termios Example -- Python library reference

Prev: termios Up: termios Top: Top

8.7.1. Example

Here's a function that prompts for a password with echoing turned off. Note the technique using a separate termios.tcgetattr() call and a try ... finally statement to ensure that the old tty attributes are restored exactly no matter what happens:

def getpass(prompt = "Password: "):
    import termios, TERMIOS, sys

    fd = sys.stdin.fileno()

    old = termios.tcgetattr(fd)

    new = termios.tcgetattr(fd)

    new[3] = new[3] & ~TERMIOS.ECHO          # lflags

    try:

        termios.tcsetattr(fd, TERMIOS.TCSADRAIN, new)

        passwd = raw_input(prompt)

    finally:

        termios.tcsetattr(fd, TERMIOS.TCSADRAIN, old)

    return passwd

Prev: termios Up: termios Top: Top