Ruby $stdin.gets without showing chars on screen

Question

I want to ask users to type in a password, but I don't want the chars to appear on screen as they type.

How do I do this in Ruby?

Answer 1

You can use the STDIN.noecho method from the IO/console module:

require 'io/console'
pw = STDIN.noecho(&:gets).chomp

Answer 2

If you're on a system with stty:

`stty -echo`
print "Password: "
pw = gets.chomp
`stty echo`
puts ""

Answer 3

There is a gem for such user interaction: highline.

password = ask("Password:  ") { |q| q.echo = false }

Or even:

password = ask("Password:  ") { |q| q.echo = "*" }

Answer 4

You want to make sure your code is idempotent... other solutions listed here assume you want to exit this chunk of functionality with echo turned back on. Well, what if it was turned off before entering the code, and it's expected to stay off?

stty_settings = %x[stty -g]
print 'Password: '

begin
  %x[stty -echo]
  password = gets
ensure
  %x[stty #{stty_settings}]
end

puts

print 'regular info: '
regular_info = gets

puts "password: #{password}"
puts "regular:  #{regular_info}"