language"
page_title: "sha256 - Functions - Configuration Language"
sidebar_current: "docs-funcs-crypto-sha256"
description: |-
  The sha256 function computes the SHA256 hash of a given string and encodes it
  with hexadecimal digits.
---

# `sha256` Function

`sha256` computes the SHA256 hash of a given string and encodes it with
hexadecimal digits.

The given string is first encoded as UTF-8 and then the SHA256 algorithm is applied
as defined in [RFC 4634](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4634). The raw hash is
then encoded to lowercase hexadecimal digits before returning.

## Examples

```
> sha256("hello world")
b94d27b9934d3e08a52e52d7da7dabfac484efe37a5380ee9088f7ace2efcde9
```

## Related Functions


## Related Functions

* [`filesha256`](./filesha256.html) calculates the same hash from
  the contents of a file rather than from a string value.
* [`base64sha256`](./base64sha256.html) calculates the same hash but returns
  the result in a more-compact Base64 encoding.
website: Docs for all of the hash/crypto functions 2018-05-13 22:48:45 +02:00			`---`
Revert "migrate docs to mdx" This reverts commit 3cb12b5a52c52918391bf506df7bb5d8a9020f43. 2021-11-23 00:57:25 +01:00			`layout: "language"`
			`page_title: "sha256 - Functions - Configuration Language"`
			`sidebar_current: "docs-funcs-crypto-sha256"`
website: Docs for all of the hash/crypto functions 2018-05-13 22:48:45 +02:00			`description: \|-`
			`The sha256 function computes the SHA256 hash of a given string and encodes it`
			`with hexadecimal digits.`
			`---`

			# `sha256` Function

			`sha256` computes the SHA256 hash of a given string and encodes it with
			`hexadecimal digits.`

			`The given string is first encoded as UTF-8 and then the SHA256 algorithm is applied`
			`as defined in [RFC 4634](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4634). The raw hash is`
			`then encoded to lowercase hexadecimal digits before returning.`

			`## Examples`

			```
			`> sha256("hello world")`
			`b94d27b9934d3e08a52e52d7da7dabfac484efe37a5380ee9088f7ace2efcde9`
			```

			`## Related Functions`

Revert "migrate docs to mdx" This reverts commit 3cb12b5a52c52918391bf506df7bb5d8a9020f43. 2021-11-23 00:57:25 +01:00
lang: New file-hashing functions In prior versions, we recommended using hash functions in conjunction with the file function as an idiom for detecting changes to upstream blobs without fetching and comparing the whole blob. That approach relied on us being able to return raw binary data from file(...). Since Terraform strings pass through intermediate representations that are not binary-safe (e.g. the JSON state), there was a risk of string corruption in prior versions which we have avoided for 0.12 by requiring that file(...) be used only with UTF-8 text files. The specific case of returning a string and immediately passing it into another function was not actually subject to that corruption risk, since the HIL interpreter would just pass the string through verbatim, but this is still now forbidden as a result of the stricter handling of file(...). To avoid breaking these use-cases, here we introduce variants of the hash functions a with "file" prefix that take a filename for a disk file to hash rather than hashing the given string directly. The configuration upgrade tool also now includes a rule to detect the documented idiom and rewrite it into a single function call for one of these new functions. This does cause a bit of function sprawl, but that seems preferable to introducing more complex rules for when file(...) can and cannot read binary files, making the behavior of these various functions easier to understand in isolation. 2019-01-25 18:16:43 +01:00			`## Related Functions`

Revert "migrate docs to mdx" This reverts commit 3cb12b5a52c52918391bf506df7bb5d8a9020f43. 2021-11-23 00:57:25 +01:00			* [`filesha256`](./filesha256.html) calculates the same hash from
lang: New file-hashing functions In prior versions, we recommended using hash functions in conjunction with the file function as an idiom for detecting changes to upstream blobs without fetching and comparing the whole blob. That approach relied on us being able to return raw binary data from file(...). Since Terraform strings pass through intermediate representations that are not binary-safe (e.g. the JSON state), there was a risk of string corruption in prior versions which we have avoided for 0.12 by requiring that file(...) be used only with UTF-8 text files. The specific case of returning a string and immediately passing it into another function was not actually subject to that corruption risk, since the HIL interpreter would just pass the string through verbatim, but this is still now forbidden as a result of the stricter handling of file(...). To avoid breaking these use-cases, here we introduce variants of the hash functions a with "file" prefix that take a filename for a disk file to hash rather than hashing the given string directly. The configuration upgrade tool also now includes a rule to detect the documented idiom and rewrite it into a single function call for one of these new functions. This does cause a bit of function sprawl, but that seems preferable to introducing more complex rules for when file(...) can and cannot read binary files, making the behavior of these various functions easier to understand in isolation. 2019-01-25 18:16:43 +01:00			`the contents of a file rather than from a string value.`
Revert "migrate docs to mdx" This reverts commit 3cb12b5a52c52918391bf506df7bb5d8a9020f43. 2021-11-23 00:57:25 +01:00			* [`base64sha256`](./base64sha256.html) calculates the same hash but returns
website: Docs for all of the hash/crypto functions 2018-05-13 22:48:45 +02:00			`the result in a more-compact Base64 encoding.`