# man > openssl-pkey(1ssl) [OPENSSL-PKEY(1SSL)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/OPENSSL-PKEY/1SSL/markdown) OpenSSL [OPENSSL-PKEY(1SSL)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/OPENSSL-PKEY/1SSL/markdown) ## NAME openssl-pkey - public or private key processing command ## SYNOPSIS **openssl** **pkey** [**-help**] [**-engine** _id_] [**-provider** _name_] [**-provider-path** _path_] [**-propquery** _propq_] [**-check**] [**-pubcheck**] [**-in** _filename_|_uri_] [**-inform** **DER**|**PEM**|**P12**|**ENGINE**] [**-passin** _arg_] [**-pubin**] [**-out** _filename_] [**-outform** **DER**|**PEM**] [**-**_c_c_i_i_p_p_h_h_e_e_r_r] [**-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. ### -engine See "Engine Options" in [**openssl**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl/1/markdown). This option is deprecated. ### -provider ### -provider-path ### -propquery See "Provider Options" in [**openssl**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl/1/markdown), [**provider**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/provider/7/markdown), and [**property**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/property/7/markdown). ### -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 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 The key input format; unspecified by default. See [**openssl-format-options**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-format-options/1/markdown) for details. ### -passin The password source for the key input. For more information about the format of **arg** see [**openssl-passphrase-options**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-passphrase-options/1/markdown). ### -pubin By default a private key is read from the input. With this option only the public components are read. ### Output options ### -out 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 The key output format; the default is **PEM**. See [**openssl-format-options**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-format-options/1/markdown) for details. **-**_c_c_i_i_p_p_h_h_e_e_r_r 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 The password source for the output file. For more information about the format of **arg** see [**openssl-passphrase-options**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-passphrase-options/1/markdown). ### -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 Output in text form only the public key components (also for private keys). This cannot be combined with encoded output in DER format. ### -ec 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 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)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl/1/markdown), [**openssl-genpkey**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-genpkey/1/markdown), [**openssl-rsa**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-rsa/1/markdown), [**openssl-pkcs8**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-pkcs8/1/markdown), [**openssl-dsa**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-dsa/1/markdown), [**openssl-genrsa**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-genrsa/1/markdown), [**openssl-gendsa**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/openssl-gendsa/1/markdown) ## HISTORY The **-engine** option was deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0. ## COPYRIGHT Copyright 2006-2021 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 <>. 3.0.2 2026-06-02 [OPENSSL-PKEY(1SSL)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/OPENSSL-PKEY/1SSL/markdown)