READCONS(3)

💖 READCONS(3) — prompt console for input 💖

okay so this is the Library Functions Manual moment for readcons, and she is literally the console-prompt bestie. Let's go, bestie. 🫶

🌸 NAME 🌸

• readcons — prompt console for input. That's the whole gig, and she ate. 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

like, exactly this:

#include <u.h>

#include <libc.h>

char *readcons(char *prompt, char *def, int secret)

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

okay so readcons prompts at the console for input. It returns a NUL-terminated buffer containing the input without a final newline. That buffer should be freed — and perhaps cleared first — when it's no longer needed.

If the user types an empty string (just a newline) and def is non-zero, then a copy of def is returned instead of the empty string. Default behavior? Iconic. 🎀

If secret is non-zero, the input is not echoed to the screen. Spy-mode activated, no cap. 🙈

bestie warning: free that buffer when you're done, and perhaps clear it first. It's giving responsible memory hygiene. 💅

🎀 EXAMPLE 🎀

A stripped-down version of netkey (see passwd(1)) — here's the example exactly as the page gives it:

pass = readcons("password", nil, 1);
passtokey(key, pass);
memset(pass, 0, strlen(pass));
free(pass);
for(;;){
     chal = readcons("challenge", nil, 0);
     sprint(buf, "%d", strtol(chal, 0, 10));
     free(chal);
     netcrypt(key, buf);
     print("response: %s0, buf);
}

🌈 SOURCE 🌈

/src/lib9/readcons.c

xoxo, your readcons bestie 💖 — this page is stamped READCONS(3) in the Library Functions Manual, source lives at /src/lib9/readcons.c, and the footer didn't hand me a date so I'm not inventing one. periodt. 🎀