# Why aren't Solidity sha3 hashes not matching what other sha3 libraries produce?

Solidity has a function named sha3 and I tested it with an empty string input. It is not matching what other sha3 libraries produce. I see contracts written by others using the same sha3 function in Solidity, and their hashes also do not match. The same goes for Javascript web3.sha3 hashes. Why?

• Since you are self answering this; could you give some code samples showing the difference in output and in the answer how to configure such a sha3 library for Keccak-256 compatibility? – Joris Bontje Jan 24 '16 at 21:06
• added samples to answer – eth Jan 24 '16 at 22:59
• Possible duplicate of Which cryptographic hash function does Ethereum use? – Hudson Jameson Jan 25 '16 at 1:41
• People coming from a search engine are going to use different terms. This is likely to be the type of problem/question people are going to ask. – eth Jan 25 '16 at 9:23

Ethereum uses Keccak-256, instead of the SHA-3 FIPS 202 standard. In the sha3 libraries you are using, try looking for the option to specify using Keccak-256.

For Python see Getting Method ID "Keccak hash" in Python

For Javascript, this library js-sha3 would involve using the keccak_256 function instead of sha3_256.

keccak_256('');

sha3_256('');
// a7ffc6f8bf1ed76651c14756a061d662f580ff4de43b49fa82d80a4b80f8434a


Others:

keccak_256('The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog');
// 4d741b6f1eb29cb2a9b9911c82f56fa8d73b04959d3d9d222895df6c0b28aa15

keccak_256('The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.');
// 578951e24efd62a3d63a86f7cd19aaa53c898fe287d2552133220370240b572d

sha3_256('The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog');

sha3_256('The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.');
// a80f839cd4f83f6c3dafc87feae470045e4eb0d366397d5c6ce34ba1739f734d

• As seen in js-sha3 the only difference is the padding, 0x06 for FIPS202, 0x01 for Keccak-256. – deceleratedcaviar Jul 26 '17 at 9:32
• I'm not sure this comment is accurate: (1) keccak-256 is not a thing (2) see @axic comment bellow for a more correct answer. – David 天宇 Wong Sep 27 '17 at 11:04
• keccak() can allow multiple inputs inside the smart contract as: keccak256(97, 98, 99). How could we achieve this using keccak_256() that you represented? @eth♦ – alper Dec 26 '17 at 13:34
• @Alper If you've seen the linked and related questions, I think posting a new and well-written question would be better. (The answer for your example is to use "abc" but a general answer is better.) – eth Dec 30 '17 at 14:08

Extending on this answer:

Ethereum uses Keccak hashing, which was submitted to the NIST competition for SHA3. It was subsequently selected as a winner in 2012, but the final standard was only released in August 2015.

Ethereum uses Keccak in its form as it was selected in 2012. Too bad some parameters of the algorithm were tweaked for the final specification in 2015 making it incompatible with the original.

Most tools online implement the final 2015 version of SHA3.

• I'm upvoting but fyi I linked to ethereum.stackexchange.com/questions/550/… instead of "rehashing" the NIST stuff :) – eth Mar 11 '16 at 18:58
• I've totally missed that is a link. I think based on these three-four answers it would make sense to make them into a single wiki page. – axic Mar 11 '16 at 19:04