getpass

Purpose

     Reads a password.

Library

     Standard C Library (libc.a)

Syntax

     char *getpass (prompt)
     char *prompt;

Description

     The  getpass  subroutine  writes  the  prompt  string  to
     standard error output, disables  echoing, and reads up to
     a new-line character or EOF from the file /dev/tty.

     It returns  a pointer to  a null-terminated string  of no
     more than 8 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.

File

     /dev/tty

Related Information

     In this book:  "crypt, encrypt."