Reading a password with Term::ReadLine

Starky has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I would like to get a username / password combination with Term::ReadLine in a way that echos the username as it is typed but obscures the password.

With

  my $term = new Term::ReadLine;
  print $term->ReadLine;
[download]

I can tell that my Term::ReadLine is using Term::ReadLine::Perl, which is, ahem, lacking in documentation. I can see from this example that

  $attribs = $term->Attribs;
  $attribs->{redisplay_function} = $attribs->{shadow_redisplay};
  $password = $term->readline("Password: ");
  $term->remove_history($term->where_history);
[download]

would do the trick if I was using a Term::ReadLine::* that supported the shadow_redisplay attribute. But alas, Term::ReadLine::Perl does not:

  starky@freak bin $ ./readline-password-test.pl 
  Term::ReadLine uses [Term::ReadLine::Perl]
  Username:  uname
  Password:  passwd
  The username is [uname] and the password is [passwd]
  starky@freak bin $
[download]

Suggestions?

Comment on Reading a password with Term::ReadLine Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Reading a password with Term::ReadLine by TilRMan (Friar) on May 11, 2004 at 07:12 UTC
`use Term::ReadKey; ReadMode('noecho'); ReadMode('raw'); my $pass = ''; while (1) { my $c; 1 until defined($c = ReadKey(-1)); last if $c eq "\n"; print "*"; $pass .= $c; } ReadMode('restore'); print "\n[$pass]\n";` [download] Thanks to asarih and BUU.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Re: Reading a password with Term::ReadLine by spartan (Pilgrim) on May 12, 2004 at 17:48 UTC
++ Great snippet, I actually have a use for this. May I suggest inserting the following, just before your 'use Term::ReadKey;' line? `$\|=1; #Turn on AutoFlush` [download] On my system (Sun solaris 9 perl 5.8.0) I was consistently seeing 1 less asterisk until I hit the enter key. This should provide a little less confusion for folks entering passwords and not seeing asterisks echoed immediately. Thanks. Very funny Scotty... Now PLEASE beam down my PANTS!	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Reading a password with Term::ReadLine by asarih (Hermit) on May 11, 2004 at 03:43 UTC
Do you have to use Term::ReadLine? If not, see `perldoc -q password`. First, you put the terminal into "no echo" mode, then just read the password normally. You may do this with an old-style ioctl() function, POSIX terminal control (see POSIX or its documentation the Camel Book), or a call to the stty program, with varying degrees of portability. You can also do this for most systems using the Term::ReadKey module from CPAN, which is easier to use and in theory more portable. use Term::ReadKey; ReadMode('noecho'); $password = ReadLine(0); Probably easier using Term::ReadKey.	[reply]
Re: Re: Reading a password with Term::ReadLine by BUU (Prior) on May 11, 2004 at 04:32 UTC
You missunderstand. He wants to read a password and echo non-descriptive characters for every letter you type, for example, asterisks.	[reply]


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