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>]
31 [B<-ec_conv_form> I<arg>]
32 [B<-ec_param_enc> I<arg>]
33 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_synopsis -}
34 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_synopsis -}
36 =for openssl ifdef engine
40 This command processes public or private keys. They can be
41 converted between various forms and their components printed out.
49 Print out a usage message.
51 =item B<-inform> B<DER>|B<PEM>|B<P12>|B<ENGINE>
53 The key input format; the default is B<PEM>.
54 The only value with effect is B<ENGINE>; all others have become obsolete.
55 See L<openssl(1)/Format Options> for details.
57 =item B<-outform> B<DER>|B<PEM>
59 The key output formats; the default is B<PEM>.
60 See L<openssl(1)/Format Options> for details.
62 =item B<-in> I<filename>
64 This specifies the input filename to read a key from or standard input if this
65 option is not specified. If the key is encrypted a pass phrase will be
68 =item B<-passin> I<arg>, B<-passout> I<arg>
70 The password source for the input and output file.
71 For more information about the format of B<arg>
72 see L<openssl(1)/Pass Phrase Options>.
74 =item B<-out> I<filename>
76 This specifies the output filename to write a key to or standard output if this
77 option is not specified. If any encryption options are set then a pass phrase
78 will be prompted for. The output filename should B<not> be the same as the input
83 Normally a private key is written using standard format: this is PKCS#8 form
84 with the appropriate encryption algorithm (if any). If the B<-traditional>
85 option is specified then the older "traditional" format is used instead.
89 These options encrypt the private key with the supplied cipher. Any algorithm
90 name accepted by EVP_get_cipherbyname() is acceptable such as B<des3>.
94 Prints out the various public or private key components in
95 plain text in addition to the encoded version.
99 Print out only public key components even if a private key is being processed.
103 Do not output the encoded version of the key.
107 By default a private key is read from the input file: with this
108 option a public key is read instead.
112 By default a private key is output: with this option a public
113 key will be output instead. This option is automatically set if
114 the input is a public key.
118 This option checks the consistency of a key pair for both public and private
123 This option checks the correctness of either a public key or the public component
126 =item B<-ec_conv_form> I<arg>
128 This option only applies to elliptic curve based public and private keys.
130 This specifies how the points on the elliptic curve are converted
131 into octet strings. Possible values are: B<compressed> (the default
132 value), B<uncompressed> and B<hybrid>. For more information regarding
133 the point conversion forms please read the X9.62 standard.
134 B<Note> Due to patent issues the B<compressed> option is disabled
135 by default for binary curves and can be enabled by defining
136 the preprocessor macro B<OPENSSL_EC_BIN_PT_COMP> at compile time.
138 =item B<-ec_param_enc> I<arg>
140 This option only applies to elliptic curve based public and private keys.
142 This specifies how the elliptic curve parameters are encoded.
143 Possible value are: B<named_curve>, i.e. the ec parameters are
144 specified by an OID, or B<explicit> where the ec parameters are
145 explicitly given (see RFC 3279 for the definition of the
146 EC parameters structures). The default value is B<named_curve>.
147 B<Note> the B<implicitlyCA> alternative, as specified in RFC 3279,
148 is currently not implemented in OpenSSL.
150 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_item -}
152 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_item -}
158 To remove the pass phrase on a private key:
160 openssl pkey -in key.pem -out keyout.pem
162 To encrypt a private key using triple DES:
164 openssl pkey -in key.pem -des3 -out keyout.pem
166 To convert a private key from PEM to DER format:
168 openssl pkey -in key.pem -outform DER -out keyout.der
170 To print out the components of a private key to standard output:
172 openssl pkey -in key.pem -text -noout
174 To print out the public components of a private key to standard output:
176 openssl pkey -in key.pem -text_pub -noout
178 To just output the public part of a private key:
180 openssl pkey -in key.pem -pubout -out pubkey.pem
182 To change the EC parameters encoding to B<explicit>:
184 openssl pkey -in key.pem -ec_param_enc explicit -out keyout.pem
186 To change the EC point conversion form to B<compressed>:
188 openssl pkey -in key.pem -ec_conv_form compressed -out keyout.pem
193 L<openssl-genpkey(1)>,
197 L<openssl-genrsa(1)>,
202 Copyright 2006-2020 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
204 Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
205 this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
206 in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
207 L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.