getpass man page on MirBSD

Man page or keyword search:  
man Server   6113 pages
apropos Keyword Search (all sections)
Output format
MirBSD logo
[printable version]

GETPASS(3)		   BSD Programmer's Manual		    GETPASS(3)

NAME
     getpass - get a password

SYNOPSIS
     #include <pwd.h>
     #include <unistd.h>

     char *
     getpass(const char *prompt);

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

     The password may be up to _PASSWORD_LEN (currently 128, as defined in the
     <pwd.h> include file) characters in length. Any additional characters and
     the terminating newline character are discarded.

     getpass() turns off character echoing while reading the password.

     The calling process should zero the password as soon as possible to avoid
     leaving the cleartext password visible in the process's address space.

RETURN VALUES
     Upon successful completion, getpass() returns a pointer to a NUL-
     terminated string of at most _PASSWORD_LEN characters. If an error is en-
     countered, the terminal state is restored and a null pointer is returned.

FILES
     /dev/tty

ERRORS
     [EINTR]	   The getpass() function was interrupted by a signal.

     [EIO]	   The process is a member of a background process attempting
		   to read from its controlling terminal, the process is ig-
		   noring or blocking the SIGTTIN signal or the process group
		   is orphaned.

     [EMFILE]	   The process has already reached its limit for open file
		   descriptors.

     [ENFILE]	   The system file table is full.

SEE ALSO
     crypt(3), readpassphrase(3)

STANDARDS
     Historically, BSD versions of getpass() have accepted a password on the
     standard input if /dev/tty is unavailable. This contradicts X/Open Porta-
     bility Guide Issue 4.2 ("XPG4.2") but the OpenBSD implementation is con-
     formant in all other respects.

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.

MirOS BSD #10-current	       December 7, 2001				     1
[top]

List of man pages available for MirBSD

Copyright (c) for man pages and the logo by the respective OS vendor.

For those who want to learn more, the polarhome community provides shell access and support.

[legal] [privacy] [GNU] [policy] [cookies] [netiquette] [sponsors] [FAQ]
Tweet
Polarhome, production since 1999.
Member of Polarhome portal.
Based on Fawad Halim's script.
....................................................................
Vote for polarhome
Free Shell Accounts :: the biggest list on the net