OpenSSL create SHA hash from shell stdin

Question

How to generate the SHA-512 hash with OpenSSL from command line without using a file?

I've tried this

echo "password" | openssl dgst -sha512

but the hash looks wrong (compared with http://hash.online-convert.com/sha512-generator).

Answer 1

Try echo -n "password".

What's happening is the new line character(s) that echo adds to the end of the string are getting hashed. The -n to echo suppresses this behavior.

Answer 2

If you're using MacOS, you might stumble upon a case where the echo is ignoring the -n argument. To workaround that, call the binary directly:

/bin/echo -n "password" | openssl sha512