NAME

getpass − read a password

SYNOPSIS

char ∗getpass(prompt)
char ∗prompt;

DESCRIPTION

getpass() reads up to a NEWLINE or EOF from the file /dev/tty, or if that cannot be opened, from the standard input, after prompting with the null-terminated string prompt and disabling echoing.  A pointer is returned to a null-terminated string of at most 8 characters.  An interrupt will terminate input and send an interrupt signal to the calling program before returning. 

SYSTEM V DESCRIPTION

If /dev/tty cannot be opened, getpass() returns a NULL pointer.  It does not read the standard input. 

FILES

/dev/tty

SEE ALSO

crypt(3)

NOTES

The above routine uses <stdio.h>, which increases the size of programs not otherwise using standard I/O, more than might be expected. 

BUGS

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

Solbourne Computer, Inc.  —  13 Dec 1990