# Handlebars Helper Function: sha256

Converts a string to a 256-bit hexadecimal SHA-2 hash.

:::note
SHA-256 is a one-way hash and isn't suitable for securely storing passwords or other sensitive data.
:::

## Availability

This helper is available in the Winter ’27 release of Marketing Cloud Next.

## Syntax

```handlebars
{{sha256 STRING_TO_CONVERT charset=CHARSET}}
```

## Parameters

| Parameter           | Type   | Description                                                                                                               |
| ------------------- | ------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `STRING_TO_CONVERT` | String | Required. The string to hash.                                                                                             |
| `charset`           | String | The character set to use. Specify as a named parameter. Accepted values are `UTF-8` and `UTF-16`. The default is `UTF-8`. |

## Return Value

The function returns the 256-bit SHA-2 hash as a hexadecimal string.

## Usage Example

This example hashes a string of text by using UTF-16 character encoding.

```handlebars
{{sha256 "This is a string of text." charset="UTF-16"}}
```

The function returns a hash of the string.

```
84b87f1ae08610f97a0bb6c228dd2289a54203c23ee2af17d617a1c1b4a0ab1a
```