Extracting information from a pem file

If you want to view the starting date for the certificate, you can use -startdate.

Parameters that can be used to extract information regarding the certificate include the following:

$ openssl x509 -startdate -enddate -issuer -subject -hash -noout -in cacert.pem
notBefore=Aug 13 00:29:00 1998 GMT
notAfter=Aug 13 23:59:00 2018 GMT
issuer= /C=US/O=GTE Corporation/OU=GTE CyberTrust Solutions, Inc./CN=GTE CyberTr
ust Global Root
subject= /C=US/O=GTE Corporation/OU=GTE CyberTrust Solutions, Inc./CN=GTE CyberT
rust Global Root
4d654d1d
$ openssl x509 -purpose -noout -in cacert.pem
Certificate purposes:
SSL client : Yes
SSL client CA : Yes (WARNING code=3)
SSL server : Yes
SSL server CA : Yes (WARNING code=3)
Netscape SSL server : Yes
Netscape SSL server CA : Yes (WARNING code=3)
S/MIME signing : Yes
S/MIME signing CA : Yes (WARNING code=3)
S/MIME encryption : Yes
S/MIME encryption CA : Yes (WARNING code=3)
CRL signing : Yes
CRL signing CA : Yes (WARNING code=3)
Any Purpose : Yes
Any Purpose CA : Yes
OCSP helper : Yes
OCSP helper CA : Yes (WARNING code=3)
$

If you want to view additional information for the certificate, you can also use the -text option, instead as shown below:

$ openssl x509 -text -noout -in cacert.pem
Certificate:
    Data:
        Version: 1 (0x0)
        Serial Number: 421 (0x1a5)
        Signature Algorithm: md5WithRSAEncryption
        Issuer: C=US, O=GTE Corporation, OU=GTE CyberTrust Solutions, Inc., CN=GTE CyberTrust Global Root
        Validity
            Not Before: Aug 13 00:29:00 1998 GMT
            Not After : Aug 13 23:59:00 2018 GMT
        Subject: C=US, O=GTE Corporation, OU=GTE CyberTrust Solutions, Inc., CN=GTE CyberTrust Global Root
        Subject Public Key Info:
            Public Key Algorithm: rsaEncryption
            RSA Public Key: (1024 bit)
                Modulus (1024 bit):
                    00:95:0f:a0:b6:f0:50:9c:e8:7a:c7:88:cd:dd:17:
                    0e:2e:b0:94:d0:1b:3d:0e:f6:94:c0:8a:94:c7:06:
                    c8:90:97:c8:b8:64:1a:7a:7e:6c:3c:53:e1:37:28:
                    73:60:7f:b2:97:53:07:9f:53:f9:6d:58:94:d2:af:
                    8d:6d:88:67:80:e6:ed:b2:95:cf:72:31:ca:a5:1c:
                    72:ba:5c:02:e7:64:42:e7:f9:a9:2c:d6:3a:0d:ac:
                    8d:42:aa:24:01:39:e6:9c:3f:01:85:57:0d:58:87:
                    45:f8:d3:85:aa:93:69:26:85:70:48:80:3f:12:15:
                    c7:79:b4:1f:05:2f:3b:62:99
                Exponent: 65537 (0x10001)
    Signature Algorithm: md5WithRSAEncryption
        6d:eb:1b:09:e9:5e:d9:51:db:67:22:61:a4:2a:3c:48:77:e3:
        a0:7c:a6:de:73:a2:14:03:85:3d:fb:ab:0e:30:c5:83:16:33:
        81:13:08:9e:7b:34:4e:df:40:c8:74:d7:b9:7d:dc:f4:76:55:
        7d:9b:63:54:18:e9:f0:ea:f3:5c:b1:d9:8b:42:1e:b9:c0:95:
        4e:ba:fa:d5:e2:7c:f5:68:61:bf:8e:ec:05:97:5f:5b:b0:d7:
        a3:85:34:c4:24:a7:0d:0f:95:93:ef:cb:94:d8:9e:1f:9d:5c:
        85:6d:c7:aa:ae:4f:1f:22:b5:cd:95:ad:ba:a7:cc:f9:ab:0b:
        7a:7f
$

usage: x509 args
 -inform arg     - input format - default PEM (one of DER, NET or PEM)
 -outform arg    - output format - default PEM (one of DER, NET or PEM)
 -keyform arg    - private key format - default PEM
 -CAform arg     - CA format - default PEM
 -CAkeyform arg  - CA key format - default PEM
 -in arg         - input file - default stdin
 -out arg        - output file - default stdout
 -passin arg     - private key password source
 -serial         - print serial number value
 -subject_hash   - print subject hash value
 -issuer_hash    - print issuer hash value
 -hash           - synonym for -subject_hash
 -subject        - print subject DN
 -issuer         - print issuer DN
 -email          - print email address(es)
 -startdate      - notBefore field
 -enddate        - notAfter field
 -purpose        - print out certificate purposes
 -dates          - both Before and After dates
 -modulus        - print the RSA key modulus
 -pubkey         - output the public key
 -fingerprint    - print the certificate fingerprint
 -alias          - output certificate alias
 -noout          - no certificate output
 -ocspid         - print OCSP hash values for the subject name and public key
 -ocsp_uri       - print OCSP Responder URL(s)
 -trustout       - output a "trusted" certificate
 -clrtrust       - clear all trusted purposes
 -clrreject      - clear all rejected purposes
 -addtrust arg   - trust certificate for a given purpose
 -addreject arg  - reject certificate for a given purpose
 -setalias arg   - set certificate alias
 -days arg       - How long till expiry of a signed certificate - def 30 days
 -checkend arg   - check whether the cert expires in the next arg seconds
                   exit 1 if so, 0 if not
 -signkey arg    - self sign cert with arg
 -x509toreq      - output a certification request object
 -req            - input is a certificate request, sign and output.
 -CA arg         - set the CA certificate, must be PEM format.
 -CAkey arg      - set the CA key, must be PEM format
                   missing, it is assumed to be in the CA file.
 -CAcreateserial - create serial number file if it does not exist
 -CAserial arg   - serial file
 -set_serial     - serial number to use
 -text           - print the certificate in text form
 -C              - print out C code forms
 -md2/-md5/-sha1/-mdc2 - digest to use
 -extfile        - configuration file with X509V3 extensions to add
 -extensions     - section from config file with X509V3 extensions to add
 -clrext         - delete extensions before signing and input certificate
 -nameopt arg    - various certificate name options
 -engine e       - use engine e, possibly a hardware device.
 -certopt arg    - various certificate text options
$

startdate	Start date for the certificate to be valid
enddate	Expiration date for the certificate
issuer	Certificate issuer
subject	Certificate subject
hash	Hash value for the certificate
purpose	Purpose for the certificate