diff --git a/docs/docs/noir/standard_library/cryptographic_primitives/hashes.mdx b/docs/docs/noir/standard_library/cryptographic_primitives/hashes.mdx
index 7329880c7a..efa52b2c3f 100644
--- a/docs/docs/noir/standard_library/cryptographic_primitives/hashes.mdx
+++ b/docs/docs/noir/standard_library/cryptographic_primitives/hashes.mdx
@@ -13,18 +13,21 @@ import BlackBoxInfo from '@site/src/components/Notes/_blackbox.mdx';
 ## sha256
 
 Given an array of bytes, returns the resulting sha256 hash.
+Specify a message_size to hash only the first `message_size` bytes of the input.
 
 #include_code sha256 noir_stdlib/src/hash.nr rust
 
 example:
+#include_code sha256_var test_programs/execution_success/sha256/src/main.nr rust
 
 ```rust
 fn main() {
     let x = [163, 117, 178, 149]; // some random bytes
-    let hash = std::hash::sha256(x);
+    let hash = std::sha256::sha256_var(x, 4);
 }
 ```
 
+
 <BlackBoxInfo />
 
 ## blake2s
diff --git a/noir_stdlib/src/hash.nr b/noir_stdlib/src/hash.nr
index 26a9fa6c2c..ef1cb0889d 100644
--- a/noir_stdlib/src/hash.nr
+++ b/noir_stdlib/src/hash.nr
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ mod poseidon2;
 
 use crate::default::Default;
 use crate::uint128::U128;
+use crate::sha256::{digest, sha256_var};
 
 #[foreign(sha256)]
 // docs:start:sha256
diff --git a/noir_stdlib/src/sha256.nr b/noir_stdlib/src/sha256.nr
index 8ca6808568..d856043fcf 100644
--- a/noir_stdlib/src/sha256.nr
+++ b/noir_stdlib/src/sha256.nr
@@ -17,19 +17,42 @@ fn msg_u8_to_u32(msg: [u8; 64]) -> [u32; 16] {
 }
 // SHA-256 hash function
 pub fn digest<N>(msg: [u8; N]) -> [u8; 32] {
+    sha256_var(msg, N)
+}
+
+fn hash_final_block(msg_block: [u8; 64], mut state: [u32; 8]) -> [u8; 32] {
+    let mut out_h: [u8; 32] = [0; 32]; // Digest as sequence of bytes
+
+    // Hash final padded block
+    state = crate::hash::sha256_compression(msg_u8_to_u32(msg_block), state);
+
+    // Return final hash as byte array
+    for j in 0..8 {
+        let h_bytes = (state[7 - j] as Field).to_le_bytes(4);
+        for k in 0..4 {
+            out_h[31 - 4*j - k] = h_bytes[k];
+        }
+    }
+
+    out_h
+}
+
+// Variable size SHA-256 hash
+pub fn sha256_var<N>(msg: [u8; N], message_size: u64) -> [u8; 32] {
     let mut msg_block: [u8; 64] = [0; 64];
     let mut h: [u32; 8] = [1779033703, 3144134277, 1013904242, 2773480762, 1359893119, 2600822924, 528734635, 1541459225]; // Intermediate hash, starting with the canonical initial value
-    let mut out_h: [u8; 32] = [0; 32]; // Digest as sequence of bytes
     let mut i: u64 = 0; // Message byte pointer
     for k in 0..N {
-        // Populate msg_block
-        msg_block[i] = msg[k];
-        i = i + 1;
-        if i == 64 {
-            // Enough to hash block
-            h = crate::hash::sha256_compression(msg_u8_to_u32(msg_block), h);
+        if k < message_size {
+            // Populate msg_block
+            msg_block[i] = msg[k];
+            i = i + 1;
+            if i == 64 {
+                // Enough to hash block
+                h = crate::hash::sha256_compression(msg_u8_to_u32(msg_block), h);
 
-            i = 0;
+                i = 0;
+            }
         }
     }
     // Pad the rest such that we have a [u32; 2] block at the end representing the length
@@ -53,7 +76,7 @@ pub fn digest<N>(msg: [u8; N]) -> [u8; 32] {
         i = 0;
     }
 
-    let len = 8 * msg.len();
+    let len = 8 * message_size;
     let len_bytes = (len as Field).to_le_bytes(8);
     for _i in 0..64 {
         // In any case, fill blocks up with zeros until the last 64 (i.e. until i = 56).
@@ -67,16 +90,5 @@ pub fn digest<N>(msg: [u8; N]) -> [u8; 32] {
             i += 8;
         }
     }
-    // Hash final padded block
-    h = crate::hash::sha256_compression(msg_u8_to_u32(msg_block), h);
-
-    // Return final hash as byte array
-    for j in 0..8 {
-        let h_bytes = (h[7 - j] as Field).to_le_bytes(4);
-        for k in 0..4 {
-            out_h[31 - 4*j - k] = h_bytes[k];
-        }
-    }
-
-    out_h
+    hash_final_block(msg_block, h)
 }
diff --git a/test_programs/execution_success/sha256/src/main.nr b/test_programs/execution_success/sha256/src/main.nr
index fd5340e238..d4240ded8b 100644
--- a/test_programs/execution_success/sha256/src/main.nr
+++ b/test_programs/execution_success/sha256/src/main.nr
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ use dep::std;
 fn main(x: Field, result: [u8; 32]) {
     // We use the `as` keyword here to denote the fact that we want to take just the first byte from the x Field
     // The padding is taken care of by the program
-    let digest = std::hash::sha256([x as u8]);
+    // docs:start:sha256_var
+    let digest = std::hash::sha256_var([x as u8], 1);
+    // docs:end:sha256_var
     assert(digest == result);
 }