SQ(1)

NAME
sq encrypt - Encrypt a message

SYNOPSIS
sq encrypt [OPTIONS] FILE

DESCRIPTION
Encrypt a message.

Encrypt a message for any number of recipients and with any number of passwords, optionally signing the message in the process.

The converse operation is `sq decrypt`.

`sq encrypt` respects the reference time set by the top-level `--time` argument. It uses the reference time when selecting encryption keys, and it sets the signature's creation time to the reference time.

OPTIONS

  Subcommand options

--binary
    Emit binary data

--compression=KIND
    Select compression scheme to use

    [default: none]

    [possible values: none, zip, zlib, bzip2]

--encrypt-for=PURPOSE
    Select what kind of keys are considered for encryption

    [default: universal]

    [possible values: transport, storage, universal]

--for=FINGERPRINT|KEYID
    Use certificates with the specified fingerprint or key ID

--for-email=EMAIL
    Use certificates where a user ID includes the specified email address

--for-file=PATH
    Read certificates from PATH

--for-self
    Encrypt the message for yourself

    This adds the certificates listed in the configuration file under `encrypt.for-self` to the list of recipients. This can be used to make sure that you yourself can decrypt the message.

    Currently, the list of certificates to be added is empty.

--for-userid=USERID
    Use certificates with the specified user ID

--output=FILE
    Write to FILE or stdout if omitted

    [default: -]

--profile=PROFILE
    Select the default OpenPGP standard for the encryption container

    When encrypting for certificates, the encryption container is selected based on the stated preferences of the recipients. However, if there is no guidance, for example because the message is encrypted only with passwords, sq falls back to this profile.

    As OpenPGP evolves, new versions will become available. This option selects the version of OpenPGP to use for encrypting messages if the version can not be inferred otherwise.

    Currently, sq supports only one version: RFC4880. Consequently, this is the default. However, there is already a newer version of the standard: RFC9580. And, the default will change in a future version of sq.

    The default can be changed in the configuration file using the setting `key.generate.profile`.

    [default: rfc4880]

    [possible values: rfc4880]

--set-metadata-filename=SET_METADATA_FILENAME
    Set the filename of the encrypted file as metadata

    Do note, that this metadata is not signed and as such relying on it - on sender or receiver side - is generally considered dangerous.

--signature-notation NAME VALUE
    Add a notation to the signature

    A user-defined notation's name must be of the form `name@a.domain.you.control.org`. If the notation's name starts with a `!`, then the notation is marked as being critical. If a consumer of a signature doesn't understand a critical notation, then it will ignore the signature. The notation is marked as being human readable.

--signer=FINGERPRINT|KEYID
    Sign the message using the key with the specified fingerprint or key ID

--signer-email=EMAIL
    Sign the message using the key where a user ID includes the specified email address

--signer-file=PATH
    Sign the message using the key read from PATH

--signer-self
    Sign using your default signer keys

    This adds the certificates listed in the configuration file under `sign.signer-self` to the list of signer keys.

    Currently, the list of keys to be added is empty.

--signer-userid=USERID
    Sign the message using the key with the specified user ID

--use-expired-subkey
    Fall back to expired encryption subkeys

    If a certificate has only expired encryption-capable subkeys, fall back to using the one that expired last

--with-password
    Prompt to add a password to encrypt with

    When using this option, the user is asked to provide a password, which is used to encrypt the message. This option can be provided more than once to provide more than one password. The encrypted data can afterwards be decrypted with either one of the recipient's keys, or one of the provided passwords.

--with-password-file=PATH
    File containing password to encrypt the message

    Note that the entire key file will be used as the password including any surrounding whitespace like a trailing newline.

    This option can be provided more than once to provide more than one password. The encrypted data can afterwards be decrypted with either one of the recipient's keys, or one of the provided passwords.

--without-signature
    Do not sign the message

FILE
    Read from FILE or stdin if FILE is '-'

    [default: -]

  Global options
See sq(1) for a description of the global options.

EXAMPLES

Encrypt a file for a recipient given by fingerprint.

    sq encrypt --for=EB28F26E2739A4870ECC47726F0073F60FD0CBF0 \
        --signer-email=juliet@example.org document.txt

Encrypt a file for a recipient given by email.

    sq encrypt --for-email=alice@example.org \
        --signer-email=juliet@example.org document.txt

SEE ALSO
sq(1).

For the full documentation see <https://book.sequoia-pgp.org>.

VERSION
1.2.0 (sequoia-openpgp 1.22.0)