table of contents
| CKSUM(1) | User Commands | CKSUM(1) |
NAME¶
cksum - compute and verify file checksums
SYNOPSIS¶
cksum [OPTION]... [FILE]...
DESCRIPTION¶
Print or verify checksums. By default use the 32 bit CRC algorithm.
With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
- -a, --algorithm=TYPE
- select the digest type to use. See DIGEST below
- --base64
- emit base64-encoded digests, not hexadecimal
- -c, --check
- read checksums from the FILEs and check them
- -l, --length=BITS
- digest length in bits; must not exceed the max for the blake2 algorithm and must be a multiple of 8
- --raw
- emit a raw binary digest, not hexadecimal
- --tag
- create a BSD-style checksum (the default)
- --untagged
- create a reversed style checksum, without digest type
- -z, --zero
- end each output line with NUL, not newline, and disable file name escaping
The following five options are useful only when verifying checksums:¶
- --ignore-missing
- don't fail or report status for missing files
- --quiet
- don't print OK for each successfully verified file
- --status
- don't output anything, status code shows success
- --strict
- exit non-zero for improperly formatted checksum lines
- -w, --warn
- warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
- --debug
- indicate which implementation used
- --help
- display this help and exit
- --version
- output version information and exit
DIGEST determines the digest algorithm and default output format:¶
- sysv
- (equivalent to sum -s)
- bsd
- (equivalent to sum -r)
- crc
- (equivalent to cksum)
- crc32b
- (only available through cksum)
- md5
- (equivalent to md5sum)
- sha1
- (equivalent to sha1sum)
- sha224
- (equivalent to sha224sum)
- sha256
- (equivalent to sha256sum)
- sha384
- (equivalent to sha384sum)
- sha512
- (equivalent to sha512sum)
- blake2b
- (equivalent to b2sum)
- sm3
- (only available through cksum)
When checking, the input should be a former output of this program, or equivalent standalone program.
AUTHOR¶
Written by Padraig Brady and Q. Frank Xia.
REPORTING BUGS¶
GNU coreutils online help:
<https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to
<https://translationproject.org/team/>
SEE ALSO¶
Full documentation
<https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/cksum>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) cksum invocation'
Packaged by Debian (9.7-3)
Copyright © 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
<https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
| June 2025 | GNU coreutils 9.7 |