--- name: "sha512sum" section: "1" platform: "freebsd" package: "base" version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79" release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)" platforms: ["linux", "freebsd"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/md5" --- # sha512sum(1) calculate a message-digest fingerprint (checksum) for a file Part of [md5(1)](/md5/1.md). ## NAME **md5**, **sha1**, **sha224**, **sha256**, **sha384**, **sha512**, **sha512t224**, **sha512t256**, **rmd160**, **skein256**, **skein512**, **skein1024**, **md5sum**, **sha1sum**, **sha224sum**, **sha256sum**, **sha384sum**, **sha512sum**, **sha512t224sum**, **sha512t256sum**, **rmd160sum**, **skein256sum**, **skein512sum**, **skein1024sum**, **shasum** – calculate a message-digest fingerprint (checksum) for a file ## SYNOPSIS **md5** \[**-pqrtx**\] \[**-c** *string*\] \[**-s** *string*\] \[*file ...*\] **md5sum** \[**-bctwz**\] \[**--binary**\] \[**--check**\] \[**--help**\] \[**--ignore-missing**\] \[**--quiet**\] \[**--status**\] \[**--strict**\] \[**--tag**\] \[**--text**\] \[**--version**\] \[**--warn**\] \[**--zero**\] \[*file ...*\] (All other hashes have the same options and usage.) **shasum** \[**-0bchqstUvw**\] \[**--01**\] \[**-a** \| **--algorithm** *alg*\] \[**--binary**\] \[**--check**\] \[**--help**\] \[**--ignore-missing**\] \[**--quiet**\] \[**--status**\] \[**--strict**\] \[**--tag**\] \[**--text**\] \[**--UNIVERSAL**\] \[**--version**\] \[**--warn**\] \[*file ...*\] ## DESCRIPTION The **md5**, **sha1**, **sha224**, **sha256**, **sha384**, **sha512**, **sha512t224**, **sha512t256**, **rmd160**, **skein256**, **skein512**, and **skein1024** utilities take as input a message of arbitrary length and produce as output a “fingerprint” or “message digest” of the input. The **md5sum**, **sha1sum**, **sha224sum**, **sha256sum**, **sha384sum**, **sha512sum**, **sha512t224sum**, **sha512t256sum**, **rmd160sum**, **skein256sum**, **skein512sum**, and **skein1024sum** utilities do the same, but with command-line options and an output format that match those of their similary named GNU utilities. The **shasum** utility does the same, but with command-line options and an output format that match those of the similarly named utility that ships with Perl. In all cases, each file listed on the command line is processed separately. If no files are listed on the command line, or a file name is given as *-*, input is taken from stdin instead. The utility's different modes have different output formats, but in all cases, filenames containing unprintable characters are encoded as described in [vis(3)](/vis/3.md) using the VIS\_CSTYLE \| VIS\_OCTAL style. It is conjectured that it is computationally infeasible to produce two messages having the same message digest, or to produce any message having a given prespecified target message digest. The SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512, RIPEMD-160, and SKEIN algorithms are intended for digital signature applications, where a large file must be “compressed” in a secure manner before being encrypted with a private (secret) key under a public-key cryptosystem such as RSA. The MD5 and SHA-1 algorithms have been proven to be vulnerable to practical collision attacks and should not be relied upon to produce unique outputs, *nor* *should* *they* *be* *used* *as* *part* *of* *a* *cryptographic* *signature* *scheme.* SHA-512t256 is a version of SHA-512 truncated to only 256 bits. On 64-bit hardware, this algorithm is approximately 50% faster than SHA-256 but with the same level of security. The hashes are not interchangeable. SHA-512t224 is identical to SHA-512t256, but with the digest truncated to 224 bits. It is recommended that all new applications use SHA-512 or SKEIN-512 instead of one of the other hash functions. ### BSD OPTIONS The following options are available in BSD mode, i.e. when the program is invoked with a name that does not end in “sum”: - **-c** *string*, **--check=***string* Compare the digest of the file against this string. If combined with the **-q** or **--quiet** option, the calculated digest is printed in addition to the exit status being set. (Note that this option is not yet useful if multiple files are specified.) - **-p**, **--passthrough** Echo stdin to stdout and append the checksum to stdout. In this mode, any files specified on the command line are silently ignored. - **-q**, **--quiet** Quiet