table of contents
| pwtool(1) | User Manual | pwtool(1) |
NAME¶
pwtool - a convenience tool to make sane passwords and account creations
SYNOPSIS¶
pwtool
pwtool –number N
pwtool –length N
pwtool –[only]alpha
pwtool –[only]numeric
pwtool –[only]extended
pwtool –[only]lowercase
pwtool –[only]uppercase
pwtool –md5
pwtool –des
pwtool –bcrypt
pwtool –sha[1,256,512]
pwtool –username name
pwtool –database name
pwtool –createdatabase
pwtool –password STRING
pwtool –totp STRING
pwtool –totpstep NUMBER
DESCRIPTION¶
pwtool is a utility to add generate account passwords in a variety of formats with helper output on stdout. By default the password strings are made of of letters and numbers for easy mouse selection.
As well as flexible password generation options a main goal is to output user creation strings to copy and paste/execute as stdin so that operators don’t have to re-type passwords.
Crypts can be based on user supplied strings via the --password option or PASSWORD environment variable.
The --format string can expand values:
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pwtool --database billing --username wonkeydonkey --password hunter2 --servername webby --number 1 --format 'DB: %{database}\\nUSR: %{username}\\nPASSWORD: %{password}\\nSERVER: %{servername}\\n'
Other strings, such as --mysqlfmt, --pgfmt, --mysqluserfmt, --userfmt, can generate copy/paste shell commands:
-
pwtool --username wonkeydonkey --number 1 --userfmt useradd -m -s /bin/bash -p '$5$hYhnxam4j/chBu3V$BsZsRl4nj6DTpEdFMfLuerPFR0xvCJmeGQCUjuG9qM1' wonkeydonkey # Y9YgmSyv1A pwtool --username wonkeydonkey --database circus --createdatabase --number 1 --mysqlfmt create database circus; grant all privileges on circus.* to wonkeydonkey@'%' identified with mysql_native_password as '*21c0a42c1bb43ff6b56226a6a65a8859dd077497'; -- # VfKptnR2ft
TOTP¶
pwtool can work as a TOTP CLI and display TOTP authentication strings.
If you want to leave a TOTP authentication display in your terminal, it can run like this:
-
TOTP=metalisbest pwtool --totpfmt --loopdelay 1
It will then run and leave a display like this:
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202924 [######################### ]
If you have multiple accounts, they can be displayed like this:
TOTP=“metalisbest;grungeisbest” pwtool –totpfmt –loopdelay 1
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617989 [################## ] 826783 [################## ]
That doesn’t show you the names, so you can include that with key=value strings:
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TOTP="key=metalisbest,name=metal;key=grungeisbest,name=grunge" pwtool --format "%{totpfmt} %{username}\n" --loopdelay 1 488833 [################# ] metal 967495 [################# ] grunge
The following key=value pairs are supported:
| key | definition |
| key / totp | the totp string |
| name / username | a meaningful name for this key |
| step | number of step seconds |
| digits | the length of the output |
| algo | which hmac to use (sha1, sha256, sha512) |
| seconds | a user-defined time |
AUTHORS¶
Ed Neville (ed-pwtool@s5h.net).
| 15 August 2025 | pwtool 0.9.3 |