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PHP | hash_init() Function

PHP hash_init() Function


Hello folks! welcome back to a new edition of our tutorial on PHP. In this tutorial guide, we are going to be studying about the PHP hash_init() Function.

The built-in hash_init() function initializes an incremental hashcontext which can be used with other PHP hash functions such as hash_update(), hash_final() etc. It takes input as a hash algorithm and output as a hash context.

A hashcontext is generated based on the hash_algorithm used inside the hash_init(). You can update your data or message with the hashcontext using the hash_update() function and then get the final hash using the hash_final() function.

Syntax

Following below is the syntax to use this function -

hash_init ( string $algo [, int $options = 0 [, string $key = NULL ]] ) : HashContext


Parameter Details

Sr.NoParameter & Description
1

algo

Name of the hashing algorithm. There is a big list of algorithm available with hash, some important ones are md5, sha256, etc.

To get the full list of algorithms supported use the hashing function hash_algos()

2

options

There is only one option supported and that is HASH_HMAC. If you are using options, the key is also mandatory.

3

key

If HASH_HMAC is used as an option, the key also has to be given and it will be a shared secret key that will be used with HMAC hashing method.


Return Value

It returns a hashing context. The hashing context can be used with other functions like the hash_update(), hash_update_file(), hash_final() and hash_update_stream().

PHP Version

This built-in PHP function works from PHP version greater than 5.1.2.

Example1

The following example illustrates how to generate a hashing context -

<?php
   $hash_context = hash_init('md5');
   hash_update($hash_context, 'Testing php');
   hash_update($hash_context, ' hash functions.');
   echo hash_final($hash_context);
?>

Output

When the above code is executed, it will produce the following result -

e4310012c89a4b8479fd83694a2a3a31

Example2

The following example illustrates the usage of the built-in PHP hash_init() function with the hash_copy() -

<?php
   $hash_context = hash_init("md5");
   hash_update($hash_context, "Welcome To Webdesigntutorialz");
   $hash_copy= hash_copy($hash_context);
   echo hash_final($hash_context);
   echo "<br/>";
   hash_update($hash_copy,  "Welcome To Webdesigntutorialz");
   echo hash_final($hash_copy);
?>

Output

When the above code is executed, it will produce the following result -

380d3ca1b0ab972f207209c076895310<br/>621058f8d42e78586b987c7b5233dc77


Alright guys! This is where we are rounding up for this tutorial post. In our next tutorial, we are going to be studying about the PHP hash_update() Function.

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Thanks for reading and bye for now.

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