import hashlib


def hash_text(text_var, hash_algorithm="sha256"):
    """
    Hash the provided text with a specified hash_algorithm.
    """
    if hash_algorithm == "sha256":
        hashed_text = hashlib.sha256(text_var.encode("ascii")).hexdigest()
    if hash_algorithm == "sha512":
        hashed_text = hashlib.sha512(text_var.encode("ascii")).hexdigest()
    if hash_algorithm == "md5":
        hashed_text = hashlib.md5(text_var.encode("ascii")).hexdigest()
    return hashed_text
