SQL Server 2008 R2 HASHBYTES SHA2 returns null

hash, sql, sql-server-2008

Solution

Here a small example with 128, 256 and 512 Bits

DECLARE @HashThis nvarchar(4000);
SELECT @HashThis = CONVERT(nvarchar(4000),'This is a sample string');
SELECT HASHBYTES('SHA1', @HashThis);
SELECT HASHBYTES('SHA2_256', @HashThis);
SELECT HASHBYTES('SHA2_512', @HashThis);
GO

Problem

I am trying to use HASHBYTES with SHA2_512 as the algo. However when I try to do it in SQL Server Management Studio all that I get is null. ``` SELECT HASHBYTES('SHA1','test') //works SELECT HASHBYTES('SHA2','test') //returns null ``` What am I doing wrong? Is there a way to view the return value from `SELECT HASHBYTES('SHA2', 'test')`? thanks

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