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.\" ========================================================================
.\"
.IX Title "PKEY 1SSL"
.TH PKEY 1SSL "2025-02-05" "1.1.1f" "OpenSSL"
.\" For nroff, turn off justification.  Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
.\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
.if n .ad l
.nh
.SH "NAME"
openssl\-pkey, pkey \- public or private key processing tool
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
\&\fBopenssl\fR \fBpkey\fR
[\fB\-help\fR]
[\fB\-inform PEM|DER\fR]
[\fB\-outform PEM|DER\fR]
[\fB\-in filename\fR]
[\fB\-passin arg\fR]
[\fB\-out filename\fR]
[\fB\-passout arg\fR]
[\fB\-traditional\fR]
[\fB\-\f(BIcipher\fB\fR]
[\fB\-text\fR]
[\fB\-text_pub\fR]
[\fB\-noout\fR]
[\fB\-pubin\fR]
[\fB\-pubout\fR]
[\fB\-engine id\fR]
[\fB\-check\fR]
[\fB\-pubcheck\fR]
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
The \fBpkey\fR command processes public or private keys. They can be converted
between various forms and their components printed out.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.IX Header "OPTIONS"
.IP "\fB\-help\fR" 4
.IX Item "-help"
Print out a usage message.
.IP "\fB\-inform DER|PEM\fR" 4
.IX Item "-inform DER|PEM"
This specifies the input format \s-1DER\s0 or \s-1PEM.\s0 The default format is \s-1PEM.\s0
.IP "\fB\-outform DER|PEM\fR" 4
.IX Item "-outform DER|PEM"
This specifies the output format, the options have the same meaning and default
as the \fB\-inform\fR option.
.IP "\fB\-in filename\fR" 4
.IX Item "-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.
.IP "\fB\-passin arg\fR" 4
.IX Item "-passin arg"
The input file password source. For more information about the format of \fBarg\fR
see the \fB\s-1PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS\s0\fR section in \fBopenssl\fR\|(1).
.IP "\fB\-out filename\fR" 4
.IX Item "-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 \fBnot\fR be the same as the input
filename.
.IP "\fB\-passout password\fR" 4
.IX Item "-passout password"
The output file password source. For more information about the format of \fBarg\fR
see the \fB\s-1PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS\s0\fR section in \fBopenssl\fR\|(1).
.IP "\fB\-traditional\fR" 4
.IX Item "-traditional"
Normally a private key is written using standard format: this is PKCS#8 form
with the appropriate encryption algorithm (if any). If the \fB\-traditional\fR
option is specified then the older \*(L"traditional\*(R" format is used instead.
.IP "\fB\-\f(BIcipher\fB\fR" 4
.IX Item "-cipher"
These options encrypt the private key with the supplied cipher. Any algorithm
name accepted by \fBEVP_get_cipherbyname()\fR is acceptable such as \fBdes3\fR.
.IP "\fB\-text\fR" 4
.IX Item "-text"
Prints out the various public or private key components in
plain text in addition to the encoded version.
.IP "\fB\-text_pub\fR" 4
.IX Item "-text_pub"
Print out only public key components even if a private key is being processed.
.IP "\fB\-noout\fR" 4
.IX Item "-noout"
Do not output the encoded version of the key.
.IP "\fB\-pubin\fR" 4
.IX Item "-pubin"
By default a private key is read from the input file: with this
option a public key is read instead.
.IP "\fB\-pubout\fR" 4
.IX Item "-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.
.IP "\fB\-engine id\fR" 4
.IX Item "-engine id"
Specifying an engine (by its unique \fBid\fR string) will cause \fBpkey\fR
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.
.IP "\fB\-check\fR" 4
.IX Item "-check"
This option checks the consistency of a key pair for both public and private
components.
.IP "\fB\-pubcheck\fR" 4
.IX Item "-pubcheck"
This option checks the correctness of either a public key or the public component
of a key pair.
.SH "EXAMPLES"
.IX Header "EXAMPLES"
To remove the pass phrase on an \s-1RSA\s0 private key:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& openssl pkey \-in key.pem \-out keyout.pem
.Ve
.PP
To encrypt a private key using triple \s-1DES:\s0
.PP
.Vb 1
\& openssl pkey \-in key.pem \-des3 \-out keyout.pem
.Ve
.PP
To convert a private key from \s-1PEM\s0 to \s-1DER\s0 format:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& openssl pkey \-in key.pem \-outform DER \-out keyout.der
.Ve
.PP
To print out the components of a private key to standard output:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& openssl pkey \-in key.pem \-text \-noout
.Ve
.PP
To print out the public components of a private key to standard output:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& openssl pkey \-in key.pem \-text_pub \-noout
.Ve
.PP
To just output the public part of a private key:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& openssl pkey \-in key.pem \-pubout \-out pubkey.pem
.Ve
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
\&\fBgenpkey\fR\|(1), \fBrsa\fR\|(1), \fBpkcs8\fR\|(1),
\&\fBdsa\fR\|(1), \fBgenrsa\fR\|(1), \fBgendsa\fR\|(1)
.SH "COPYRIGHT"
.IX Header "COPYRIGHT"
Copyright 2006\-2017 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
.PP
Licensed under the OpenSSL license (the \*(L"License\*(R").  You may not use
this file except in compliance with the License.  You can obtain a copy
in the file \s-1LICENSE\s0 in the source distribution or at
<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.
