Digest::SHA3(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Digest::SHA3(3)
NAME
Digest::SHA3 - Perl extension for SHA-3
SYNOPSIS
In programs:
# Functional interface
use Digest::SHA3 qw(sha3_224 sha3_256_hex sha3_512_base64 ...);
$digest = sha3_224($data);
$digest = sha3_256_hex($data);
$digest = sha3_384_base64($data);
$digest = sha3_512($data);
# Object-oriented
use Digest::SHA3;
$sha3 = Digest::SHA3->new($alg);
$sha3->add($data); # feed data into stream
$sha3->addfile(*F);
$sha3->addfile($filename);
$sha3->add_bits($bits);
$sha3->add_bits($data, $nbits);
$digest = $sha3->digest; # compute digest
$digest = $sha3->hexdigest;
$digest = $sha3->b64digest;
# Compute extendable-length digest
$sha3 = Digest::SHA3->new(128000)->add($data); # SHAKE128
$digest = $sha3->squeeze;
$digest .= $sha3->squeeze;
...
$sha3 = Digest::SHA3->new(256000)->add($data); # SHAKE256
$digest = $sha3->squeeze;
$digest .= $sha3->squeeze;
...
ABSTRACT
Digest::SHA3 is a complete implementation of the NIST SHA-3
cryptographic hash function, as specified in FIPS 202 (SHA-3 Standard:
Permutation-Based Hash and Extendable-Output Functions).
The module gives Perl programmers a convenient way to calculate
SHA3-224, SHA3-256, SHA3-384, and SHA3-512 message digests, as well as
variable-length hashes using SHAKE128 and SHAKE256. Digest::SHA3 can
handle all types of input, including partial-byte data.
DESCRIPTION
Digest::SHA3 is written in C for speed. If your platform lacks a C
compiler, perhaps you can find the module in a binary form compatible
with your particular processor and operating system.
The programming interface is easy to use: it's the same one found in
CPAN's Digest module. So, if your applications currently use
Digest::SHA and you'd prefer the newer flavor of the NIST standard,
it's a simple matter to convert them.
The interface provides two ways to calculate digests: all-at-once, or
in stages. To illustrate, the following short program computes the
SHA3-256 digest of "hello world" using each approach:
use Digest::SHA3 qw(sha3_256_hex);
$data = "hello world";
@frags = split(//, $data);
# all-at-once (Functional style)
$digest1 = sha3_256_hex($data);
# in-stages (OOP style)
$state = Digest::SHA3->new(256);
for (@frags) { $state->add($_) }
$digest2 = $state->hexdigest;
print $digest1 eq $digest2 ?
"that's the ticket!\n" : "oops!\n";
To calculate the digest of an n-bit message where n is not a multiple
of 8, use the aadddd_bbiittss(()) method. For example, consider the 446-bit
message consisting of the bit-string "110" repeated 148 times, followed
by "11". Here's how to display its SHA3-512 digest:
use Digest::SHA3;
$bits = "110" x 148 . "11";
$sha3 = Digest::SHA3->new(512)->add_bits($bits);
print $sha3->hexdigest, "\n";
Note that for larger bit-strings, it's more efficient to use the two-
argument version add_bits($data, $nbits), where $data is in the
customary packed binary format used for Perl strings.
UNICODE AND SIDE EFFECTS
Perl supports Unicode strings as of version 5.6. Such strings may
contain wide characters: namely, characters whose ordinal values are
greater than 255. This can cause problems for digest algorithms such
as SHA-3 that are specified to operate on sequences of bytes.
The rule by which Digest::SHA3 handles a Unicode string is easy to
state, but potentially confusing to grasp: the string is interpreted as
a sequence of byte values, where each byte value is equal to the
ordinal value (viz. code point) of its corresponding Unicode character.
That way, the Unicode string 'abc' has exactly the same digest value as
the ordinary string 'abc'.
Since a wide character does not fit into a byte, the Digest::SHA3
routines croak if they encounter one. Whereas if a Unicode string
contains no wide characters, the module accepts it quite happily. The
following code illustrates the two cases:
$str1 = pack('U*', (0..255));
print sha3_224_hex($str1); # ok
$str2 = pack('U*', (0..256));
print sha3_224_hex($str2); # croaks
Be aware that the digest routines silently convert UTF-8 input into its
equivalent byte sequence in the native encoding (cf. utf8::downgrade).
This side effect influences only the way Perl stores the data
internally, but otherwise leaves the actual value of the data intact.
