Silent input with read -s (passwords) in Bash Scripting

Introduction

Sometimes you need to ask for a password or secret without showing it on the screen. Silent input hides what you type.

When asking a user to enter a password in a script.

When collecting sensitive information like PINs or secret keys.

When you want to keep input private on shared or public computers.

Syntax

Bash Scripting

read -s variable_name

The -s option makes the input silent (no characters shown).

You can add -p to show a prompt message before input, like: read -s -p "Enter password: " password

Examples

Reads input silently and stores it in the variable 'password'. No prompt shown.

Bash Scripting

read -s password

Shows a prompt, reads password silently, then confirms input received.

Bash Scripting

read -s -p "Enter your password: " password

echo "Password received."

Sample Program

This script asks for a password silently, then prints how many characters were typed without showing the password itself.

Bash Scripting

#!/bin/bash

read -s -p "Enter your password: " password

echo
 echo "You entered a password with length: ${#password}"

Important Notes

After silent input, use echo to print a newline because the prompt stays on the same line.

Silent input does not show any characters, not even stars (*).

Be careful when using silent input in scripts that log commands or outputs.

Summary

Use 'read -s' to hide user input for passwords or secrets.

Add '-p' to show a prompt message before input.

Silent input keeps sensitive data private on screen.