Very Computer

hello everybody,

I am doing a simple shell script exercise in which i expect the user to
enter a
string ,but instead of the actual characters i want some other character to
be echoed.
i.e If the user enters ABCD, '****' should be echoed in place of ABCD and
this should happen before the user presses the enter key.

I know, it looks like a password reading application but this is only a
learning
exercise.

with regards
sachin

You don't write which shell you want to use, you should always contain
that in
your posts, in order to make it possible for others to help you.

This is working with bash:

read -n 5  -s string ; echo "*****"

Should be something to start, check

man 1 bashbuiltins

Good luck

Michael Heiming
This should although answer your other post.

Quote:> hello everybody,

> I am doing a simple shell script exercise in which i expect the user to
> enter a
> string ,but instead of the actual characters i want some other character
to
> be echoed.
> i.e If the user enters ABCD, '****' should be echoed in place of ABCD and
> this should happen before the user presses the enter key.

> I know, it looks like a password reading application but this is only a
> learning
> exercise.

> with regards

Sachin,

It is not the sort of exercise that can be performed, at least easily, in a
shell script. I'd be inclined to write a small C program, using the Curses
library, to accomplish this task. A very-minimal 'Curses-based' program
example appears below; for your purposes you don't appear to need anything
too elaborate.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <curses.h>

/* Driver */
int main()
{
  /* Initialise window */
  initscr();

  /* Print string */
  addstr("Hello, world!");

  /* Pause */
  getch();

  /* Close window */
  endwin();

  return 0;

Quote:}

Having said that, the later versions of shells such as 'bash', offer
enhancements to the 'read' built-in which may facilitate such tasks. The
other respondent to your post provided just such an example.

If you have an older shell, however, the 'Curses' approach is, I believe,
the most viable.

I hope this helps.

Sure it's easy.  In bash (2.x) it's builtin:

   string=
   i=5
   while ((i--))
      do
      read -n 1 -s c || break
      s="${s}${c}"
      echo -n "*"
      done

Of course, You'll want to add in processing for backspace and carriage
return.

In other Bournish shells,  you need to use stty and dd:

In SysV Bourne sh:

      #!/usr/old/bin/sh

      savetty() {
      SAVETTY=`stty -g </dev/tty`
      }

      rawtty() {
      stty raw -echo </dev/tty
      }

      cookedtty() {
      stty ${SAVETTY:-cooked} </dev/tty
      }

      cr=`echo "\r\c"`
      bs=`echo "\b\c"`
      nl=`echo`
      savetty
      rawtty
      s=
      while true
          do
          c=`dd if=/dev/tty count=1 bs=1 2>/dev/null`
          case $c in
             $cr) break;;
             $nl) break;;
             $bs) [ -n "$s" ] && {
                  echo "\b \b\c"
                  s=`expr "$s" : '^\(.*\).$'`
                  }
                  ;;
              '') break;;
               *) s="${s}${c}";echo "*\c";;
          esac
          done
      cookedtty
      echo "\ns=$s"

It's a lot easier in ksh88,  easier still in ksh93.  But bash
is definitely easiest of all.

--
Dan Mercer

Opinions expressed herein are my own and may not represent those of my employer.