Using ssh-keygen to Generate Public Key and Private Key

\#linux #OS

ssh-keygen is a command to generate the public key and private key

$ ssh-keygen
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (<path>):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in <path>/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in <path>/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
SHA256:xxx......
The key's randomart image is:
+---[RSA 3072]----+
|                 |
|                 |
|                 |
|                 |
|                 |
|                 |
+----[SHA256]-----+

Then you can see inside ~/.ssh folder, it will have two file id_rsa.pub and id_rsa

id_rsa.pub: public key
id_rsa: private key

Use cat command to show and copy the public key

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Last modified: 12 June 2025