This is an implementation of the SHA-256 hash algorithm.

• SHA256_CTX
  A MD5 structure that will hold all hash-related data and calculations as the hash is calculated.
  
  
• SHA256_init(SHA256_CTX *ctx)
  Initializes the SHA256_CTX object.
  
  
• SHA1_update(SHA256_CTX *ctx, unsigned char data[], int len)
  Once an object has been created and initialized, the data to be hashed must be added. Due to practical limitations, it may not be optimal (or possible) to add all the data to the SHA256 hash in one data chunk, so the function inputs, stores, and calculates data as it is received, allowing the data to be added in as many chunks as necessary.
  
  
  • unsigned char data[]
    This is the data to be added to the hash.
  • int len
    This is the length, in bytes, of the data in the “data” array.
  
  
  
• SHA256_final(SHA256_CTX *ctx, unsigned char hash[])
  Finalize and output the hash.
  
  
• unsigned char hash[]
  This is the array to store the output hash. It must be at least 16 bytes in size.

1. Create an SHA256_CTX object.
2. Initialize it with sha256_init().
3. Read some/all of the data to hash into an array, calculate the size of the data, and add it to the hash with sha256_update().
4. Repeat the previous step for all the data you want to hash.
5. Finalize and output the hash with sha256_final().

Repeat steps (2) to (5) for as many hashes as you want to calculate.

• Source Code
• Sample Driver Program

The 32-bit words (which in this case are unsigned integers) used in the code use little endian byte ordering. The SHA-256 specification uses the big endian byte order, so some byte-reversals are made when copying data into and out of integers in this code.

This algorithm can hash data of any length, although 2⁶⁴ bits (2,147,483,648 gigabytes) is the recommended limit.

This algorithm has not been implemented in an optimized manner. This algorithm has passed testing against numerous test vectors, including all official vectors.