# Stupid Ruby Tricks

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/stupid-ruby-tricks/80845>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [December 31, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/stupid-ruby-tricks/80845 "2006-12-31T03:47:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chriscole](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/5fc32e/32.png) [@chriscole](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chriscole)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/stupid-ruby-tricks/80845/1 "2006-12-31T03:47:18Z")

</div>

Hey guys,  
To try out this “post blog articles to the list, maybe insight some  
discussion” idea, I offer the community this. I maintain the “Stupid  
Ruby Tricks” wiki over at [http://sn.oplo.ws](http://sn.oplo.ws) and I recently compiled a  
bit of a “best of”. Check it!  
[http://concentrationstudios.com/2006/12/20/12-days-of-stupid-ruby-tricks](http://concentrationstudios.com/2006/12/20/12-days-of-stupid-ruby-tricks)

---

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**Author:** ![chriscole](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/5fc32e/32.png) [@chriscole](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chriscole)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 6:07am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/stupid-ruby-tricks/80845/2 "2006-12-31T06:07:37Z")

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Firstly, I appologize if this question has already been answered but I  
could not figure out the  
correct way to word my search on google to find anything relevant. I am  
running Ruby 1.8.2-15  
on windows XP. I used the one-click version.  
I am trying to write a script that will prompt a user for a password and  
not echo the characters back to screen.  
Is this possible in the dos command window? If so then please give me a  
reference else is there an alternative  
such as using TK?

thank you,  
raymond

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chriscole](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/5fc32e/32.png) [@chriscole](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chriscole)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 6:57am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/stupid-ruby-tricks/80845/3 "2006-12-31T06:57:43Z")

</div>

On 12/30/06, Jacob, Raymond A Jr [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> such as using TK?
> 
> thank you,  
> raymond

page 791 and 792 of the ruby cookbook covers this.

require ‘rubygems’  
require ‘highline/import’

def get\_password(prompt='Password: ')  
ask(prompt) { |q| q.echo = false}  
end

get\_password(“What’s your password?”)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chriscole](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/5fc32e/32.png) [@chriscole](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chriscole)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 4:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/stupid-ruby-tricks/80845/4 "2006-12-31T16:22:47Z")

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On Dec 30, 2006, at 11:56 PM, Jason M. wrote:

> > password and  
> > page 791 and 792 of the ruby cookbook covers this.
> 
> require ‘rubygems’  
> require ‘highline/import’
> 
> def get\_password(prompt='Password: ')  
> ask(prompt) { |q| q.echo = false}  
> end
> 
> get\_password(“What’s your password?”)

Or just:

require “rubygems”  
require “highline/import”

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

**END**

😉

James Edward G. II

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chriscole](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/5fc32e/32.png) [@chriscole](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chriscole)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 4:22am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/stupid-ruby-tricks/80845/5 "2007-01-01T04:22:40Z")

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Jason:  
Thank you,  
I guess I should buy the ruby cookbook?  
Thank you again  
Raymond

* * *

From: Jason M. [[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)]  
Sent: Sun 12/31/2006 1:23 AM  
To: Jacob, Raymond A Jr  
Subject: Re: Ruby for Windows:How does one not echo keyboard input?

On 12/31/06, Jason M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

```
On 12/30/06, Jason M. <removed_email_address@domain.invalid > wrote:

	On 12/30/06, Jacob, Raymond A Jr <removed_email_address@domain.invalid> wrote:
	>
	> Firstly, I appologize if this question has already been answered 

```

but I  
\> could not figure out the  
\> correct way to word my search on google to find anything relevant. I  
am  
\> running Ruby 1.8.2-15  
\> on windows XP. I used the one-click version.  
\> I am trying to write a script that will prompt a user for a password  
and  
\> not echo the characters back to screen.  
\> Is this possible in the dos command window? If so then please give  
me a  
\> reference else is there an alternative  
\> such as using TK?  
\>  
\> thank you,  
\> raymond  
\>  
\>  
page 791 and 792 of the ruby cookbook covers this.

```
	require 'rubygems'
	require 'highline/import'

	def get_password(prompt='Password: ')
	  ask(prompt) { |q| q.echo = false}
	end

	get_password("What's your password?")

I don't believe this is for windows, but there's a library for it here:

http://www.caliban.org/ruby/ruby-password.shtml

```

I also had to do this to get it to work (on the off change you are as  
new as I am to ruby)  
gem install highline