JPKCom DB

Hash Generator — Examples

Hands-on walkthroughs with the Hash Generator: hash text across algorithms, verify file integrity, compare hashes, and create an HMAC.

Back to the overview: Hash Generator · Open the tool live: www.jpkc.com/tools/hash/

The manual explains every algorithm and option in detail. This page adds concrete workflows. The hash values below are real example values for the inputs shown — you can reproduce them to check.

Example 1: Hash one text across several algorithms

You want to see how the same text looks in different algorithms.

  1. Open the Hash Generator and type hello into the Message field.
  2. Click MD5. The Output shows:
    5d41402abc4b2a76b9719d911017c592
  3. Click SHA-1 (the green button). The output gets longer:
    aaf4c61ddcc5e8a2dabede0f3b482cd9aea9434d
  4. Click 256 (SHA-256). Now 64 hex characters:
    2cf24dba5fb0a30e26e83b2ac5b9e29e1b161e5c1fa7425e73043362938b9824
  5. Copy puts the currently displayed value on your clipboard.

Observation: same input, completely different hashes — and the "bigger" the algorithm, the longer the value. Change a single character (hello → Hello) and hash again: the entire hash changes, not just part of it (the so-called avalanche effect).

Example 2: Verify the integrity of a download

The most common real-world case — matching a downloaded image or archive against the value published by the vendor.

  1. The vendor publishes, say, a SHA-256 checksum for its file (often on the download page or in a .sha256 file).
  2. Drag your downloaded file into the File Hash area (or click the drop area and select it). Name and size are shown.
  3. Click Hash File. After a short computation the File Checksums table fills with eight values.
  4. Find the SHA-256 row and compare it against the published value — ideally character by character, or, more safely, by pasting both values into a text comparison.
  5. If they match exactly, the file is unchanged and complete. A single differing character means a corrupted download or a tampered file — don't use it, download again.

Tip: the table also provides MD5 and SHA-1. If the vendor (still) only gives an MD5 value, you can compare that just as well — even though SHA-256 would be the better choice (more in the tips).

Example 3: Compare two hashes safely

Sometimes you have two values and want to know whether they belong to the same input.

  1. Hash the first source — say a configuration file — via File Hash and copy the SHA-256 value with the row's copy button.
  2. Hash the second source the same way.
  3. Compare the two hex strings. If they're identical, the content is bit-for-bit equal; if they differ, the files are different — no matter how similar they look.

This works for text too: type the same sentence into the Message field, hash it with SHA-256, and compare against an expected value. That's how you check, for example, whether a copied string stayed unchanged in transit.

Example 4: Create an HMAC with a key

For API signatures or webhooks you need an HMAC — a hash that additionally depends on a secret key.

  1. Enter your message content in the Message field (e.g. the payload to be signed).
  2. Enter your secret key in the HMAC Secret Key field. If you don't have one yet, click the key button next to it — it fills the field with a random 64-character passphrase.
  3. Click the HMAC button of the desired family, usually HMAC next to SHA-256 (HMAC-SHA-256 is the de-facto standard for signatures).
  4. The Output field shows the HMAC as hex. Copy copies it.

Important: the same key + the same message always yield the same HMAC. The recipient can recompute it with the same key and thereby verify that the message is genuine and unchanged.

Example 5: Try SHA-3 — the more modern standard

You want to use the modern Keccak-based standard.

  1. Type your text into the Message field.
  2. In the SHA-3 block, click 256 for SHA-3 (256) or 512 for SHA-3 (512).
  3. The hash appears in Output. SHA-3 (256), like SHA-256, produces a 64-character value, but it's a technically different algorithm — so the output is completely different from SHA-256 for the same input.

In File Hash, too, SHA-3 (256) and SHA-3 (512) are part of the table, in case you need to match a file against a SHA-3 reference value.

Example 6: Process a large file

You want to compute the checksum of a large archive or ISO image.

  1. Drag the file into the File Hash area. As long as it's 100 MB or smaller, it's accepted (larger files are rejected with an error).
  2. Click Hash File. For large files the computation takes noticeably longer — the progress indicator runs until all eight values are computed.
  3. Since everything is computed locally in the browser, the file never leaves your machine — not even at 100 MB. That's the decisive difference from online services that upload your file first.

Go deeper: the overview for the big picture, the manual for every algorithm, and the tips & tricks for the security context. You can try everything directly in the tool.