getpass
Hurricane Electric Internet Services
NAME
getpass - get a password
SYNOPSIS
#include <pwd.h>
char *getpass( const char * prompt );
DESCRIPTION
The getpass function displays a prompt to, and reads in a
password from, /dev/tty. If this file is not accessible,
getpass displays the prompt on the standard error output
and reads from the standard input.
The password may be up to _PASSWORD_LEN (currently 128)
characters in length. Any additional characters and the
terminating newline character are discarded. (This may be
different in Linux.)
Getpass turns off character echoing while reading the
password.
RETURN VALUES
Getpass returns a pointer to the null terminated password.
FILES
/dev/tty
SEE ALSO
crypt(3)
HISTORY
A getpass function appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.
BUGS
The getpass function leaves its result in an internal
static object and returns a pointer to that object. Sub-
sequent calls to getpass will modify the same object.
The calling process should zero the password as soon as
possible to avoid leaving the cleartext password visible
in the process's address space.
Hurricane Electric Internet Services
Copyright (C) 1998
Hurricane Electric.
All Rights Reserved.