Museum

GETPASS(3C)                          SysV                          GETPASS(3C)



NAME
     getpass - read a password

SYNOPSIS
     #include <stdlib.h>

     char *getpass (prompt)
     const char *prompt;

DESCRIPTION
     getpass displays the null terminated string prompt on the standard error
     output, disables echoing, and then reads up to a newline or EOF from the
     file /dev/tty.  It returns a pointer to a null terminated string of at
     most 8 characters.

     The getpass function marks for update the st_atime and st_mtime fields of
     the file /dev/tty.

DIAGNOSTICS
     Upon successful completion, the getpass function returns a pointer to a
     null-terminated string of no more than PASS_MAX characters. This return
     value points to data that is overwritten by successive calls. If the
     /dev/tty file cannot be opened, a NULL pointer is returned. An interrupt
     terminates input and sends an interrupt signal to the calling program
     before returning.

NOTES
     The return value points to static data whose content is overwritten by
     each call.

     getpass uses <stdio.h>, which causes it to increase the size of programs
     not otherwise using standard I/O more than might be expected.

FILES
     /dev/tty