Linux Security Cookbook

7.5. Decrypting Files

Problem

You want to decrypt a file that was encrypted with GnuPG.

Solution

Assuming the file is myfile.gpg, decrypt it in place with:

$ gpg myfile.gpg                             creates myfile

Decrypt to standard output:

$ gpg --decrypt myfile.gpg

Decrypt to a named plaintext file:

$ gpg --decrypt --output new_file_name
 myfile.gpg

Discussion

These commands work for both symmetric and public-key encrypted files. You’ll be prompted for a password (symmetric) or passphrase (public-key), which you must enter correctly to decrypt the file.

ASCII encrypted files (with the suffix .asc) are decrypted in the same way as binary encrypted files (with the suffix .gpg).

See Also

gpg(1).