How to 'read -s' in shell?

Question

I know that user input can be read silently using bash with read -s someVar and I was wondering if there is a /bin/sh equivalent that allows user input without displaying it on the command line?

Note: I am just curious if /bin/sh read supports this feature somehow.

`bash` is *a* shell; are you asking if there is a solution that works in any POSIX-compliant shell? — chepner, Jul 24 '16 at 22:04
Your question is weird, you seem to be confusing notions, "which is better bash or shell" doesn't make sense, since bash is a shell. — λuser, Jul 24 '16 at 22:06
@AlexCohen: `/bin/sh`, as per the [POSIX specification of `read`](http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/read.html), supports neither `-s` nor `-p`. — mklement0, Jul 24 '16 at 22:09

score 17 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 24 '16 at 22:11

17

Use the stty command to turn off echoing of typed characters.

get_entry () {
  printf "Choose: "
  stty -echo
  IFS= read -r choice
  stty echo
  printf '\n'
}

get_entry

printf "You chose %s\n" "$choice"

edited Jul 24 '16 at 22:11

mklement0

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answered Jul 24 '16 at 22:08

chepner

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This is a pretty great solution and it works in both `/bin/sh` and `/bin/bash` – Alex Cohen Jul 24 '16 at 22:18
Why `IFS= `? Will that be reset to the default after the function call? – coolaj86 Aug 15 '22 at 21:24
1

It ensures no leading or trailing whitespace will be stripped from the input. Along with the `-r` option, it means `choice` will be set to the exact keys entered by the user, with no unintentional splitting or expansion applied to the input. The value of `IFS` is local to the execution of `read`, and does not affect the value of `IFS` in the current shell. – chepner Aug 18 '22 at 19:29

How to 'read -s' in shell?

1 Answers1