getpass() and getuser() in Python (Password without echo)

getpass() prompts the user for a password without echoing. The getpass module provides a secure way to handle the password prompts where programs interact with the users via the terminal.

This module provides two functions :

1. getpass()

   getpass.getpass(prompt='Password: ', stream=None) 

   The getpass() function is used to prompt to users using the string prompt and reads the input from the user as Password. The input read deafults to “Password: ” is returned to the caller as a string.

   Let’s walk through some examples to understand its implementation.

   Example 1 : No Prompt provided by the caller

   
   
   

   # A simple Python program to demonstrate  # getpass.getpass() to read password import getpass    try:     p = getpass.getpass() except Exception as error:     print('ERROR', error) else:     print('Password entered:', p)

   Here, no prompt is provided by the caller. So, it is set to the default prompt “Password”.
   Output :

   $ python3 getpass_example1.py
   
   Password: 
   ('Password entered:', 'aditi')
   

   Example 2 : Security Question
   There are certain programs that ask for security questions rather than asking for passwords for better security. Here, the prompt can be changed to any value.

   # A simple Python program to demonstrate  # getpass.getpass() to read security question import getpass    p = getpass.getpass(prompt='Your favorite flower? ')    if p.lower() == 'rose':     print('Welcome..!!!') else:     print('The answer entered by you is incorrect..!!!')

   Output :

   $ python3 getpass_example2.py
   
   Your favorite flower?
   Welcome..!!!
   
   $ python3 getpass_example2.py
   
   Your favorite flower?
   The answer entered by you is incorrect..!!!
   

2. getuser()
   getpass.getuser()

   The getuser() function displays the login name of the user. This function checks the environment variables LOGNAME, USER, LNAME and USERNAME, in order, and returns the value of the first non-empty string.

   Example 3 :

   # Python program to demonstrate working of # getpass.getuser() import getpass    user = getpass.getuser()    while True:     pwd = getpass.getpass("User Name : %s" % user)        if pwd == 'abcd':         print "Welcome!!!"         break     else:         print "The password you entered is incorrect."

   Output :

   $ python3 getpass_example3.py
   
   User Name : bot
   Welcome!!!
   
   $ python3 getpass_example3.py
   
   User Name : bot
   The password you entered is incorrect.
   
   

Please write comments if you find anything incorrect, or you want to share more information about the topic discussed above.