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When the function has parameters, Solidity generates its signature by adding the parameter types after the function name, in between brackets, and taking a keccak256 hash of the resulting string. As an example:

sendMessage(string,address)

The signature of this function is 0xc48d6d5e.

However, what if the "string" and "address" parameters do not exist? Would Solidity take the keccak256 hash of sendMessage, sendMessage(), or something else?

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1 Answer 1

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A simple test to show that the answer is "sendMessage()".

Solidity Contract:

pragma solidity 0.6.12;

contract MyContract {
    uint256 private constant SUCCESS = 42;
    uint256 private constant FAILURE = 84;

    function sendMessage() external pure returns (uint256) {
        return SUCCESS;
    }

    function test(bytes4 funcSelector) external view returns (uint256) {
        bytes memory data = abi.encodeWithSelector(funcSelector);
        (bool success, bytes memory returnData) = address(this).staticcall(data);

        if (success && returnData.length == 32)
            return abi.decode(returnData, (uint256));

        return FAILURE;
    }
}

Truffle 5.x Script:

contract("MyContract", () => {
    it("test", async () => {
        const myContract = await artifacts.require("MyContract").new();
        const success = await myContract.test(web3.utils.keccak256("sendMessage()"));
        const failure = await myContract.test(web3.utils.keccak256("sendMessage"));
        console.log(success.toString()); // prints 42
        console.log(failure.toString()); // prints 84
    });
});

Here is a simpler way to do it, without even interacting with a contract:

const Web3 = require("web3");

const web3 = new Web3();

const abi = [{
    "inputs":[],
    "name":"sendMessage",
    "outputs":[],
    "stateMutability":"pure",
    "type":"function"
}];

const contract = new web3.eth.Contract(abi);

console.log(Web3.utils.keccak256("sendMessage").slice(0, 10));
console.log(Web3.utils.keccak256("sendMessage()").slice(0, 10));

for (const method of contract._jsonInterface)
    if (method.name == "sendMessage")
        console.log(method.signature);

The printout is:

0x736c24a9
0xe5aed28a
0xe5aed28a
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  • Does this also work when "sendMessage" is marked as payable? Dec 2, 2020 at 21:02
  • @PaulRazvanBerg: No reason why it shouldn't. The function selector is computed based on only the function name along with the input parameter types. Any other part in the function signature (public/private/internal/external, pure/view/payable and even the return-value type) has no impact on that. Dec 2, 2020 at 21:05
  • 1
    @PaulRazvanBerg: See my update on how to do it without even interacting with a contract. Dec 3, 2020 at 4:48

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