diff --git a/helpers.go b/helpers.go
index 52da7d7..e3b1348 100644
--- a/helpers.go
+++ b/helpers.go
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ func gatherSecretKeyOrBunkerFromArguments(ctx context.Context, c *cli.Command) (
 		if err != nil {
 			return "", nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to decrypt: %w", err)
 		}
-	} else if bsec, err := hex.DecodeString(strings.Repeat("0", 64-len(sec)) + sec); err == nil {
+	} else if bsec, err := hex.DecodeString(leftPadKey(sec)); err == nil {
 		sec = hex.EncodeToString(bsec)
 	} else if prefix, hexvalue, err := nip19.Decode(sec); err != nil {
 		return "", nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid nsec: %w", err)
@@ -284,3 +284,7 @@ func randString(n int) string {
 	}
 	return string(b)
 }
+
+func leftPadKey(k string) string {
+	return strings.Repeat("0", 64-len(k)) + k
+}
diff --git a/key.go b/key.go
index f885b14..7c9d28a 100644
--- a/key.go
+++ b/key.go
@@ -269,6 +269,7 @@ func getSecretKeysFromStdinLinesOrSlice(ctx context.Context, c *cli.Command, key
 				}
 				sec = data.(string)
 			}
+			sec = leftPadKey(sec)
 			if !nostr.IsValid32ByteHex(sec) {
 				ctx = lineProcessingError(ctx, "invalid hex key")
 				continue