getpass()

Prompt for and read a password

Synopsis:

#include <unistd.h>

char *getpass( const char *prompt );

Arguments:

prompt

The string you want to display to prompt for the password.

Library:

libc

Use the -l c option to qcc to link against this library. This library is usually included automatically.

---

This function is in libc.a, but not in libc.so (in order to save space).

---

Description:

The getpass() function can be used to get a password. It opens the current terminal, displays the given prompt, suppresses echoing, reads up to 32 characters into a static buffer, and restores echoing. This function adds a null character to the end of the string, but ignores additional characters and the newline character.

Returns:

A pointer to the static buffer.

Classification:

Legacy Unix

Caveats:

This function leaves its result in an internal static buffer and returns a pointer to it. Subsequent calls to getpass() modify the same buffer. The calling process should zero the password as soon as possible to avoid leaving the clear-text password visible in the process's address space.

See also:

crypt()