PHP Manual: Generates a new private key

Description

OpenSSLAsymmetricKeyfalse openssl_pkey_new(arraynull $options = null)

openssl_pkey_new generates a new private key. How to obtain the public component of the key is shown in an example below.

Note: You need to have a valid openssl.cnf installed for this function to operate correctly. See the notes under the installation section for more information.

Parameters

options: You can finetune the key generation (such as specifying the number of bits) using options. See openssl_csr_new for more information about options.

Return Values

Returns an OpenSSLAsymmetricKey instance for the pkey on success, or false on error.

Changelog

Version	Description
8.0.0	On success, this function returns an OpenSSLAsymmetricKey instance now; previously, a resource of type `OpenSSL key` was returned.
7.1.0	The `curve_name` key of the `options` parameter was added to make it possible to create EC keys based on Elliptic Curve algorithms.

Examples

Example #1 Obtain the public key from a private key

<?php

$private_key = openssl_pkey_new();

$public_key_pem = openssl_pkey_get_details($private_key)['key'];
echo $public_key_pem, PHP_EOL;

$public_key = openssl_pkey_get_public($public_key_pem);
var_dump($public_key);

?>

The above example will output something similar to:

// Output prior to PHP 8.0.0; note, the function returns a resource
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEAwknBFEherZe74BiRjTFA
hqwZ1SK7brwq7C/afnLXKhRR7jnrpfM0ypC46q8xz5UZswenZakJ7kd5fls+r4Bv
3P8XsKYLTh2m1GiWQhV1g77cNIN4qNWh70PiDO3fB2446o1LBgToQYuRZS5YQRfJ
rVD0ysgtVcCU9tjaey28HlgApOpYFTaaKPj2MBmEYpMC+kG2HhL12GfpHUi2eiXI
dXT2WskWHWvUrmQ7fJIfI92JlDokV62DH/q1oiedLs9OPNb0rL1aAmYdzaVN6XNH
x/o4Lh125v2vAPV9E3fZCDc/HDEUaahpjanMiCQEgEDp5Hr+CRkvERT5/ydN+p08
5wIDAQAB
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----

resource(6) of type (OpenSSL key)

// Output as of PHP 8.0.0; note, the function returns an object
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEAwknBFEherZe74BiRjTFA
hqwZ1SK7brwq7C/afnLXKhRR7jnrpfM0ypC46q8xz5UZswenZakJ7kd5fls+r4Bv
3P8XsKYLTh2m1GiWQhV1g77cNIN4qNWh70PiDO3fB2446o1LBgToQYuRZS5YQRfJ
rVD0ysgtVcCU9tjaey28HlgApOpYFTaaKPj2MBmEYpMC+kG2HhL12GfpHUi2eiXI
dXT2WskWHWvUrmQ7fJIfI92JlDokV62DH/q1oiedLs9OPNb0rL1aAmYdzaVN6XNH
x/o4Lh125v2vAPV9E3fZCDc/HDEUaahpjanMiCQEgEDp5Hr+CRkvERT5/ydN+p08
5wIDAQAB
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----

object(OpenSSLAsymmetricKey)#2 (0) {
}