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Hash

Last updated on Sep 20, 2024 | Also applies to ColdFusion

CFML Reference User Guide
ColdFusion functions
ColdFusion Tags
1. ColdFusion tag summary
2. ColdFusion tags by category
  1. Application framework tags
    1. cfapplication
    2. cfassociate
    3. cferror
    4. cfimport
    5. cfinterface
    6. cflock
    7. cfscript
    8. cfthread
  2. Communications tags
  3. Database manipulation tags
  4. Data output tags
    1. cfchart
    2. cfchartdata
    3. cfchartseries
    4. cfcol
    5. cfcontent
    6. cfdocument
    7. cfdocumentitem
    8. cfdocumentsection
    9. cfflush
    10. cfheader
    11. cflog
    12. cfoutput
    13. cfpresentation
    14. cfpresentationslide
    15. cfpresenter
    16. cfprocessingdirective
    17. cfprint
    18. cfreport
    19. cfreportparam
    20. cfsilent
    21. cftable
  5. Debugging tags
    1. cfdump
    2. cftimer
    3. cftrace
  6. Exception handling tags
    1. cfcatch
    2. cferror
    3. cffinally
    4. cfrethrow
    5. cfthrow
    6. cftry
  7. Extensibility tags
    1. cfchart
    2. cfchartdata
    3. cfchartseries
    4. cfcollection
    5. cfcomponent
    6. cfexecute
    7. cfftp
    8. function
    9. cfindex
    10. cfinterface
    11. cfinvoke
    12. cfinvokeargument
    13. cfobject
    14. cfproperty
    15. cfreport
    16. cfreportparam
    17. cfreturn
    18. cfsearch
    19. cfsharepoint
    20. cfspreadsheet
    21. cfwddx
    22. cfxml
  8. File management tags
    1. cfdirectory
    2. cffile
    3. cffileupload
    4. cfftp
    5. cfzip
    6. cfzipparam
  9. Flow-control tags
    1. cfabort
    2. cfbreak
    3. cfcase
    4. cfcontinue
    5. cfdefaultcase
    6. cfelse
    7. cfelseif
    8. cfexecute
    9. cfexit
    10. cfif
    11. cfinclude
    12. cflocation
    13. cfloop
    14. cfrethrow
    15. cfswitch
    16. cfthrow
    17. cftry
  10. Forms tags
    1. cfapplet
    2. cfcalendar
    3. cffileupload
    4. cfform
    5. cfformgroup
    6. cfformitem
    7. cfgrid
    8. cfgridcolumn
    9. cfgridrow
    10. cfgridupdate
    11. cfinput
    12. cfpdf
    13. cfpdfform
    14. cfpdfformparam
    15. cfpdfparam
    16. cfpdfsubform
    17. cfselect
    18. cfslider
    19. cftextarea
    20. cftree
    21. cftreeitem
  11. Internet Protocol tags
    1. cfajaximport
    2. cfajaxproxy
    3. cfftp
    4. cffeed
    5. cfimap
    6. cfhttp
    7. cfhttpparam
    8. cfldap
    9. cfmail
    10. cfmailparam
    11. cfmailpart
    12. cfpop
    13. cfsprydataset
