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).

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

Safety:
Cancellation point	Yes
Interrupt handler	No
Signal handler	No
Thread	No

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.