---
page_title: sha256 function reference
description: |-
  The `sha256` function computes the SHA256 hash of a given string and encodes it
  with hexadecimal digits. Learn how to use the `sha256` function in Packer templates. 
---

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> [!IMPORTANT]  
> **Documentation Update:** Product documentation previously located in `/website` has moved to the [`hashicorp/web-unified-docs`](https://github.com/hashicorp/web-unified-docs) repository, where all product documentation is now centralized. Please make contributions directly to `web-unified-docs`, since changes to `/website` in this repository will not appear on developer.hashicorp.com.
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# `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

```shell-session
> sha256("hello world")
b94d27b9934d3e08a52e52d7da7dabfac484efe37a5380ee9088f7ace2efcde9
```