  12. Page processing tags
    1. cfcache
    2. cfcontent
    3. cfflush
    4. cfheader
    5. cfhtmlhead
    6. cfinclude
    7. cfprocessingdirective
    8. cfsetting
    9. cfsilent
  13. Security tags
  14. Variable manipulation tags
    1. cfcookie
    2. cfdump
    3. cfparam
    4. cfregistry
    5. cfsavecontent
    6. cfschedule
    7. cfset
    8. cfsetting
  15. Other tags
    1. cfimage
    2. cflog
    3. cfregistry
3. Tags a-b
4. Tags c
  1. cfcache
  2. cfcalendar
  3. cfcase
  4. cfcatch
  5. cfchart
  6. cfchartdata
  7. cfchartseries
  8. cfclient
  9. cfclientsettings
  10. cfcol
  11. cfcollection
  12. cfcomponent
  13. cfcontent
  14. cfcontinue
  15. cfcookie
  16. Tags d-e
5. Tags f
6. Tags g-h
  1. cfgraph
  2. cfgraphdata
  3. cfgrid
  4. cfgridcolumn
  5. cfgridrow
  6. cfgridupdate
  7. cfheader
  8. cfhtmlhead
  9. cfhtmltopdf
  10. cfhtmltopdfitem
  11. cfhttp
  12. cfhttpparam
7. Tags i
  1. cfif
  2. cfimage
  3. cfimap
  4. cfimapfilter
  5. cfimpersonate
  6. cfimport
  7. cfinclude
  8. cfindex
  9. cfinput
  10. cfinsert
  11. cfinterface
  12. cfinvoke
  13. cfinvokeargument
8. Tags j-l
9. Tags m-o
10. Tags p-q
  1. cfparam
  2. cfpdf
  3. cfpdfform
  4. cfpdfformparam
  5. cfpdfparam
  6. cfpdfsubform
  7. cfpod
  8. cfpop
  9. cfpresentation
  10. cfpresentationslide
  11. cfpresenter
  12. cfprint
  13. cfprocessingdirective
  14. cfprocparam
  15. cfprocresult
  16. cfprogressbar
  17. cfproperty
  18. cfquery
  19. cfqueryparam
11. Tags r-s
  1. cfregistry
  2. cfreport
  3. cfreportparam
  4. cfrethrow
  5. cfreturn
  6. cfsavecontent
  7. cfschedule
  8. cfscript
  9. cfsearch
  10. cfselect
  11. cfservlet
  12. cfservletparam
  13. cfset
  14. cfsetting
  15. cfsharepoint
  16. cfsilent
  17. cfslider
  18. cfspreadsheet
  19. cfsprydataset
  20. cfstoredproc
  21. cfswitch
12. Tags t
  1. cftable
  2. cftextarea
  3. cftextinput
  4. cfthread
  5. cfthrow
  6. cftimer
  7. cftooltip
  8. cftrace
  9. cftransaction
  10. cftree
  11. cftreeitem
  12. cftry
13. Tags u-z
  1. cfupdate
  2. cfwddx
  3. cfwebsocket
  4. cfwindow
  5. cfxml
  6. cfzip
  7. cfzipparam
CFML Reference
1. Reserved words and variables
2. Ajax JavaScript functions
3. ColdFusion ActionScript functions
4. ColdFusion mobile functions
5. Application.cfc reference
6. Script functions implemented as CFCs
7. ColdFusion Flash Form style reference
8. ColdFusion event gateway reference
9. ColdFusion C++ CFX Reference
10. ColdFusion Java CFX reference
11. WDDX JavaScript Objects
Cloud services

