Masking password input from the console : Java

Question

How to mask a password from console input? I'm using Java 6.

I've tried using console.readPassword(), but it wouldn't work. A full example might help me actually.

Here's my code:

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.Console;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;

public class Test 
{   
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    {   
        Console console = System.console();

        console.printf("Please enter your username: ");
        String username = console.readLine();
        console.printf(username + "\n");

        console.printf("Please enter your password: ");
        char[] passwordChars = console.readPassword();
        String passwordString = new String(passwordChars);

        console.printf(passwordString + "\n");
    }
}

I'm getting a NullPointerException...

Answer 1

A full example ?. Run this code : (NB: This example is best run in the console and not from within an IDE, since the System.console() method might return null in that case.)

import java.io.Console;
public class Main {

    public void passwordExample() {        
        Console console = System.console();
        if (console == null) {
            System.out.println("Couldn't get Console instance");
            System.exit(0);
        }

        console.printf("Testing password%n");
        char[] passwordArray = console.readPassword("Enter your secret password: ");
        console.printf("Password entered was: %s%n", new String(passwordArray));

    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new Main().passwordExample();
    }
}

Answer 2

You would use the Console class

char[] password = console.readPassword("Enter password");  
Arrays.fill(password, ' ');

By executing readPassword echoing is disabled. Also after the password is validated it is best to overwrite any values in the array.

If you run this from an ide it will fail, please see this explanation for a thorough answer: Explained