HTPasswd file

A htpasswd file contains n lines. Every line is a user and password separated by :.

The password is encrypted.

The following example shows a file that contains two users: developer and tester with its passwords dev12345 and test12345 respectively.

developer:$apr1$ukdXlwVY$/ghTjaQageNScb0KEwsKX1
tester:$apr1$vhnjzebZ$.emX47WYDASfh4M6Ue5Wv0

How to use

HTPasswd offers many configuration options for file generation, updating, encrypting, etc.

The following table shows the principal options:

Option	Description
-c	Create the file
-n	Only show the result without modifying the file
-b	Reads the password from the command (unsecured)
-B	Encryot the password with bcrypt (very secure and recommended)
-D	Deletes a specific user
-v	Verify the password of the specified user

Note: If you don’t use the -B option, your password will encrypt using MD5 (very insecure). You have to use at least -2 or -5 to use SHA-256 or SHA-512 encrypting algorithms.

Example

Create a file

Create a new file with a new user:

$ htpasswd -Bb -c htpasswd.file developer dev12345

Add a new user

We will add a new user to the below file:

$ htpasswd -Bb htpasswd.file tester test12345

Delete a user

We will delete the first user added to the file:

$ htpasswd -D htpasswd.file developer

If we check the result after the three commands:

$ cat htpasswd.file 
tester:$2y$05$cBIhPEkbczcmNswTIXowqODge1b5HiXn/96n55iTpuK4Z1oS2UFOG

References

htpasswd security

Manage users with HTPasswd