Another new utility: getpass() prompts for a password, with echo off.
Also contains getuser(), which returns the username (not prompting though).
These work on Unix and Windows!
diff --git a/Lib/getpass.py b/Lib/getpass.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..44e78c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Lib/getpass.py
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+"""Utilities to get a password and/or the current user name.
+
+getpass(prompt) - prompt for a password, with echo turned off
+getuser() - get the user name from the environment or password database
+
+Authors: Piers Lauder (original)
+ Guido van Rossum (Windows support and cleanup)
+"""
+
+
+def getpass(prompt='Password: '):
+ """Prompt for a password, with echo turned off.
+
+ Restore terminal settings at end.
+
+ On Windows, this calls win_getpass(prompt) which uses the
+ msvcrt module to get the same effect.
+
+ """
+
+ import sys
+ try:
+ import termios, TERMIOS
+ except ImportError:
+ return win_getpass(prompt)
+
+ fd = sys.stdin.fileno()
+ old = termios.tcgetattr(fd) # a copy to save
+ new = old[:]
+
+ new[3] = new[3] & ~TERMIOS.ECHO # 3 == 'lflags'
+ try:
+ termios.tcsetattr(fd, TERMIOS.TCSADRAIN, new)
+ try: passwd = raw_input(prompt)
+ except KeyboardInterrupt: passwd = None
+ finally:
+ termios.tcsetattr(fd, TERMIOS.TCSADRAIN, old)
+
+ sys.stdout.write('\n')
+ return passwd
+
+
+def win_getpass(prompt='Password: '):
+ """Prompt for password with echo off, using Windows getch()."""
+ import msvcrt
+ for c in prompt:
+ msvcrt.putch(c)
+ pw = ""
+ while 1:
+ c = msvcrt.getch()
+ if c == '\r' or c == '\n':
+ break
+ if c == '\b':
+ pw = pw[:-1]
+ else:
+ pw = pw + c
+ msvcrt.putch('\r')
+ msvcrt.putch('\n')
+ return pw
+
+
+def getuser():
+ """Get the username from the environment or password database.
+
+ First try various environment variables, then the password
+ database. This works on Windows as long as USERNAME is set.
+
+ """
+
+ import os
+
+ for name in ('LOGNAME', 'USER', 'LNAME', 'USERNAME'):
+ user = os.environ.get(name)
+ if user:
+ return user
+
+ # If this fails, the exception will "explain" why
+ import pwd
+ return pwd.getpwuid(os.getuid())[0]