getpass Subroutine

Purpose

Reads a password.

Library

Standard C Library (libc.a)

Syntax

#include <stdlib.h>

char *getpass ( Prompt)
char *Prompt;

Description

Attention: The characters are returned in a static data area. Subsequent calls to this subroutine overwrite the static data area.

The getpass subroutine does the following:

During the read operation, character echoing is disabled.

The getpass subroutine is not safe in a multithreaded environment. To use the getpass subroutine in a threaded application, the application must keep the integrity of each thread.

Parameters

Item Description
Prompt Specifies a prompt to display on the terminal.

Return Values

If this subroutine is successful, it returns a pointer to the string. If an error occurs, the subroutine returns a null pointer and sets the errno global variable to indicate the error.

Error Codes

If the getpass subroutine is unsuccessful, it returns one or more of the following error codes:

Item Description
EINTR Indicates that an interrupt occurred while the getpass subroutine was reading the terminal device. If a SIGINT or SIGQUIT signal is received, the getpass subroutine terminates input and sends the signal to the calling process.
ENXIO Indicates that the process does not have a controlling terminal.
Note: Any subroutines called by the getpass subroutine may set other error codes.