Pegasus InfoCorp: Web site design and web software development company

GETPASS (3)

get a password

SYNOPSIS

    #include <unistd.h> char *getpass( const char *

DESCRIPTION

    The getpass function displays a prompt to the standard error output, and reads in a password from /dev/tty . If this file is not accessible, getpass reads from the standard input.

    The password may be up to 128 characters in length, including a trailing NUL. Any additional characters and the terminating newline character are discarded.

    Getpass turns off character echoing and disables the generation of signals by tty special characters (interrupt by control-C, suspend by control-Z, etc.) while reading the password.

RETURN VALUES

    Getpass returns a pointer to the null terminated password.

FILES

    /dev/tty

SEE ALSO

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. Subsequent 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. '\" '\" Copyright (c) 1990 The Regents of the University of California. '\" Copyright (c) 1994-1996 Sun Microsystems, Inc. '\" '\" See the file "license.terms" for information on usage and redistribution '\" of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES. '\" '\" RCS: @(#) $Id: GetPixels.3,v 1.2 1998/09/14 18:22:50 stanton Exp $ '\" '\" The definitions below are for supplemental macros used in Tcl/Tk '\" manual entries. '\" '\" .AP type name in/out ?indent? '\" Start paragraph describing an argument to a library procedure. '\" type is type of argument (int, etc.), in/out is either "in", "out", '\" or "in/out" to describe whether procedure reads or modifies arg, '\" and indent is equivalent to second arg of .IP (shouldn't ever be '\" needed; use .AS below instead) '\" '\" .AS ?type? ?name? '\" Give maximum sizes of arguments for setting tab stops. Type and '\" name are examples of largest possible arguments that will be passed '\" to .AP later. If args are omitted, default tab stops are used. '\" '\" .BS '\" Start box enclosure. From here until next .BE, everything will be '\" enclosed in one large box. '\" '\" .BE '\" End of box enclosure. '\" '\" .CS '\" Begin code excerpt. '\" '\" .CE '\" End code excerpt. '\" '\" .VS ?version? ?br? '\" Begin vertical sidebar, for use in marking newly-changed parts '\" of man pages. The first argument is ignored and used for recording '\" the version when the .VS was added, so that the sidebars can be '\" found and removed when they reach a certain age. If another argument '\" is present, then a line break is forced before starting the sidebar. '\" '\" .VE '\" End of vertical sidebar. '\" '\" .DS '\" Begin an indented unfilled display. '\" '\" .DE '\" End of indented unfilled display. '\" '\" .SO '\" Start of list of standard options for a Tk widget. The '\" options follow on successive lines, in four columns separated '\" by tabs. '\" '\" .SE '\" End of list of standard options for a Tk widget. '\" '\" .OP cmdName dbName dbClass '\" Start of description of a specific option. cmdName gives the '\" option's name as specified in the class command, dbName gives '\" the option's name in the option database, and dbClass gives '\" the option's class in the option database. '\" '\" .UL arg1 arg2 '\" Print arg1 underlined, then print arg2 normally. '\" '\" RCS: @(#) $Id: man.macros,v 1.2 1998/09/14 18:39:54 stanton Exp $ '\" '\" # Set up traps and other miscellaneous stuff for Tcl/Tk man pages. t .wh -1.3i ^B ^l \n(.l b '\" # Start an argument description AP !"\\$4"" .TP \\$4 \{\ !"\\$2"" .TP \\n()Cu .TP 15