sha512sum

Compute and verify SHA-512 checksums

TLDR

Calculate the SHA512 checksum of a file

$ sha512sum [path/to/file]

Calculate checksums for multiple files

$ sha512sum [file1] [file2] [file3]

Calculate and save checksums to a file

$ sha512sum [*.iso] > [checksums.sha512]

Verify checksums from a file

$ sha512sum -c [checksums.sha512]

Verify silently (only show failures)

$ sha512sum -c --quiet [checksums.sha512]

Read from stdin

$ echo -n "[text]" | sha512sum

sha512sum computes and verifies SHA512 (512-bit) message digests as described in FIPS-180-2. It generates a 128-character hexadecimal hash for file contents, providing strong integrity verification.With no FILE argument or when FILE is -, sha512sum reads from standard input. Output format is: checksum, space, mode indicator (* for binary, space for text), and filename.SHA512 provides stronger security than SHA1 or MD5 and is suitable for cryptographic applications. There is no difference between binary and text mode on GNU systems.

PARAMETERS

-b, --binary

Read in binary mode

-c, --check

Read checksums from FILEs and verify them

-t, --text

Read in text mode (default)

--tag

Create a BSD-style checksum output

-z, --zero

End each output line with NUL instead of newline

--ignore-missing

Don't fail for missing files when checking

--quiet

Don't print OK for each successfully verified file

--status

Don't output anything; use exit status for result

--strict

Exit non-zero for improperly formatted checksum lines

-w, --warn

Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines

INSTALL

sudo apt install coreutils

sudo dnf install coreutils

sudo pacman -S coreutils

sudo apk add coreutils-sha512sum

sudo zypper install coreutils

brew install coreutils

nix profile install nixpkgs#coreutils

CAVEATS

SHA512 produces significantly longer hashes (128 hex characters) compared to SHA256 (64) or SHA1 (40). While more secure, verification may be slower for large numbers of files compared to weaker algorithms.

HISTORY

sha512sum is part of GNU coreutils, written by Ulrich Drepper, Scott Miller, and David Madore. SHA-512 was published by NIST as part of the SHA-2 family in 2001, designed to replace the aging SHA-1 algorithm.