How to calculate a hash value of a byte string using the SHA2() function?

SHA2(str, len) is a MySQL built-in function that calculates a hash value of a given byte string using the SHA-2 (Secure Hash Algorithm 2) family of algorithms (SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, and SHA-512). For example:

SELECT SHA2('abc', 256); SELECT SHA2('FYI', 256);
  -- +------------------------------------------------------------------+
  -- | SHA2('FYI', 256)                                                 |
  -- +------------------------------------------------------------------+
  -- | 3050d21d6aa694b99a7fc48eb57d390b64d64543e0ee9c78aadec620ad81fc73 |
  -- +------------------------------------------------------------------+

SELECT SHA2('FYIcenter.com', 256);
  -- +------------------------------------------------------------------+
  -- | SHA2('FYIcenter.com', 256)                                       |
  -- +------------------------------------------------------------------+
  -- | 9b3b41aa6093ec4c463697ac4fa0e71c88528346c22bf173bda806e5ceb799cd |
  -- +------------------------------------------------------------------+

SELECT SHA2('FYIcenter.com', 384);
  -- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
  -- | SHA2('FYIcenter.com', 384)                                                                       |
  -- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
  -- | 485ce34c0cfc9fb150d27ce56f38f656cb994f3ace97670b3937758816e8506761b3c73ef6bee2963a5296a2b877e4cf |
  -- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Reference information of the SHA2() function:

SHA2(str, len): hash
  Calculates a hash value of a given byte string using the SHA-2 algorithm.

Arguments, return value and availability:
  str: Required. The byte string to be processed.
  len: Required. The number of bits of the resulting hash.
  hash: Return value. The SHA1 hash value in hexadecimal digits
  Available since MySQL 4.1.

Related MySQL functions:

• SHA1() - Calculating SHA-1 Hash
• SHA2() - Calculating SHA-2 Hash
• SHA() - Synonym for SHA1()

⇒ STATEMENT_DIGEST() - Statement Digest Hash

⇐ SHA1() - Calculating SHA-1 Hash

⇑ MySQL Functions for Encryption and Compression

⇑⇑ MySQL Function References