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Commands Reference, Volume 3

makekey Command

Purpose

Generates an encryption key.

Syntax

makekey [ ASCIICharacters ... ]

Description

The makekey command generates an encryption key for use with programs that perform encryption. Its input and output are usually pipes.

The makekey command reads 10 characters from standard input and writes 13 characters to standard output. The first 8 of the 10 input characters can be any sequence of ASCII characters, as specified by the ASCIICharacters parameter. The last two input characters, called the salt, are chosen from the sets 0 through 9, a through z, A through Z, . (period), and / (slash). The salt characters are repeated as the first two characters of the output. The remaining 11 output characters are chosen from the same set as the salt and constitute the output key that you use as the encryption key parameter of programs that perform encryption.

Examples

Entering the following example at the command line generates an encryption key:

makekey
1234567890

The makekey command generates an encryption key based on the input string 1234567890 and displays the following encryption key below, with the $_ (shell prompt) appearing immediately after the generated key and on the same line.

90y744T/NXw1U$_

Related Information

The crypt, encrypt, or setkey subroutine.

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