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cpython/Doc/lib/libsha.tex
Tim Peters 1de8098ca6 Repaired some glitches in the MD5 and SHA docs; copied the descriptions of
the MD5 methods into the SHA docs (substituting "sha" for "md5", of course,
and changing the stuff that depended on digest size accordingly).
Fred, don't trust me!
2000-09-18 15:34:57 +00:00

78 lines
2.7 KiB
TeX

\section{\module{sha} ---
SHA message digest algorithm}
\declaremodule{builtin}{sha}
\modulesynopsis{NIST's secure hash algorithm, SHA.}
\sectionauthor{Fred L. Drake, Jr.}{fdrake@acm.org}
This module implements the interface to NIST's\index{NIST} secure hash
algorithm,\index{Secure Hash Algorithm} known as SHA. It is used in
the same way as the \refmodule{md5} module:\ use \function{new()}
to create an sha object, then feed this object with arbitrary strings
using the \method{update()} method, and at any point you can ask it
for the \dfn{digest} of the concatenation of the strings fed to it
so far.\index{checksum!SHA} SHA digests are 160 bits instead of
MD5's 128 bits.
\begin{funcdesc}{new}{\optional{string}}
Return a new sha object. If \var{string} is present, the method
call \code{update(\var{string})} is made.
\end{funcdesc}
The following values are provided as constants in the module and as
attributes of the sha objects returned by \function{new()}:
\begin{datadesc}{blocksize}
Size of the blocks fed into the hash function; this is always
\code{1}. This size is used to allow an arbitrary string to be
hashed.
\end{datadesc}
\begin{datadesc}{digestsize}
The size of the resulting digest in bytes. This is always
\code{20}.
\end{datadesc}
An sha object has the same methods as md5 objects:
\begin{methoddesc}[sha]{update}{arg}
Update the sha object with the string \var{arg}. Repeated calls are
equivalent to a single call with the concatenation of all the
arguments, i.e.\ \code{m.update(a); m.update(b)} is equivalent to
\code{m.update(a+b)}.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}[sha]{digest}{}
Return the digest of the strings passed to the \method{update()}
method so far. This is a 20-byte string which may contain
non-\ASCII{} characters, including null bytes.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}[sha]{hexdigest}{}
Like \method{digest()} except the digest is returned as a string of
length 40, containing only hexadecimal digits. This may
be used to exchange the value safely in email or other non-binary
environments.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}[sha]{copy}{}
Return a copy (``clone'') of the sha object. This can be used to
efficiently compute the digests of strings that share a common initial
substring.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{seealso}
\seetitle[http://csrc.nist.gov/fips/fip180-1.txt]{Secure Hash Standard}{
The Secure Hash Algorithm is defined by NIST document FIPS
PUB 180-1:
\citetitle[http://csrc.nist.gov/fips/fip180-1.txt]{Secure
Hash Standard}, published in April of 1995. It is
available online as plain text (at least one diagram was
omitted) and as PDF at
\url{http://csrc.nist.gov/fips/fip180-1.pdf}.}
\end{seealso}