Nix32 Encoding

Nix32 is Nix’s variant of Base32 encoding, used for store path digests, hash output via nix hash, and the outputHash derivation attribute.

Alphabet

The Nix32 alphabet consists of these 32 characters:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a b c d f g h i j k l m n p q r s v w x y z

The letters e, o, u, and t are omitted.

Byte Order

Nix32 encoding processes the hash bytes from the end (last byte first), while base-16 encoding processes from the beginning (first byte first).

Consequently, the string sort order is determined primarily by the first bytes for base-16, and by the last bytes for Nix32.