---
name: "md5"
section: "1"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/md5"
---

# md5(1)

calculate a message digest (checksum) for a file

## NAME

**md5**, **sha1**, **sha256**, **sha512** – calculate a message digest (checksum) for a file

## SYNOPSIS

**md5** \[**-bcpqrtx**\] \[**-C** *checklist*\] \[**-h** *hashfile*\] \[**-s** *string*\] \[*file ...*\]

**sha1** \[**-bcpqrtx**\] \[**-C** *checklist*\] \[**-h** *hashfile*\] \[**-s** *string*\] \[*file ...*\]

**sha256** \[**-bcpqrtx**\] \[**-C** *checklist*\] \[**-h** *hashfile*\] \[**-s** *string*\] \[*file ...*\]

**sha512** \[**-bcpqrtx**\] \[**-C** *checklist*\] \[**-h** *hashfile*\] \[**-s** *string*\] \[*file ...*\]

## DESCRIPTION

These utilities take as input a message of arbitrary length and produce as output a message digest (checksum) of the input.

Two messages having the same message digest (a collision) have been produced for MD5 and for SHA-1, so their use is deprecated.

The options for use with each command are as follows:

- **-b**

  Output checksums in base64 notation, not hexadecimal.

- **-C** *checklist*

  Compare the checksum of each *file* against the checksums in the *checklist*. Any specified *file* that is not listed in the *checklist* will generate an error.

- **-c**

  If this option is specified, the *file* options become checklists. Each checklist should contain hash results, which will be verified against the specified paths. Both normal (BSD) and reverse (GNU) forms are supported in either hexadecimal or base64 format. Output consists of the digest used, the file name, and an OK, FAILED, or MISSING for the result of the comparison. Entries in normal format can be validated using any of the supported checksums (see [cksum(1)](/cksum/1.md)). Entries in reverse format are validated using the default algorithm. If no file is given, stdin is used.

- **-h** *hashfile*

  Place the checksum into *hashfile* instead of stdout.

- **-p**

  Echo stdin to stdout and append the checksum to stdout.

- **-q**

  Only print the checksum (quiet mode) or if used in conjunction with the **-c** flag, only print the failed cases.

- **-r**

  Reverse the format of the hash algorithm output, similar to the output format used by [cksum(1)](/cksum/1.md) (but without the number of octets). This is also the format used by the GNU [cksum(1)](/cksum/1.md) utility.

- **-s** *string*

  Print a checksum of the given *string*.

- **-t**

  Run a built-in time trial. Specifying **-t** multiple times results in the number of rounds being multiplied by 10 for each additional flag.

- **-x**

  Run a built-in test script.

## EXIT STATUS

These utilities exit 0 on success, and 0 if an error occurs.

## SEE ALSO

[cksum(1)](/cksum/1.md)

## STANDARDS

R. Rivest, *The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm*, RFC 1321, April 1992. J. Burrows, *The Secure Hash Standard*, FIPS PUB 180-1.

D. Eastlake and P. Jones, *US Secure Hash Algorithm 1 (SHA1)*, RFC 3174, September 2001. *Secure Hash Standard*, FIPS PUB 180-2.