A generalized shift–rotation absolute measurement method for optical surface shapes with polygonal apertures based on migration recognition by Radon transform is proposed. The rotation angles and translation distances of the test surface, measured three times, are calculated through migration recognition. The absolute shape of the test surface with the polygonal aperture is fitted by orthogonal Zernike polynomials. Compared to the existing absolute measurement method for polygonal apertures, our method ensures test surface measurement accuracy without high-precision attitude control and repeated adjustments. The measurement is simple and coherent, which reduces the measurement time and improves the efficiency.