OPENSSL-PASSPHRASE-OPTIONS(1SSL) OpenSSL OPENSSL-PASSPHRASE-OPTIONS(1SSL)
NAME
openssl-passphrase-options - Pass phrase options
SYNOPSIS
openssl command [ options ... ] [ parameters ... ]
DESCRIPTION
Several OpenSSL commands accept password arguments, typically using
-passin and -passout for input and output passwords respectively. These
allow the password to be obtained from a variety of sources. Both of
these options take a single argument whose format is described below. If
no password argument is given and a password is required then the user
is prompted to enter one: this will typically be read from the current
terminal with echoing turned off.
Note that character encoding may be relevant, please see
passphrase-encoding(7).
OPTIONS
Pass Phrase Option Arguments
Pass phrase arguments can be formatted as follows.
pass:password
The actual password is password. Since the password is visible to
utilities (like 'ps' under Unix) this form should only be used where
security is not important.
env:var
Obtain the password from the environment variable var. Since the
environment of other processes is visible on certain platforms (e.g.
ps under certain Unix OSes) this option should be used with caution.
file:pathname
Reads the password from the specified file pathname, which can be a
regular file, device, or named pipe. Only the first line, up to the
newline character, is read from the stream.
If the same pathname argument is supplied to both -passin and
-passout arguments, the first line will be used for the input
password, and the next line will be used for the output password.
fd:number
Reads the password from the file descriptor number. This can be
useful for sending data via a pipe, for example. The same line
handling as described for file: applies to passwords read from file
descriptors.
fd: is not supported on Windows.
stdin
Reads the password from standard input. The same line handling as
described for file: applies to passwords read from standard input.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2000-2024 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>.
3.5.4 2025-09-30 OPENSSL-PASSPHRASE-OPTIONS(1SSL)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Fri Dec 12 05:47:35 CET 2025.