A file hash is a short code worked out from a file’s contents. Change a single byte and the code changes completely. That makes hashes a handy way to check a file arrived exactly as it left.

SHA-256 is the one to use. MD5 is quicker, but it is weak, so keep it for simple non-security checks. On Linux, run sha256sum wp-config.php. In PowerShell, run Get-FileHash .\wp-config.php -Algorithm SHA256. Do the same on the server copy and compare the two codes. If every character matches, the file is identical.

Why bother? Because a transfer that says “successful” is not always perfect. Wrong transfer modes, dropped connections and flaky networks can all leave you with a file that looks fine and behaves badly. A hash will tell you in seconds, rather than after your client has found the problem.

You do not need to hash every file. Check the important ones, such as wp-config.php, key plugin files and your archive before and after upload. It is a small habit that spares you a surprising number of mysteries.

Credit: Thank you to Claude for writing this filler content. It is an unsupervised learning task.