4 {- join("\n", @autowarntext) -}
10 openssl-pkey - public or private key processing command
16 [B<-inform> B<DER>|B<PEM>|B<P12>|B<ENGINE>]
17 [B<-outform> B<DER>|B<PEM>]
18 [B<-in> I<filename>|I<uri>]
31 [B<-ec_conv_form> I<arg>]
32 [B<-ec_param_enc> I<arg>]
33 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_synopsis -}{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_synopsis -}
35 =for openssl ifdef engine
39 This command processes public or private keys. They can be
40 converted between various forms and their components printed out.
48 Print out a usage message.
50 =item B<-inform> B<DER>|B<PEM>|B<P12>|B<ENGINE>
52 The key input format; the default is B<PEM>.
53 The only value with effect is B<ENGINE>; all others have become obsolete.
54 See L<openssl-format-options(1)> for details.
56 =item B<-outform> B<DER>|B<PEM>
58 The key output formats; the default is B<PEM>.
59 See L<openssl-format-options(1)> for details.
61 =item B<-in> I<filename>|I<uri>
63 This specifies the input to read a key from or standard input if this
64 option is not specified. If the key is encrypted a pass phrase will be
67 =item B<-passin> I<arg>, B<-passout> I<arg>
69 The password source for the input and output file.
70 The -passout option is not supported for DER output.
72 For more information about the format of B<arg>
73 see L<openssl-passphrase-options(1)>.
75 =item B<-out> I<filename>
77 This specifies the output filename to write a key to or standard output if this
78 option is not specified. If any encryption options are set then a pass phrase
79 will be prompted for. The output filename should B<not> be the same as the input
84 Normally a private key is written using standard format: this is PKCS#8 form
85 with the appropriate encryption algorithm (if any). If the B<-traditional>
86 option is specified then the older "traditional" format is used instead.
90 These options encrypt the private key with the supplied cipher. Any algorithm
91 name accepted by EVP_get_cipherbyname() is acceptable such as B<des3>.
95 Prints out the various public or private key components in
96 plain text in addition to the encoded version.
100 Print out only public key components even if a private key is being processed.
104 Do not output the encoded version of the key.
108 By default a private key is read from the input file: with this
109 option a public key is read instead.
113 By default a private key is output: with this option a public
114 key will be output instead. This option is automatically set if
115 the input is a public key.
119 This option checks the consistency of a key pair for both public and private
124 This option checks the correctness of either a public key or the public component
127 =item B<-ec_conv_form> I<arg>
129 This option only applies to elliptic curve based public and private keys.
131 This specifies how the points on the elliptic curve are converted
132 into octet strings. Possible values are: B<compressed> (the default
133 value), B<uncompressed> and B<hybrid>. For more information regarding
134 the point conversion forms please read the X9.62 standard.
135 B<Note> Due to patent issues the B<compressed> option is disabled
136 by default for binary curves and can be enabled by defining
137 the preprocessor macro B<OPENSSL_EC_BIN_PT_COMP> at compile time.
139 =item B<-ec_param_enc> I<arg>
141 This option only applies to elliptic curve based public and private keys.
143 This specifies how the elliptic curve parameters are encoded.
144 Possible value are: B<named_curve>, i.e. the ec parameters are
145 specified by an OID, or B<explicit> where the ec parameters are
146 explicitly given (see RFC 3279 for the definition of the
147 EC parameters structures). The default value is B<named_curve>.
148 B<Note> the B<implicitlyCA> alternative, as specified in RFC 3279,
149 is currently not implemented in OpenSSL.
151 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_item -}
153 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_item -}
159 To remove the pass phrase on a private key:
161 openssl pkey -in key.pem -out keyout.pem
163 To encrypt a private key using triple DES:
165 openssl pkey -in key.pem -des3 -out keyout.pem
167 To convert a private key from PEM to DER format:
169 openssl pkey -in key.pem -outform DER -out keyout.der
171 To print out the components of a private key to standard output:
173 openssl pkey -in key.pem -text -noout
175 To print out the public components of a private key to standard output:
177 openssl pkey -in key.pem -text_pub -noout
179 To just output the public part of a private key:
181 openssl pkey -in key.pem -pubout -out pubkey.pem
183 To change the EC parameters encoding to B<explicit>:
185 openssl pkey -in key.pem -ec_param_enc explicit -out keyout.pem
187 To change the EC point conversion form to B<compressed>:
189 openssl pkey -in key.pem -ec_conv_form compressed -out keyout.pem
194 L<openssl-genpkey(1)>,
198 L<openssl-genrsa(1)>,
203 The B<-engine> option was deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0.
207 Copyright 2006-2020 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
209 Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
210 this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
211 in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
212 L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.