What is the difference between encryption and hashing?

Encryption is a method of transforming plain text data into a secure ciphertext format, using an algorithm and a key. The encrypted data can only be decrypted with the same key used to encrypt it. Hashing is a one-way transformation of plain text data into an alphanumeric string that is of fixed length. The same plain text can always generate the same hash, but it is impossible to decrypt the hash to get the plain text back. Hashing is commonly used to verify the integrity of data.