Hash

A number known as a message digest generated from a hash function. Also . See hash function. Producing hash values for accessing data or for security. A hash value (or simply hash), also called a message digest, is a number generated from a string of text. The hash is substantially smaller than the text itself, and is generated by a formula in such a way that it is extremely unlikely that some other text will produce the same hash value. Hashing is also a common method of accessing data records. To create an index, called a hash table, for these records, you would apply a formula to each name to produce a unique numeric value.