Nix32 Encoding

Nix32 is Nix's variant of base-32 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.