Read password from stdin

Question

Scenario: An interactive CLI Python program, that is in need for a password. That means also, there's no GUI solution possible.

In bash I could get a password read in without re-prompting it on screen via

read -s

Is there something similar for Python? I.e.,

password = raw_input('Password: ', dont_print_statement_back_to_screen)

Alternative: Replace the typed characters with '*' before sending them back to screen (aka browser' style).

Answer 1

Yes, getpass: "Prompt the user for a password without echoing."

Edit: I had not played with this module myself yet, so this is what I just cooked up (wouldn't be surprised if you find similar code all over the place, though):

import getpass

def login():
    user = input("Username [%s]: " % getpass.getuser())
    if not user:
        user = getpass.getuser()

    pprompt = lambda: (getpass.getpass(), getpass.getpass('Retype password: '))

    p1, p2 = pprompt()
    while p1 != p2:
        print('Passwords do not match. Try again')
        p1, p2 = pprompt()

    return user, p1

(This is Python 3.x; use raw_input instead of input when using Python 2.x.)

Answer 2

>>> import getpass
>>> pw = getpass.getpass()