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getpass(3) Library Functions Manual getpass(3) NAME getpass - Reads a password LIBRARY Standard C Library (libc.so, libc.a) SYNOPSIS #include <unistd.h> char *getpass( const char *prompt); STANDARDS Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry stan- dards as follows: getpass(): XPG4, XPG4-UNIX Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about in- dustry standards and associated tags. PARAMETERS Points to the prompt string that is written to stderr. DESCRIPTION The getpass() function opens the process' controlling terminal file, flushes output, disables echoing, and reads up to a newline character or an end-of-file (EOF) character. The terminal state is then restored and the controlling terminal is closed. If the getpass() function is interrupted by the SIGINT signal, the ter- minal state is restored before the signal is delivered to the calling process. NOTES [DIGITAL] The getpass() function is not threadsafe because it manipu- lates global signal state. The getpass() function is scheduled to be withdrawn from a future ver- sion of the X/Open CAE Specification. RETURN VALUES Upon successful completion, the getpass() function returns a pointer string of no more than PASS_MAX bytes plus a terminating null value. This return value points to data that is overwritten by successive calls. If the controlling terminal file cannot be opened, the terminal state is restored and a null pointer is returned. ERRORS The getpass() function sets errno to the specified values for the fol- lowing conditions: [DIGITAL] Search permission is denied on a compo- nent of the pathname prefix; or the file exists and the permissions specified by the mode parameter are denied; or the file does not exist and write permission is denied for the parent directory of the file to be created. The function was interrupted by a signal that was caught. Too many file descriptors are currently open in the calling process (exceeding OPEN_MAX). [DIGITAL] Either the OPEN_MAX value or the per-process soft de- scriptor limit is checked. Too many files are currently open in the system. [DIGITAL] The named file does not exist or the path parameter points to an empty string. The process does not have a controlling terminal. RELATED INFORMATION Functions: fopen(3). Files: tty(7), termios(4). Standards: standards(5) delim off getpass(3)