NAME
openssl-pkey - public or private key processing command
SYNOPSIS
openssl pkey [-help] {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_synopsis -}{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_synopsis -} [-check] [-pubcheck] [-in filename|uri] [-inform DER|PEM|P12|ENGINE] [-passin arg] [-pubin] [-out filename] [-outform DER|PEM] [-cipher] [-passout arg] [-traditional] [-pubout] [-noout] [-text] [-text_pub] [-ec_conv_form arg] [-ec_param_enc arg]
DESCRIPTION
This command processes public or private keys. They can be converted between various forms and their components printed.
OPTIONS
General options
- -help
-
Print out a usage message.
{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_item -}
{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_item -}
- -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.
Input options
- -in filename|uri
-
This specifies the input to read a key from or standard input if this option is not specified. If the key input is encrypted and -passin is not given a pass phrase will be prompted for.
- -inform DER|PEM|P12|ENGINE
-
The key input format; unspecified by default. See openssl-format-options(1) for details.
- -passin arg
-
The password source for the key input.
For more information about the format of arg see openssl-passphrase-options(1).
- -pubin
-
By default a private key is read from the input. With this option a public key is read instead. If the input contains no public key but a private key, its public part is used.
Output options
- -out filename
-
This specifies the output filename to save the encoded and/or text output of key or standard output if this option is not specified. If any cipher option is set but no -passout is given then a pass phrase will be prompted for. The output filename should not be the same as the input filename.
- -outform DER|PEM
-
The key output format; the default is PEM. See openssl-format-options(1) for details.
- -cipher
-
Encrypt the PEM encoded private key with the supplied cipher. Any algorithm name accepted by EVP_get_cipherbyname() is acceptable such as aes128. Encryption is not supported for DER output.
- -passout arg
-
The password source for the output file.
For more information about the format of arg see openssl-passphrase-options(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.
- -pubout
-
By default the private and public key is output; this option restricts the output to the public components. This option is automatically set if the input is a public key.
When combined with -text, this is equivalent to -text_pub.
- -noout
-
Do not output the key in encoded form.
- -text
-
Output the various key components in plain text (possibly in addition to the PEM encoded form). This cannot be combined with encoded output in DER format.
- -text_pub
-
Output in text form only the public key components (also for private keys). This cannot be combined with encoded output in DER format.
- -ec_conv_form arg
-
This option only applies to elliptic-curve based keys.
This specifies how the points on the elliptic curve are converted into octet strings. Possible values are: compressed (the default value), uncompressed and hybrid. For more information regarding the point conversion forms please read the X9.62 standard. Note Due to patent issues the compressed option is disabled by default for binary curves and can be enabled by defining the preprocessor macro OPENSSL_EC_BIN_PT_COMP at compile time.
- -ec_param_enc arg
-
This option only applies to elliptic curve based public and private keys.
This specifies how the elliptic curve parameters are encoded. Possible value are: named_curve, i.e. the ec parameters are specified by an OID, or explicit where the ec parameters are explicitly given (see RFC 3279 for the definition of the EC parameters structures). The default value is named_curve. Note the implicitlyCA alternative, as specified in RFC 3279, is currently not implemented in OpenSSL.
EXAMPLES
To remove the pass phrase on a 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
To change the EC parameters encoding to explicit:
openssl pkey -in key.pem -ec_param_enc explicit -out keyout.pem
To change the EC point conversion form to compressed:
openssl pkey -in key.pem -ec_conv_form compressed -out keyout.pem
SEE ALSO
openssl(1), openssl-genpkey(1), openssl-rsa(1), openssl-pkcs8(1), openssl-dsa(1), openssl-genrsa(1), openssl-gendsa(1)
HISTORY
The -engine option was deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2006-2023 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (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 https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html.
