hi all, In short, i want to blank out text, as i type it, when prompted by the 'read' command.

I use the "read" command in my script to get the variable $passwd.

echo please enter your password
read passwd

i then use this password variable, together with a username variable, to mount an smbfs share .

However, the password as it is typed, when prompted by the read command, is not blank. This is not the case if i just leave the password option out in the mount command, since the mount command will simply prompt for the password, and blank it out when it does so.

Since i use this one password over and over in the script, i dont want the user to enter it more than once. How can i blank it as it is typed?

doh! always always read the man file newbies!! the way to hide text with a "read" command is by using the -s option :-)