Editing Hash function (section)

=== Word length folding ===
{{See also|Universal hashing#Hashing strings}}
Modern microprocessors will allow for much faster processing if 8-bit character strings are not hashed by processing one character at a time, but by interpreting the string as an array of 32-bit or 64-bit integers and hashing/accumulating these "wide word" integer values by means of arithmetic operations (e.g. multiplication by constant and bit-shifting). The final word, which may have unoccupied byte positions, is filled with zeros or a specified randomizing value before being folded into the hash.  The accumulated hash code is reduced by a final modulo or other operation to yield an index into the table.