---
name: "htpasswd"
section: "1"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["linux", "openbsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/htpasswd"
---

# htpasswd(1)

create and update user authentication files

## NAME

**htpasswd** – create and update user authentication files

## SYNOPSIS

**htpasswd** \[*file*\] *login*

**htpasswd** **-I** \[*file*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**htpasswd** is used to create and update user authentication files for HTTP daemons.

The options are as follows:

- **-I**

  Switch to batch mode. **htpasswd** reads exactly one line from standard input and splits it at the first ":". The first part is the login, the second part is the password which **htpasswd** then hashes using bcrypt(3).

**htpasswd** prompts for a password and generates a hash using bcrypt(3). A line suitable for a password file is written to the standard output. If invoked with two arguments( or one argument if the **-I** flag is used), user authentication *file* is updated.

## SEE ALSO

bcrypt(3)

## HISTORY

This reimplemented version of **htpasswd** has been available since OpenBSD 5.6.

## AUTHORS

Florian Obser ⟨*florian@openbsd.org*⟩ implemented **htpasswd** from scratch after Apache httpd was removed from OpenBSD base.