PADDING OF BASE64 DIGESTS
By convention, CPAN Digest modules do not pad their Base64 output.
Problems can occur when feeding such digests to other software that
expects properly padded Base64 encodings.
For the time being, any necessary padding must be done by the user.
Fortunately, this is a simple operation: if the length of a
Base64-encoded digest isn't a multiple of 4, simply append "="
characters to the end of the digest until it is:
while (length($b64_digest) % 4) {
$b64_digest .= '=';
}
To illustrate, sha3_256_base64("abc") is computed to be
Ophdp0/iJbIEXBcta9OQvYVfCG4+nVJbRr/iRRFDFTI
which has a length of 43. So, the properly padded version is
Ophdp0/iJbIEXBcta9OQvYVfCG4+nVJbRr/iRRFDFTI=
EXPORT
None by default.
EXPORTABLE FUNCTIONS
Provided your C compiler supports a 64-bit type (e.g. the long long of
C99, or __int64 used by Microsoft C/C++), all of these functions will
be available for use. Otherwise you won't be able to perform any of
them.
In the interest of simplicity, maintainability, and small code size,
it's unlikely that future versions of this module will support a 32-bit
implementation. Older platforms using 32-bit-only compilers should
continue to favor 32-bit hash implementations such as SHA-1, SHA-224,
or SHA-256. The desire to use the SHA-3 hash standard, dating from
2015, should reasonably require that one's compiler adhere to
programming language standards dating from at least 1999.
Functional style
sha3_224($data, ...)
sha3_256($data, ...)
sha3_384($data, ...)
sha3_512($data, ...)
shake128($data, ...)
shake256($data, ...)
Logically joins the arguments into a single string, and returns its
SHA3-0/224/256/384/512 digest encoded as a binary string.
The digest size for shake128 is 1344 bits (168 bytes); for
shake256, it's 1088 bits (136 bytes). To obtain extendable-output
from the SHAKE algorithms, use the object-oriented interface with
repeated calls to the squeeze method.
sha3_224_hex($data, ...)
sha3_256_hex($data, ...)
sha3_384_hex($data, ...)
sha3_512_hex($data, ...)
shake128_hex($data, ...)
shake256_hex($data, ...)
Logically joins the arguments into a single string, and returns its
SHA3-0/224/256/384/512 or SHAKE128/256 digest encoded as a
hexadecimal string.
sha3_224_base64($data, ...)
sha3_256_base64($data, ...)
sha3_384_base64($data, ...)
sha3_512_base64($data, ...)
shake128_base64($data, ...)
shake256_base64($data, ...)
Logically joins the arguments into a single string, and returns its
SHA3-0/224/256/384/512 or SHAKE128/256 digest encoded as a Base64
string.
It's important to note that the resulting string does not contain
the padding characters typical of Base64 encodings. This omission
is deliberate, and is done to maintain compatibility with the
family of CPAN Digest modules. See "PADDING OF BASE64 DIGESTS" for
details.
OOP style
new($alg)
Returns a new Digest::SHA3 object. Allowed values for $alg are
224, 256, 384, and 512 for the SHA3 algorithms; or 128000 and
256000 for SHAKE128 and SHAKE256, respectively. If the argument is
missing, SHA3-224 will be used by default.
Invoking new as an instance method will not create a new object;
instead, it will simply reset the object to the initial state
associated with $alg. If the argument is missing, the object will
continue using the same algorithm that was selected at creation.
reset($alg)
This method has exactly the same effect as new($alg). In fact,
reset is just an alias for new.
hashsize
Returns the number of digest bits for this object. The values are
224, 256, 384, 512, 1344, and 1088 for SHA3-224, SHA3-256,
SHA3-384, SHA3-512, SHAKE128, and SHAKE256, respectively.
algorithm
Returns the digest algorithm for this object. The values are 224,
256, 384, 512, 128000, and 256000 for SHA3-224, SHA3-256, SHA3-384,
SHA3-512, SHAKE128, and SHAKE256, respectively.
clone
Returns a duplicate copy of the object.
add($data, ...)
Logically joins the arguments into a single string, and uses it to
update the current digest state. In other words, the following
statements have the same effect:
$sha3->add("a"); $sha3->add("b"); $sha3->add("c");
$sha3->add("a")->add("b")->add("c");
$sha3->add("a", "b", "c");
$sha3->add("abc");
The return value is the updated object itself.
add_bits($data, $nbits [, $lsb])
add_bits($bits)
Updates the current digest state by appending bits to it. The
return value is the updated object itself.
