NAME

md5sum - compute and check MD5 message digest

SYNOPSIS

md5sum [OPTION]... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION

Print or check MD5 (128-bit) checksums.

With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

-b, --binary: read in binary mode
-c, --check: read checksums from the FILEs and check them
--tag: create a BSD-style checksum
-t, --text: read in text mode (default)
-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
--help: display this help and exit
--version: output version information and exit

The sums are computed as described in RFC 1321. When checking, the input should be a former output of this program. The default mode is to print a line with: checksum, a space, a character indicating input mode ('*' for binary, ' ' for text or where binary is insignificant), and name for each FILE.

There is no difference between binary mode and text mode on GNU systems.

BUGS

Do not use the MD5 algorithm for security related purposes. Instead, use an SHA-2 algorithm, implemented in the programs sha224sum(1), sha256sum(1), sha384sum(1), sha512sum(1), or the BLAKE2 algorithm, implemented in b2sum(1)

AUTHOR

Written by Ulrich Drepper, Scott Miller, and David Madore.

REPORTING BUGS

GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT

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.