title: Hashing a String to a Numeric Value in PostgreSQL
body: <p>I need to Convert Strings stored in my Database to a Numeric value. Result can be Integer (preferred) or Bigint. This conversion is to be done at Database side in a PL/pgSQL function.</p>
  
  <p>Can someone please point me to some algorithm or any API's that can be used to achieve this?</p>
  
  <p>I have been searching for this on Google for hours now, could not find anything useful so far :(</p>