[c#] Hashing a string with Sha256

I try to hash a string using SHA256, I'm using the following code:

using System;
using System.Security.Cryptography;
using System.Text;
 public class Hash
    {
    public static string getHashSha256(string text)
    {
        byte[] bytes = Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(text);
        SHA256Managed hashstring = new SHA256Managed();
        byte[] hash = hashstring.ComputeHash(bytes);
        string hashString = string.Empty;
        foreach (byte x in hash)
        {
            hashString += String.Format("{0:x2}", x);
        }
        return hashString;
    }
}

However, this code gives significantly different results compared to my friends php, as well as online generators (such as This generator)

Does anyone know what the error is? Different bases?

The shortest and fastest way ever. Only 1 line!

public static string StringSha256Hash(string text) =>
    string.IsNullOrEmpty(text) ? string.Empty : BitConverter.ToString(new System.Security.Cryptography.SHA256Managed().ComputeHash(System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(text))).Replace("-", string.Empty);

public static string ComputeSHA256Hash(string text)
{
    using (var sha256 = new SHA256Managed())
    {
        return BitConverter.ToString(sha256.ComputeHash(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(text))).Replace("-", "");
    }                
}

The reason why you get different results is because you don't use the same string encoding. The link you put for the on-line web site that computes SHA256 uses UTF8 Encoding, while in your example you used Unicode Encoding. They are two different encodings, so you don't get the same result. With the example above you get the same SHA256 hash of the linked web site. You need to use the same encoding also in PHP.

The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No Excuses!)

https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2003/10/08/the-absolute-minimum-every-software-developer-absolutely-positively-must-know-about-unicode-and-character-sets-no-excuses/

I also had this problem with another style of implementation but I forgot where I got it since it was 2 years ago.

static string sha256(string randomString)
{
    var crypt = new SHA256Managed();
    string hash = String.Empty;
    byte[] crypto = crypt.ComputeHash(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(randomString));
    foreach (byte theByte in crypto)
    {
        hash += theByte.ToString("x2");
    }
    return hash;
}

When I input something like abcdefghi2013 for some reason it gives different results and results in errors in my login module. Then I tried modifying the code the same way as suggested by Quuxplusone and changed the encoding from ASCII to UTF8 then it finally worked!

static string sha256(string randomString)
{
    var crypt = new System.Security.Cryptography.SHA256Managed();
    var hash = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
    byte[] crypto = crypt.ComputeHash(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(randomString));
    foreach (byte theByte in crypto)
    {
        hash.Append(theByte.ToString("x2"));
    }
    return hash.ToString();
}

Thanks again Quuxplusone for the wonderful and detailed answer! :)

In the PHP version you can send 'true' in the last parameter, but the default is 'false'. The following algorithm is equivalent to the default PHP's hash function when passing 'sha256' as the first parameter:

public static string GetSha256FromString(string strData)
    {
        var message = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(strData);
        SHA256Managed hashString = new SHA256Managed();
        string hex = "";

        var hashValue = hashString.ComputeHash(message);
        foreach (byte x in hashValue)
        {
            hex += String.Format("{0:x2}", x);
        }
        return hex;
    }

This work for me in .NET Core 3.1.
But not in .NET 5 preview 7.

using System;
using System.Security.Cryptography;
using System.Text;

namespace PortalAplicaciones.Shared.Models
{
    public class Encriptar
    {
        public static string EncriptaPassWord(string Password)
        {
            try
            {
                SHA256Managed hasher = new SHA256Managed();

                byte[] pwdBytes = new UTF8Encoding().GetBytes(Password);
                byte[] keyBytes = hasher.ComputeHash(pwdBytes);

                hasher.Dispose();
                return Convert.ToBase64String(keyBytes);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                throw new Exception(ex.Message, ex);
            }
        }  
    }
}
 

public string EncryptPassword(string password, string saltorusername)
        {
            using (var sha256 = SHA256.Create())
            {
                var saltedPassword = string.Format("{0}{1}", salt, password);
                byte[] saltedPasswordAsBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(saltedPassword);
                return Convert.ToBase64String(sha256.ComputeHash(saltedPasswordAsBytes));
            }
        }