The Hash Block calculates the MD5 or SHA hash of incoming data. This block is particularly useful for performing equivalency comparisons, data integrity checks, or generating unique identifiers based on content.
The choice of algorithm depends on your specific use case. MD5 is faster but less secure, while SHA-256 and SHA-512 provide stronger security but are slightly slower. For most general purposes, SHA-256 is a good balance of security and performance.
How are non-string inputs handled?
All inputs are coerced to strings before hashing. Numbers, objects, and arrays will be converted to their string representations automatically.