CKSUM(1) General Commands Manual CKSUM(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

cksum - Print CRC and size for each file

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**cksum** \[OPTIONS] \[FILE]...

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Print CRC and size for each file

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

[**-a**, **--algorithm** *<ALGORITHM>*](#a)

select the digest type to use. See DIGEST below

*Possible values:*

- sysv
- bsd
- crc
- crc32b
- md5
- sha1
- sha2
- sha3
- blake2b
- sm3
- sha224
- sha256
- sha384
- sha512
- blake3
- shake128
- shake256

[**--untagged**](#untagged)

create a reversed style checksum, without digest type

[**--tag**](#tag)

create a BSD style checksum (default)

[**-l**, **--length**](#l)

digest length in bits; must not exceed the max size and must be a multiple of 8 for blake2b; must be 224, 256, 384, or 512 for sha2 or sha3

[**--raw**](#raw)

emit a raw binary digest, not hexadecimal

[**-c**, **--check**](#c)

read checksums from the FILEs and check them

[**-w**, **--warn**](#w)

warn about improperly formatted checksum lines

[**--status**](#status)

don't output anything, status code shows success

[**--quiet**](#quiet)

don't print OK for each successfully verified file

[**--ignore-missing**](#ignore)

don't fail or report status for missing files

[**--strict**](#strict)

exit non-zero for improperly formatted checksum lines

[**--base64**](#base64)

emit base64-encoded digests, not hexadecimal

[**-z**, **--zero**](#z)

end each output line with NUL, not newline, and disable file name escaping

[**--debug**](#debug)

print CPU hardware capability detection info used by cksum

[**-h**, **--help**](#h)

Print help

[**-V**, **--version**](#V)

Print version

# [EXTRA](#EXTRA)

DIGEST determines the digest algorithm and default output format:

\- sysv: equivalent to sum -s  
\- bsd: equivalent to sum -r  
\- crc: equivalent to cksum  
\- crc32b: only available through cksum  
\- md5: equivalent to md5sum  
\- sha1: equivalent to sha1sum  
\- sha2: equivalent to sha{224,256,384,512}sum  
\- sha3: only available through cksum  
\- blake2b: equivalent to b2sum  
\- sm3: only available through cksum

# [VERSION](#VERSION)

v(uutils coreutils) 0.12.0

2026-10-08

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Document: cksum(1) from uutils 0.12.0-r2 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/uutils/coreutils