Python 256bit Hash function with number output

I need a Hash function with a 256bit output (as long int).

First I thought I could use SHA256 from the hashlib but it has an String Output and I need a number to calculate with.

Converting the 32 Byte String to a long would work also but I didn't find anything. In开发者_高级运维 struct there is a unpack function but this only works for 8 Byte long types and not for longer longs.

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How about:

>>> import hashlib
>>> h = hashlib.sha256('something to hash')
>>> h.hexdigest()
'a3899c4070fc75880fa445b6dfa44207cbaf924a450ce7175cd8500e597d3ec1'
>>> n = int(h.hexdigest(),base=16)
>>> print n
73970130776712578303406724846815845410916448611708558169000368019946742824641

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python 3.x update

import hashlib
value = 'something to hash'
t_value = value.encode('utf8')
h = hashlib.sha256(t_value)
h.hexdigest()
n = int(h.hexdigest(),base=16)
print(n)