# hash_file

(PHP 5 >= 5.1.2, PECL hash:1.1-1.5)

hash_file — Generate a hash value using the contents of a given file

### Description

string hash_file ( string `$algo` , string `$filename` [, bool `$raw_output` ] )

### Parameters

`algo`

  Name of selected hashing algorithm (i.e. "md5", "sha256", "haval160,4", etc..)

`filename`

  URL describing location of file to be hashed; Supports fopen wrappers.

`raw_output`

  When set to `TRUE`, outputs raw binary data. Default value (`FALSE`) outputs lowercase hexits.

### Return Values

Returns a string containing the calculated message digest as lowercase hexits unless `raw_output` is set to true in which case the raw binary representation of the message digest is returned.

### Examples

Example#1 Using hash_file()

`<?php
/* Create a file to calculate hash of */
file_put_contents('example.txt', 'The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.');
echo hash_file('md5', 'example.txt');
?>`

The above example will output:

    5c6ffbdd40d9556b73a21e63c3e0e904

### See Also

- hash()
- hash_hmac_file()
- hash_update_file()