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How can SHA encryption create unique 40 character hash for any string, when there are n infinite number of possible input strings but only a finite number of 40 character hashes?
To elaborate on jdigital’s answer:
Since it’s a hash algorithm and not an encryption algorithm, there is no need to reverse the operation. This, in turn, means that the result does not need to be unique; there are (in theory) in infinite number of strings that will result in the same hash. Finding out which on those are is practically impossible, though.