MD5SUM(1) User Commands MD5SUM(1)

md5sum - compute and check MD5 message digest

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

Print or check MD5 (128-bit) checksums.

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

read in binary mode
read checksums from the FILEs and check them
create a BSD-style checksum
read in text mode (default)
end each output line with NUL, not newline, and disable file name escaping

don't fail or report status for missing files
don't print OK for each successfully verified file
don't output anything, status code shows success
exit non-zero for improperly formatted checksum lines
warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
display this help and exit
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.

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)

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

GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
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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.

cksum(1)

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/md5sum>

January 2025 GNU coreutils 9.6