getpass(3)
Name
getpass − read a password
Syntax
char *getpass(prompt)
char *prompt;
Description
The getpass subroutine reads a password from the file /dev/tty, or if that cannot be opened, from the standard input, after prompting with the null-terminated string prompt and disabling echoing. The getpass subroutine can return up to PASS_MAX characters. PASS_MAX is defined in /usr/include/sys/limits.h. A pointer is returned to a null-terminated string of at most 16 characters.
Environment
When your program is compiled using the System V environment, if the file /dev/tty cannot be opened, a NULL pointer is returned. An interrupt will terminate input and send an interrupt signal to the calling process before returning.
Restrictions
The return value points to static data whose content is overwritten by each call.
Files
/dev/tty