mode — only the checksum is printed out. Overrides the **-r** or **--reverse** option. - **-r**, **--reverse** Reverses the format of the output. This helps with visual diffs. Does nothing when combined with the **-ptx** options. - **-s** *string*, **--string=***string* Print a checksum of the given *string*. In this mode, any files specified on the command line are silently ignored. - **-t**, **--time-trial** Run a built-in time trial. For the **-sum** versions, this is a nop for compatibility with coreutils. - **-x**, **--self-test** Run a built-in test script. ### GNU OPTIONS The following options are available in GNU mode, i.e. when the program is invoked with a name that ends in “sum”: - **-b**, **--binary** Read files in binary mode. - **-c**, **--check** The file passed as arguments must contain digest lines generated by the same digest algorithm in either classical BSD format or in GNU coreutils format. A line with the file name followed by a colon “”: and either OK or FAILED is written for each well-formed line in the digest file. If applicable, the number of failed comparisons and the number of lines that were skipped since they were not well-formed are printed at the end. The **--quiet** option can be used to quiesce the output unless there are mismatched entries in the digest. - **--help** Print a usage message and exit. - **--ignore-missing** When verifying checksums, ignore files for which checksums are given but which aren't found on disk. - **--quiet** When verifying checksums, do not print anything unless the verification fails. - **--status** When verifying checksums, do not print anything at all. The exit code will reflect whether verification succeeded. - **--strict** When verifying checksums, fail if the input is malformed. - **--tag** Produce BSD-style output. - **-t**, **--text** Read files in text mode. This is the default. Note that this implementation does not differentiate between binary and text mode. - **--version** Print version information and exit. - **-w**, **--warn** When verifying checksums, warn about malformed input. - **-z**, **--zero** Terminate output lines with NUL rather than with newline. ### PERL OPTIONS The following options are available in Perl mode, i.e. when the program is invoked with the name “shasum”: - **-0**, **--01** Read files in bits mode: ASCII ‘0’ and ‘1’ characters correspond to 0 and 1 bits, respectively, and all other characters are ignored. See BUGS. - **-a** *alg*, **--algorithm** *alg* Use the specified algorithm: “1” for SHA-1 (default), “xxx” for *xxx*-bit SHA-2 (e.g. “256” for SHA-256) or “xxxyyy” for *xxx*-bit SHA-2 truncated to *yyy* bits (e.g. “512224” for SHA-512/224). - **-b**, **--binary** Read files in binary mode. - **-c**, **--check** The file passed as arguments must contain digest lines generated by the same digest algorithm in either classical BSD format or in GNU coreutils format. A line with the file name followed by a colon “”: and either OK or FAILED is written for each well-formed line in the digest file. If applicable, the number of failed comparisons and the number of lines that were skipped since they were not well-formed are printed at the end. The **--quiet** option can be used to quiesce the output unless there are mismatched entries in the digest. - **--help** Print a usage message and exit. - **--ignore-missing** When verifying checksums, ignore files for which checksums are given but which aren't found on disk. - **--quiet** When verifying checksums, do not print anything unless the verification fails. - **--status** When verifying checksums, do not print anything at all. The exit code will reflect whether verification succeeded. - **--strict** When verifying checksums, fail if the input is malformed. - **--tag** Produce BSD-style output. - **-t**, **--text** Read files in text mode. This is the default. Note that this implementation does not differentiate between binary and text mode. - **-U**, **--UNIVERSAL** Read files in universal mode: any CR-LF pair, as well as any CR not followed by LF, is translated to LF before the digest is computed. - **--version** Print version information and exit. - **-w**, **--warn** When verifying checksums, warn about malformed input. ## EXIT STATUS The **md5**, **sha1**, **sha224**, **sha256**, **sha384**, **sha512**, **sha512t224**, **sha512t256**, **rmd160**, **skein256**, **skein512**, and **skein1024** utilities exit 0 on success, 1 if at least