hash()

The built-in hash() function returns the hash value of an object as a fixed sized integer. The object can be of various types, including numbers, strings, tuples, or custom objects that have implemented the __hash__() method. The hash value is computed using a specific hashing algorithm based on the object’s type. It’s worth noting that the hash() function is a built-in function in Python and doesn’t require any import statements. Hash values are useful for efficient comparison of dictionary keys during lookups.

Syntax

hash(object)

The hash() function takes a single argument, object, which represents the object from which to obtain the hash value.

The object can be of any hashable type, such as numbers, strings, tuples, or custom objects that implement the __hash__() method.

Example

The example below begins by defining a class called MyClass with an attribute called value. The __hash__() method is implemented to customize the hashing behavior based on the value attribute using the hash() function.

Two instances of MyClass obj1 and obj2, are created with different values. The hash() function is used to calculate the hash values of these objects. And these values are then printed to the console.

This example demonstrates how to customize the hash function for a class using the __hash__() method. The hash() function allows us to obtain the hash value of an object, which is an integer used for quick comparison and dictionary key lookups.

# Define a class
class MyClass:
    def __init__(self, value):
        self.value = value

    def __hash__(self):
        return hash(self.value)

# Create instances of MyClass
obj1 = MyClass(42)
obj2 = MyClass("Hello")

# Check the hash values
print(hash(obj1))
print(hash(obj2))

Codebyte Example

In the example below, we define my_tuple as “1, 2, 3”. Subsequently, we use the hash() function to obtain the hash value of the input my_tuple. Followed by a call to print the output of the hash() function.

Code
Output
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