man > openssl-passphrase-options(1)

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
           The first line of pathname is the password. If the same pathname argument is supplied  to
           -passin  and  -passout  arguments then the first line will be used for the input password
           and the next line for the output password. pathname need not refer to a regular file:  it
           could for example refer to a device or named pipe.

       fd:number
           Read  the password from the file descriptor number. This can be used to send the data via
           a pipe for example.

       stdin
           Read the password from standard input.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright 2000-2020 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>.

3.0.13                                       2026-07-29             OPENSSL-PASSPHRASE-OPTIONS(1SSL)