How do I access my SSH public key?

Mac, Ubuntu, Linux compatible machines, use this command to print public key, then copy it:

$ cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

On terminal cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

explanation

1. cat is a standard Unix utility that reads files and prints output
2. ~ Is your Home User path
3. /.ssh - your hidden directory contains all your ssh certificates
4. id_rsa.pub OR id_dsa.pub are RSA public keys, (the private key located on the client machine). the primary key for example can be used to enable cloning project from remote repository securely to your client end point.

If you're using windows, the command is:

type %userprofile%\.ssh\id_rsa.pub

it should print the key (if you have one). You should copy the entire result. If none is present, then do:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "your.email@example.com" -b 4096

The following command will save the SSH key on the clipboard. You only need to paste at the desired location.

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | pbcopy

If you only have your private key available, you can generate the public key from it:

ssh-keygen -y

or

ssh-keygen -y -f path/to/private_key

In UBUNTU +18.04

         ssh-keygen -o -t rsa -b 4096 -C "email@example.com" 

And After that Just Copy And Paste

         cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub 

or

         cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub

Just to give a new perspective to that question, if you use github, you could find your public key at: https://github.com/${USERNAME}.keys

id_rsa.pub is not a directory so you can not use cd to open it.

instead you can use the command cd ~/.ssh to access the folder containing your keys, then use cat id_rsa.pub, nano id_rsa.pub or gedit id_rsa.pub to access the key file.

I use Git Bash for my Windows.

$ eval $(ssh-agent -s) //activates the connection

• some output

$ ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa //adds the identity

• some other output

$ clip < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub //THIS IS THE IMPORTANT ONE. This adds your key to your clipboard. Go back to GitHub and just paste it in, and voilá! You should be good to go.

On Mac/unix and Windows:

ssh-keygen then follow the prompts. It will ask you for a name to the file (say you call it pubkey, for example). Right away, you should have your key fingerprint and your key's randomart image visible to you.

Then just use your favourite text editor and enter command vim pubkey.pub and it (your ssh-rsa key) should be there.

Replace vim with emacs or whatever other editor you have/prefer.

ssh-add is used to show the public key.

man ssh-add

-L  Lists public key parameters of all identities currently repre‐
    sented by the agent.

On my Linux system I copy it using xclip

ssh-add -L | xclip