# John the Ripper Cheatsheet
John the Ripper, often called "John," is an open-source and highly flexible password-cracking tool. It supports multiple algorithms and is available on both Windows and Linux.
## Table of Contents
- [Dictionary Attacks ](#dictionary-attacks )
- [Brute Force Attacks ](#brute-force-attacks )
- [Tips & Additional Commands ](#tips--additional-commands )
---
## Dictionary Attacks
### Basic Dictionary Attack
```bash
john --wordlist=dictionary.txt hashfile
```
- **wordlist**: This option specifies the dictionary file you'd like to use.
**Example:**
```bash
john --wordlist=passwords.txt hashes.txt
```
### With Rules
```bash
john --wordlist=dictionary.txt --rules hashfile
```
- **-rules**: This enables John's wordlist rules. You can also specify your own rules.
**Example:**
```bash
john --wordlist=words.txt --rules=best64.rule hashes.txt
```
---
## Brute Force Attacks
### Basic Brute Force
```bash
john --incremental hashfile
```
**Example:**
```bash
john --incremental hashes.txt
```
### Specify Charset
```bash
john --incremental=Digits hashfile
```
- Here, you can define custom charsets like `Digits` , `Alpha` , `AlphaNum` , etc.
### Brute Force with Custom Charset
```bash
john --incremental=Custom --mask='?a?a?a?a' hashfile
```
**Example:**
```bash
john --incremental=Custom --mask='?a?a?a?a?a' hashes.txt
```
---
## Tips & Additional Commands
- **Resume Cracking**: Use `john --restore` to resume cracking.
- **Show Cracked Passwords**: Run `john --show hashfile` to display cracked passwords.
- **List Supported Formats**: Use `john --list=formats` to see all supported hash formats.
- **Performance Tuning**: Use `-fork=N` to distribute the task over multiple processes.
- **Verbose Mode**: Add `vv` for a detailed output.
- **GPU Acceleration**: Versions like John the Ripper Pro support GPU acceleration with `-device=opencl` .
- **Manual Page**: Check `man john` for a complete list of options.
---
