getpass(3C)						   Standard C Library Functions 					       getpass(3C)

NAME

       getpass, getpassphrase - read a string of characters without echo

SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdlib.h>

       char *getpass(const char *prompt);

       char *getpassphrase(const char *prompt);

   XPG4, SUS, SUSv2
       #include <unistd.h>

       char *getpass(const char *prompt);

DESCRIPTION

       The getpass() function opens the process's controlling terminal, writes to that device the null-terminated string prompt, disables echoing,
       reads a string of characters up to the next newline character or EOF, restores the terminal state and closes the terminal.

       The getpassphrase() function is identical to getpass(), except that it reads and returns a string of up to 257 characters in length.

RETURN VALUES

       Upon successful completion, getpass() returns a pointer to a null-terminated string of at most 9 bytes that were  read  from  the  terminal
       device. If an error is encountered, the terminal state is restored and a null pointer is returned.

ERRORS

       The getpass() and  getpassphrase() functions may fail if:

       EINTR	       The 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 ignoring
		       or blocking the SIGTTIN signal or the process group is orphaned.

       EMFILE	       OPEN_MAX file descriptors are currently open in the calling process.

       ENFILE	       The maximum allowable number of files is currently open in the system.

       ENXIO	       The process does not have a controlling terminal.

USAGE

       The return value points to static data whose content may be overwritten by each call.

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability	     |getpass() is Standard.	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |MT-Level		     |Unsafe			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       attributes(5), standards(5)

SunOS 5.10							    2 Sep 2003							       getpass(3C)