Description

Converts a variable-length string to a fixed-length string that can act as a "fingerprint" or identifier for the original string. It is not possible to convert the hash result back to the source string.

Returns

A string.

Function syntax

Hash(string [, algorithm [, encoding] [, iterations ]])

History

ColdFusion (2023 release) Update 8 and ColdFusion (2021 release) Update 14: Changed the default algorithm from CFMX_COMPAT to SHA-256.
ColdFusion MX 7: Added the algorithm and encoding parameters.
ColdFusion 10: Added the iterations argument.

Parameters

Parameter	Description
string	String to hash .
algorithm	(Optional) The algorithm to use to hash the string. ColdFusion installs a cryptography library with the following algorithms: CFMX_COMPAT: Generates a hash string identical to that generated by ColdFusion MX and ColdFusion MX 6.1 (default). It is only a place holder algorithm that informs ColdFusion to use an algorithm compatible with CFMX if the user does not have any option to provide algorithm. MD5: Generates a 32-character, hexadecimal string, using the MD5 algorithm (The algorithm used in ColdFusion MX and prior releases). SHA: Generates a 40-character string using the Secure Hash Standard SHA-1 algorithm specified by Nation Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) FIPS-180-2. SHA-256: (Default) Generates a 64-character string using the SHA-256 algorithm specified by FIPS-180-2. SHA-384: Generates a 96-character string using the SHA-384 algorithm specified by FIPS-180-2. SHA-512: Generates a 128-character string using the SHA-512 algorithm specified by FIPS-180-2.
	The Enterprise Edition of ColdFusion installs the RSA BSafe Crypto-J library, which provides FIPS-140 Compliant Strong Cryptography. It includes the following algorithms: MD2: The MD2 hash algorithm defined by RFC 1319. MD5: The defined by RFC 1321. RIPEMD160: RACE Integrity Primitives Evaluation Message Digest 160-bit message digest algorithm and cryptographic hash function. SHA-1: The 160-bit secure hash algorithm defined by FIPS 180-2 and FIPS 198. SHA-224: The 224-bit secure hash algorithm defined by FIPS 180-2 and FIPS 198. SHA-256: The 256-bit secure hash algorithm defined by FIPS 180-2 and FIPS 198. SHA-384: The 384-bit secure hash algorithm defined by FIPS 180-2 and FIPS 198. SHA-512: The 512-bit secure hash algorithm defined by FIPS 180-2 and FIPS 198. If you install a security provider with additional cryptography algorithms, you can also specify any of its hashing algorithms.
encoding	(Optional; to use this attribute, also specify the algorithm parameter) A string specifying the encoding to use when converting the string to byte data used by the hash algorithm. Must be a character encoding name recognized by the Java runtime. The default value is the value specified by the defaultCharset entry in the neo-runtime. xml file, which is normally UTF-8. Ignored when using the CFMX_COMPAT algorithm.
iterations	(Optional) The number of times to iterate hashing, to increase hash computation time. CF10+. ColdFusion considers number of iterations after hashing the given value. Hence, this parameter is the number of iterations + 1. The default number of additional iterations is 0.

Usage

The result of this function is useful for comparison and validation. For example, you can store the hash of a password in a database without exposing the password. You can check the validity of the password by hashing the entered password and comparing the result with the hashed password in the database. ColdFusion uses the Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) and installs a Sun Java runtime that includes the Sun JCE default security provider. This provider includes the algorithms listed in the Parameters section. The JCE framework includes facilities for using other provider implementations; however, Adobe cannot provide technical support for third-party security providers. The encoding attribute is normally not required. It provides a mechanism for generating identical hash values on systems with different default encodings. ColdFusion uses a default encoding of UTF-8 unless you modify the defaultCharset entry in the neo-runtime. xml file.

Example

The following example lets you enter a password and compares the hashed password with a hash value saved in the SecureData table of the cfdocexamples database. This table has the following entries:

User ID	Password
blaw	blaw
dknob	dknob

<cfscript>
    // SHA-256 example
    writeOutput(hash("an important string", "SHA-256", "UTF-8")) 
    // 4825D8AB22800A9BE09986366D6430CA8E704323E4470608AC303A9F1C05626F
    // SHA-512 example
    writeOutput(hash("an important string", "SHA-512", "UTF-8")) 
    //06B24506B66BA5DA743CC8E2F67977C212379FCE7FF8F3BB99AC7A2A0C053D595B1A4077E9C9346453A95067BCED38338920DF8CC85F4ED3313A7039D37DFCD7
</cfscript>

Output

4825D8AB22800A9BE09986366D6430CA8E704323E4470608AC303A9F1C05626F06B24506B66BA5DA743CC8E2F67977C212379FCE7FF8F3BB99AC7A2A0C053D595B1A4077E9C9346453A95067BCED38338920DF8CC85F4ED3313A7039D37DFCD7

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