Hashing is one of the best and most secure ways to identify and compare databases and files. It transforms data to a fixed size without considering the initial data input. The received output is known as hash value or code. Moreover, the term “hash” can be used to describe both the value and hash function.

Hashing is the process of assigning a numeric value to an alphanumeric string by first converting it into another numeric value and storing it in an indexed table to make data retrieval faster and/or masking the data for encryption, performed by a hash function. Hashing is used to transform a key or character string into another value.

This is a quick illustration to show how a hash function in cryptography works. The length of the output or hash depends on the hashing algorithm you use. Hash values can be 160 bits for SHA-1 hashes, or 256 bits, 384 bits, or 512 bits for the SHA-2 family of hashes. They’re typically displayed in hexadecimal characters.