You can use Term::ReadKey like this, and Term::ReadKey is portable.

use Term::ReadKey;

print "Password: ";
ReadMode 'noecho';
my $line = <STDIN>; 
ReadMode 'original';
chomp($line);
[download]

Or you can use Tk, if one of your future application is in Tk. Here is a demo:

use strict;

use Tk;
use Tk::DialogBox;

my $mw = new MainWindow();
my $dialog = $mw->DialogBox(-title => "Login",
                            -buttons => ["OK", "Cancel"]);
my $id = $dialog->add("Entry")
                ->pack();
my $passwd;
my $password = $dialog->add("Entry",
                            -show => "*",
                            -textvariable => \$passwd)
                      ->pack();
if ($dialog->Show() eq "OK") {
    print $passwd, "\n";#this line is only for demo
} 

MainLoop;
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Couldn't there be an easier way. Unfortunately, I've got to make due with the modules on the system and that's not one of them. I can't even install the module in my home directory. There's got to be an easier way.

I can't even install the module in my home directory.
How are you expected to develop programs that require passwords but yet you don't have authority enough in your own home directory to install the tools you need to program with? Seems really silly IMO.
JamesNC

I like your code, but I am on solaris, not win32. I used your while loop, but I kept getting asterisks even after I pressed return. In other words, the while loop never ended. Here's what I am using:

print " Enter your password:\n";
ReadMode 3;
while($key = ReadKey()){

    $val = ord $key;
    push @password, $key unless $val == 8 || $val == 13;
    last if $val == 13;
    print "*" unless $val == 8;
}
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By the way, what does the 8 and 13 correspond to? I am sure that may have something to do with the problem.

Have you tried to press the backspace key? You code works, sure, if your user never makes a typing mistake. I didn't see any handling of backspaces in your code.

Okay, I've learned that ord returns the numeric ascii value of the first character of $key. But where can I find a listing of those values so I can figure out what 8 and 13 correspond to? Do ascii values remain the same across platforms?

Arjen

use Term::ReadKey;

print "\nEnter your password: ";

ReadMode 'noecho';
$pass = ReadLine 0;
chomp $pass;
ReadMode 'normal';

print $pass,"\n";
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This is very similar to a question in perlfaq8, including the example code.

However, reading the POD for Term::ReadKey, it says for ReadLine categorically:

This call is currently not available under Windows.

Curious... I wonder why not. Maybe it is and the POD is out of date. However, rolling some code to handle backspaces or <DEL>s by hand, or using Term::ReadLine to prompt and read the line, will give a truly portable solution.
--
I'm Not Just Another Perl Hacker

Update: Corrected a typo. I was referring to the POD in Term::ReadKey, not Term::ReadLine - sorry for the confusion.

Be sure to reverse the print and noecho:

ReadMode 'noecho';
print "\nEnter your password: ";
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For typical uses, the difference isn't noticeable, but if you'd ever used Expect, you'd be quick to make that change. Don't prompt for the password until you've ensured it won't echo, or there's the possibility that the password will be entered (and echoed) before you disable echo.


--isotope

If you're on a unix-derived system, you can turn off console echoing with system "stty", "-echo";, then read the string with <STDIN>=~/(.*)/ and $password= $1;, (this chops off newline, don't forget to do that) then turn back echoing with system "stty", "sane";. This won't print asterisks, however.

Pity there's no &POSIX::getpass.