one of the input files could not be read, and 2 if at least one file does not have the same hash as the **-c** option. The **md5sum**, **sha1sum**, **sha224sum**, **sha256sum**, **sha384sum**, **sha512sum**, **sha512t224sum**, **sha512t256sum**, **rmd160**, **skein256**, **skein512**, **skein1024** and **shasum** utilities exit 0 on success and 1 if at least one of the input files could not be read or, when verifying checksums, does not have the expected checksum. ## EXAMPLES Calculate the MD5 checksum of the string “Hello”. ``` $ md5 -s Hello MD5 ("Hello") = 8b1a9953c4611296a827abf8c47804d7 ``` Same as above, but note the absence of the newline character in the input string: ``` $ echo -n Hello | md5 8b1a9953c4611296a827abf8c47804d7 ``` Calculate the checksum of multiple files reversing the output: ``` $ md5 -r /boot/loader.conf /etc/rc.conf ada5f60f23af88ff95b8091d6d67bef6 /boot/loader.conf d80bf36c332dc0fdc479366ec3fa44cd /etc/rc.conf ``` This is almost but not quite identical to the output from GNU mode: ``` $ md5sum /boot/loader.conf /etc/rc.conf ada5f60f23af88ff95b8091d6d67bef6 /boot/loader.conf d80bf36c332dc0fdc479366ec3fa44cd /etc/rc.conf ``` Note the two spaces between hash and file name. If binary mode is requested, they are instead separated by a space and an asterisk: ``` $ md5sum -b /boot/loader.conf /etc/rc.conf ada5f60f23af88ff95b8091d6d67bef6 */boot/loader.conf d80bf36c332dc0fdc479366ec3fa44cd */etc/rc.conf ``` Write the digest for */boot/loader.conf* in a file named *digest*. Then calculate the checksum again and validate it against the checksum string extracted from the *digest* file: ``` $ md5 /boot/loader.conf > digest && md5 -c $(cut -f2 -d= digest) /boot/loader.conf MD5 (/boot/loader.conf) = ada5f60f23af88ff95b8091d6d67bef6 ``` Same as above but comparing the digest against an invalid string (“randomstring”), which results in a failure. ``` $ md5 -c randomstring /boot/loader.conf MD5 (/boot/loader.conf) = ada5f60f23af88ff95b8091d6d67bef6 [ Failed ] ``` In GNU mode, the **-c** option does not compare against a hash string passed as parameter. Instead, it expects a digest file, as created under the name *digest* for */boot/loader.conf* in the example above. ``` $ md5sum -c digest /boot/loader.conf: OK ``` The digest file may contain any number of lines in the format generated in either BSD or GNU mode. If a hash value does not match the file, “FAILED” is printed instead of “OK”. ## SEE ALSO [cksum(1)](/cksum/1.md), [md5(3)](/md5/3.md), [ripemd(3)](/ripemd/3.md), [sha(3)](/sha/3.md), [sha256(3)](/sha256/3.md), [sha384(3)](/sha384/3.md), [sha512(3)](/sha512/3.md), [skein(3)](/skein/3.md), [vis(3)](/vis/3.md) R. Rivest, *The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm*, RFC1321. J. Burrows, *The Secure Hash Standard*, FIPS PUB 180-2. D. Eastlake and P. Jones, *US Secure Hash Algorithm 1*, RFC 3174. RIPEMD-160 is part of the ISO draft standard "ISO/IEC DIS 10118-3" on dedicated hash functions. Secure Hash Standard (SHS): *https://www.nist.gov/publications/secure-hash-standard-shs* The RIPEMD-160 page: *https://homes.esat.kuleuven.be/~bosselae/ripemd160.html* ## CAVEATS The encoding used for file names containing non-printable characters is incompatible with that used by GNU coreutils. The encoding used by GNU coreutils is non-reversible, in that certain non-printable characters are encoded while others are simply omitted. The encoding used by this utility, on the other hand, is fully reversible. If interoperability with GNU coreutils is required, it is recommended to ensure that all file names contain only printable characters. ## BUGS In bits mode, the original **shasum** script is capable of processing inputs of arbitrary length. This implementation is not, and will issue an error if the input length is not a multiple of eight bits. ## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This utility was originally derived from a program which was placed in the public domain for free general use by RSA Data Security. Support for SHA-1 and RIPEMD-160 was added by Oliver Eikemeier ⟨*eik@FreeBSD.org*⟩. Support for SHA-2 was added by Colin Percival ⟨*cperciva@FreeBSD.org*⟩ and Allan Jude ⟨*allanjude@FreeBSD.org*⟩. Support for SKEIN was added by Allan Jude ⟨*allanjude@FreeBSD.org*⟩. Compatibility with GNU coreutils was added by Warner Losh ⟨*imp@FreeBSD.org*⟩ and much expanded by Dag-Erling Smørgrav ⟨*des@FreeBSD.org*⟩, who also added Perl compatibility.