The first form causes the most-significant $nbits of $data to be
appended to the stream. The $data argument is in the customary
binary format used for Perl strings. Setting the optional $lsb
flag to a true value indicates that the final (partial) byte of
$data is aligned with the least-significant bit; by default it's
aligned with the most-significant bit, as required by the parent
Digest module.
The second form takes an ASCII string of "0" and "1" characters as
its argument. It's equivalent to
$sha3->add_bits(pack("B*", $bits), length($bits));
So, the following three statements do the same thing:
$sha3->add_bits("111100001010");
$sha3->add_bits("\xF0\xA0", 12);
$sha3->add_bits("\xF0\x0A", 12, 1);
SHA-3 uses least-significant-bit ordering for its internal
operation. This means that
$sha3->add_bits("110");
is equivalent to
$sha3->add_bits("0")->add_bits("1")->add_bits("1");
Many public test vectors for SHA-3, such as the Keccak known-answer
tests, are delivered in least-significant-bit format. Using the
optional $lsb flag in these cases allows your code to be simpler
and more efficient. See the test directory for examples.
The fact that SHA-2 and SHA-3 employ opposite bit-ordering schemes
has caused noticeable confusion in the programming community.
Exercise caution if your code examines individual bits in data
streams.
addfile(*FILE)
Reads from FILE until EOF, and appends that data to the current
state. The return value is the updated object itself.
addfile($filename [, $mode])
Reads the contents of $filename, and appends that data to the
current state. The return value is the updated object itself.
By default, $filename is simply opened and read; no special modes
or I/O disciplines are used. To change this, set the optional
$mode argument to one of the following values:
"b" read file in binary mode
"U" use universal newlines
"0" use BITS mode
The "U" mode is modeled on Python's "Universal Newlines" concept,
whereby DOS and Mac OS line terminators are converted internally to
UNIX newlines before processing. This ensures consistent digest
values when working simultaneously across multiple file systems.
The "U" mode influences only text files, namely those passing
Perl's -T test; binary files are processed with no translation
whatsoever.
The BITS mode ("0") interprets the contents of $filename as a
logical stream of bits, where each ASCII '0' or '1' character
represents a 0 or 1 bit, respectively. All other characters are
ignored. This provides a convenient way to calculate the digest
values of partial-byte data by using files, rather than having to
write programs using the add_bits method.
digest
Returns the digest encoded as a binary string.
Note that the digest method is a read-once operation. Once it has
been performed, the Digest::SHA3 object is automatically reset in
preparation for calculating another digest value. Call
$sha->clone->digest if it's necessary to preserve the original
digest state.
hexdigest
Returns the digest encoded as a hexadecimal string.
Like digest, this method is a read-once operation. Call
$sha->clone->hexdigest if it's necessary to preserve the original
digest state.
b64digest
Returns the digest encoded as a Base64 string.
Like digest, this method is a read-once operation. Call
$sha->clone->b64digest if it's necessary to preserve the original
digest state.
It's important to note that the resulting string does not contain
the padding characters typical of Base64 encodings. This omission
is deliberate, and is done to maintain compatibility with the
family of CPAN Digest modules. See "PADDING OF BASE64 DIGESTS" for
details.
squeeze
Returns the next 168 (136) bytes of the SHAKE128 (SHAKE256) digest
encoded as a binary string. The squeeze method may be called
repeatedly to construct digests of any desired length.
This method is applicable only to SHAKE128 and SHAKE256 objects.
SEE ALSO
Digest(3), Digest::SHA(3), Digest::Keccak(3)
The FIPS 202 SHA-3 Standard can be found at:
<http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/FIPS/NIST.FIPS.202.pdf>
The Keccak/SHA-3 specifications can be found at:
<http://keccak.noekeon.org/Keccak-reference-3.0.pdf>
<http://keccak.noekeon.org/Keccak-submission-3.pdf>
AUTHOR
Mark Shelor <mshelor@cpan.org>
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author is particularly grateful to
Guido Bertoni
Joan Daemen
Michael Peeters
Chris Skiscim
Gilles Van Assche
"Nothing is more fatiguing nor, in the long run, more exasperating than
the daily effort to believe things which daily become more incredible.
To be done with this effort is an indispensible condition of secure and
lasting happiness." - Bertrand Russell
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2012-2022 Mark Shelor
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
perlartistic
perl v5.34.3 2025-07-27 Digest::SHA3(3)
digest-sha3 1.50.0 - Generated Mon Aug 4 13:17:22 CDT 2025