pkey¶

NAME¶

openssl-pkey, pkey - public or private key processing tool

SYNOPSIS¶

openssl pkey [-help] [-inform PEM|DER] [-outform PEM|DER] [-in filename] [-passin arg] [-out filename] [-passout arg] [-traditional] [-cipher] [-text] [-text_pub] [-noout] [-pubin] [-pubout] [-engine id] [-check] [-pubcheck]

DESCRIPTION¶

The pkey command processes public or private keys. They can be converted between various forms and their components printed out.

OPTIONS¶

• -help

  Print out a usage message.

• -inform DER|PEM

  This specifies the input format DER or PEM. The default format is PEM.

• -outform DER|PEM

  This specifies the output format, the options have the same meaning and default as the -inform option.

• -in filename

  This specifies the input filename to read a key from or standard input if this option is not specified. If the key is encrypted a pass phrase will be prompted for.

• -passin arg

  The input file password source. For more information about the format of arg see "Pass Phrase Options" in openssl(1).

• -out filename

  This specifies the output filename to write a key to or standard output if this option is not specified. If any encryption options are set then a pass phrase will be prompted for. The output filename should not be the same as the input filename.

• -passout password

  The output file password source. For more information about the format of arg see "Pass Phrase Options" in openssl(1).

• -traditional

  Normally a private key is written using standard format: this is PKCS#8 form with the appropriate encryption algorithm (if any). If the -traditional option is specified then the older "traditional" format is used instead.

• -cipher

  These options encrypt the private key with the supplied cipher. Any algorithm name accepted by EVP_get_cipherbyname() is acceptable such as des3.

• -text

  Prints out the various public or private key components in plain text in addition to the encoded version.

• -text_pub

  Print out only public key components even if a private key is being processed.

• -noout

  Do not output the encoded version of the key.

• -pubin

  By default a private key is read from the input file: with this option a public key is read instead.

• -pubout

  By default a private key is output: with this option a public key will be output instead. This option is automatically set if the input is a public key.

• -engine id

  Specifying an engine (by its unique id string) will cause pkey to attempt to obtain a functional reference to the specified engine, thus initialising it if needed. The engine will then be set as the default for all available algorithms.

• -check

  This option checks the consistency of a key pair for both public and private components.

• -pubcheck

  This option checks the correctness of either a public key or the public component of a key pair.

EXAMPLES¶

To remove the pass phrase on an RSA private key:

openssl pkey -in key.pem -out keyout.pem

To encrypt a private key using triple DES:

openssl pkey -in key.pem -des3 -out keyout.pem

To convert a private key from PEM to DER format:

openssl pkey -in key.pem -outform DER -out keyout.der

To print out the components of a private key to standard output:

openssl pkey -in key.pem -text -noout

To print out the public components of a private key to standard output:

openssl pkey -in key.pem -text_pub -noout

To just output the public part of a private key:

openssl pkey -in key.pem -pubout -out pubkey.pem

SEE ALSO¶

genpkey(1), rsa(1), pkcs8(1), dsa(1), genrsa(1), gendsa(1)

COPYRIGHT¶

Copyright 2006-2021 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.

Licensed under the OpenSSL license (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at