bhash

A fast, universal hashing tool with 26 algorithms, HMAC support, and checksum verification — written in pure Zig.

Hash strings, files, and stdin; verify checksums; compute HMACs; output in hex, base64, or raw binary.

Usage

bhash [OPTIONS] [STRINGS]...

Modes

Mode	Example
Hash strings	bhash -a sha256 "hello" "world"
Hash files	bhash -a md5 -f file1.bin -f file2.bin
Hash stdin	echo "data" | bhash -a blake3
	bhash -a xxh64 --stdin < data.bin
Verify checksums	bhash -a sha256 -c SHA256SUMS
	cat SHA256SUMS | bhash -a sha256 -c
Tagged output	bhash -a sha256 --tag -f file.bin
HMAC auth	bhash -a sha256 --hmac "secret" "message"
List algorithms	bhash --list

Options

Flag	Description
-a, --algorithm	Hash algorithm (default: sha256)
-f, --file	File(s) to hash
--stdin	Read from stdin explicitly
--format	Output format: hex (default) or base64
-b, --binary	Output raw binary bytes
-t, --tag	BSD-style tagged output (ALGO (file) = hash)
-l, --list	List all available algorithms
-c, --check	Verify checksums (read file, or stdin if omitted)
--quiet / --silent	In check mode, only print summary
--status	In check mode, suppress all output (exit only)
--ignore-missing	Don't fail on missing files in check mode
--warn	Warn about malformed checksum lines
--strict	Exit non-zero on malformed checksum lines
--hmac <key>	Compute HMAC with given key
-h, --help	Print help
-V, --version	Print version

Examples

# Hash strings
bhash -a sha256 "hello world"
bhash -a blake3 "hello"

# Hash files
bhash -a sha256 -f document.pdf
bhash -a sha256 -f file1.txt -f file2.txt

# Pipe data via stdin
cat file.bin | bhash -a sha256

# Base64 output
bhash -a sha256 --format base64 "hello"

# Raw binary output (for piping into other tools)
bhash -a sha256 --binary -f file.bin | other-tool

# Tagged output (BSD / OpenSSL style)
bhash -a sha256 --tag -f file.bin
bhash -a blake3 --tag "my string"

# HMAC authentication (RFC 2104)
bhash -a sha256 --hmac "mykey" "message"
echo -n "message" | bhash -a sha256 --hmac "mykey"

# Generate and verify checksums
bhash -a sha256 -f file.bin > file.sha256
bhash -a sha256 -c file.sha256

# Verify checksums from stdin
cat file.sha256 | bhash -a sha256 -c

# Quiet / strict verification
bhash -a sha256 -c --quiet file.sha256
bhash -a sha256 -c --status file.sha256 && echo "all good"

# Warn on malformed checksum lines, exit non-zero
bhash -a sha256 -c --warn --strict file.sha256

# Ignore missing files during verification
bhash -a sha256 -c --ignore-missing file.sha256

# List all algorithms
bhash --list

HMAC support

HMAC (Hash-based Message Authentication Code, RFC 2104) is available for all cryptographic hash algorithms using --hmac <key>:

# HMAC-SHA256
bhash -a sha256 --hmac "mykey" "hello"

# HMAC-BLAKE3
bhash -a blake3 --hmac "key" "data"

# HMAC with tagged output
bhash -a sha256 --hmac "secret" --tag -f file.bin

Non-cryptographic algorithms (CRC, FNV, XXH) return an error when used with --hmac.

Checksum file format

Compatible with standard Unix sha256sum / md5sum format:

<hash>  <filename>
<hash> <filename>
<hash> *<filename>

Lines starting with # or ; are skipped. The * prefix marks binary-mode entries.

Algorithms

Algorithm	Output size	HMAC	Source
fnv32	4 B	no	built-in
fnv64	8 B	no	built-in
fnv128	16 B	no	built-in
sha1	20 B	yes	std.crypto
sha224	28 B	yes	std.crypto
sha256	32 B	yes	std.crypto
sha384	48 B	yes	std.crypto
sha512	64 B	yes	std.crypto
sha512-224	28 B	yes	std.crypto
sha512-256	32 B	yes	std.crypto
md5	16 B	yes	std.crypto
blake2b	64 B	yes	std.crypto
blake2b-256	32 B	yes	std.crypto
blake2b-384	48 B	yes	std.crypto
blake2b-512	64 B	yes	std.crypto
blake2s	32 B	yes	std.crypto
blake2s-256	32 B	yes	std.crypto
blake3	32 B	yes	std.crypto
crc32	4 B	no	built-in
crc32c	4 B	no	built-in
crc64-ecma	8 B	no	built-in
crc64-iso	8 B	no	built-in
xxh32	4 B	no	built-in
xxh64	8 B	no	built-in
xxh3-64	8 B	no	built-in
xxh3-128	16 B	no	built-in

Build

zig build

The binary will be at zig-out/bin/bhash.

Run with zig build run -- [args] or directly:

zig-out/bin/bhash -a blake3 "hello"

Notes

All hashing algorithms are either from Zig's standard library (std.crypto) or implemented directly in Zig. No external C dependencies.