CKSUM(1)

🎀 CKSUM 🎀 — from the General Commands Manual, bestie 💅

okay so. cksum is literally the "print me a checksum and the size of every file" girlie, and she does NOT miss. the manual name is cksum and the command name is also cksum, which is lowkey iconic of her.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

cksum [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Print CRC and size for each file. that's it. that's the whole vibe. she prints the CRC, she prints the size, for each file, and she slays while doing it 💖

🌸 OPTIONS 🌸

• -a, --algorithm <ALGORITHM> — picks which digest type to use. see DIGEST down below for the whole menu 🍓
• --untagged — makes a reversed style checksum, without the digest type. the layout? flipped. no label. just vibes.
• --tag — makes a BSD style checksum. this is the default, so she's already doing it bestie, no notes 👑
• -l, --length — the digest length in bits. caveat time, so listen up 🫶: it must not exceed the max size, and for blake2b it must be a multiple of 8, and for sha2 or sha3 it must be 224, 256, 384, or 512. those are the rules, periodt.
• --raw — emits a raw binary digest instead of hexadecimal. same energy, less letters 💀
• -c, --check — reads checksums from the FILEs and checks them. verification era ✨
• -w, --warn — warns you about checksum lines that are formatted improperly. she's just looking out for you 😭
• --status — outputs absolutely nothing, the status code is the one telling you if it worked. silent but the exit code speaks fr fr
• --quiet — doesn't print OK for each file that successfully verified. no celebration, just results 🙈
• --ignore-missing — doesn't fail or report status for files that are missing. she simply pretends she didn't see them 🧚
• --strict — exits non-zero for checksum lines that are formatted improperly. stricter than your mom's screen time rules 🔥
• --base64 — emits base64-encoded digests instead of hexadecimal. a whole aesthetic 💜
• -z, --zero — ends each output line with NUL instead of a newline, AND disables file name escaping. two-for-one, we love a multitasker
• --debug — prints the CPU hardware capability detection info that cksum uses. nerdy? yes. obsessed? also yes 🌈
• -h, --help — prints help
• -V, --version — prints version

💫 EXTRA 💫

DIGEST decides the digest algorithm AND the default output format. here's the roster, bestie:

• sysv: equivalent to sum -s
• bsd: equivalent to sum -r
• crc: equivalent to cksum
• crc32b: only available through cksum (exclusive!! main character energy 👑)
• 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

ngl the "only available through cksum" girlies are the iykyk of this whole page. show them some respect 🫶

and for the record, the <ALGORITHM> you can pass to -a / --algorithm is one of these cuties:

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

⭐ VERSION ⭐

v(uutils coreutils) 0.12.0

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 💖 this was CKSUM(1) from the General Commands Manual, version v(uutils coreutils) 0.12.0, dated <rainbow>2026-09-17</rainbow> — go forth and check those checksums, mwah 🎀🦋💅