HTPASSWD(1) htpasswd HTPASSWD(1)
NAME
htpasswd - Manage user files for basic authentication
SYNOPSIS
htpasswd [ -c ] [ -i ] [ -m | -B | -d | -s | -p ] [ -C cost ] [ -D ] [ -v ] passwdfile username
htpasswd -b [ -c ] [ -m | -B | -d | -s | -p ] [ -C cost ] [ -D ] [ -v ] passwdfile username password
htpasswd -n [ -i ] [ -m | -B | -d | -s | -p ] [ -C cost ] username
htpasswd -nb [ -m | -B | -d | -s | -p ] [ -C cost ] username password
SUMMARY
htpasswd is used to create and update the flat-files used to store usernames and password for basic authenti‐
cation of HTTP users. If htpasswd cannot access a file, such as not being able to write to the output file or
not being able to read the file in order to update it, it returns an error status and makes no changes.
Resources available from the Apache HTTP server can be restricted to just the users listed in the files cre‐
ated by htpasswd. This program can only manage usernames and passwords stored in a flat-file. It can encrypt
and display password information for use in other types of data stores, though. To use a DBM database see dbm‐
manage or htdbm.
htpasswd encrypts passwords using either bcrypt, a version of MD5 modified for Apache, SHA1, or the system's
crypt() routine. Files managed by htpasswd may contain a mixture of different encoding types of passwords;
some user records may have bcrypt or MD5-encrypted passwords while others in the same file may have passwords
encrypted with crypt().
This manual page only lists the command line arguments. For details of the directives necessary to configure
user authentication in httpd see the Apache manual, which is part of the Apache distribution or can be found
at http://httpd.apache.org/.
OPTIONS
-b Use batch mode; i.e., get the password from the command line rather than prompting for it. This option
should be used with extreme care, since the password is clearly visible on the command line. For script
use see the -i option.
-i Read the password from stdin without verification (for script usage).
-c Create the passwdfile. If passwdfile already exists, it is rewritten and truncated. This option cannot
be combined with the -n option.
-n Display the results on standard output rather than updating a file. This is useful for generating pass‐
word records acceptable to Apache for inclusion in non-text data stores. This option changes the syntax
of the command line, since the passwdfile argument (usually the first one) is omitted. It cannot be
combined with the -c option.
-s Use SHA encryption for passwords. Facilitates migration from/to Netscape servers using the LDAP Direc‐
tory Interchange Format (ldif). This algorithm is insecure by today's standards.
-p Use plaintext passwords. Though htpasswd will support creation on all platforms, the httpd daemon will
only accept plain text passwords on Windows and Netware.
-D Delete user. If the username exists in the specified htpasswd file, it will be deleted.
-v Verify password. Verify that the given password matches the password of the user stored in the speci‐
fied htpasswd file.
passwdfile
Name of the file to contain the user name and password. If -c is given, this file is created if it does
not already exist, or rewritten and truncated if it does exist.
username
The username to create or update in passwdfile. If username does not exist in this file, an entry is
added. If it does exist, the password is changed.
password
The plaintext password to be encrypted and stored in the file. Only used with the -b flag.
EXIT STATUS
htpasswd returns a zero status ("true") if the username and password have been successfully added or updated
in the passwdfile. htpasswd returns 1 if it encounters some problem accessing files, 2 if there was a syntax
problem with the command line, 3 if the password was entered interactively and the verification entry didn't
match, 4 if its operation was interrupted, 5 if a value is too long (username, filename, password, or final
computed record), 6 if the username contains illegal characters (see the Restrictions section), and 7 if the
file is not a valid password file.
EXAMPLES
htpasswd /usr/local/etc/apache/.htpasswd-users jsmith
Adds or modifies the password for user jsmith. The user is prompted for the password. The password will be
encrypted using the modified Apache MD5 algorithm. If the file does not exist, htpasswd will do nothing except
return an error.
htpasswd -c /home/doe/public_html/.htpasswd jane
Creates a new file and stores a record in it for user jane. The user is prompted for the password. If the file
exists and cannot be read, or cannot be written, it is not altered and htpasswd will display a message and
return an error status.
htpasswd -db /usr/web/.htpasswd-all jones Pwd4Steve
The use of the -b option is discouraged, since when it is used the unencrypted password appears on the command
line.
When using the crypt() algorithm, note that only the first 8 characters of the password are used to form the
password. If the supplied password is longer, the extra characters will be silently discarded.
The SHA encryption format does not use salting: for a given password, there is only one encrypted representa‐
tion. The crypt() and MD5 formats permute the representation by prepending a random salt string, to make dic‐
tionary attacks against the passwords more difficult.
The SHA and crypt() formats are insecure by today's standards.
RESTRICTIONS
On the Windows platform, passwords encrypted with htpasswd are limited to no more than 255 characters in
length. Longer passwords will be truncated to 255 characters.
The MD5 algorithm used by htpasswd is specific to the Apache software; passwords encrypted using it will not
be usable with other Web servers.
Usernames are limited to 255 bytes and may not include the character :.
Apache HTTP Server 2013-07-06 HTPASSWD(1)
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