Required Bash Code for Hide Password during Typing

Question

How can I write Bash Code for Hiding Password Or convert into '*' user input will be in string so no spaces, and change or hide password String.

A string is a string even if it contains spaces, and passwords often contain spaces... — Kusalananda, Dec 10 '18 at 20:33
Oooph, tough call for me on VTC here. The target Q does have an answer that would print asterisks, as asked (in a comment) in this question, but it doesn't handle backspaces as also hinted at here. I'll VTC because it's a good duplicate otherwise, but if this question is edited to incorporate new requirements, it could become separate. — Jeff Schaller, Dec 11 '18 at 13:54

score 13 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 10 '18 at 16:57

13

Use read -s to not echo the input, i.e. show nothing when the user types the password:

read -p 'Password? ' -s password
echo Your password is "$password".

answered Dec 10 '18 at 16:57

choroba

instead of hiding can i convert to character * – AlphaCoder Dec 10 '18 at 17:00
2

Not so easily. You can read -n1 and display the asterisk yourself, though. – choroba Dec 10 '18 at 17:04
1

@choroba: I've just tested a bit, and -- it looks like using read -n1 for this has some sharply negative consequences, e.g. in that it's a lot of work to try to support backspace. – ruakh Dec 11 '18 at 00:20
@AlphaCoder It is not idiomatic in Unix to display even the length of a password at the CLI. – chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic- Dec 11 '18 at 08:00
@ruakh: Yes, that's part of the "not so easily". – choroba Dec 11 '18 at 16:58

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 10 '18 at 17:31

11

You can use the systemd-ask-password, the password will displayed as asterisks while typing.

Format: (systemd-ask-password --help)

systemd-ask-password [OPTIONS...] MESSAGE

e,g:

PASSWORD=$(systemd-ask-password "Please type your Password:")
Please type your Password: ***********

answered Dec 10 '18 at 17:31

GAD3R

1

When I try this, I get bash: systemd-ask-password: command not found . . . – ruakh Dec 11 '18 at 00:15
@ruakh systemd-ask-password is a part of systemd. – GAD3R Jul 23 '20 at 14:31

2 Answers2