Batch Making Passwords - batch-file

Question

I have made a batch game where users can log in / register. But there is no point in having passwords if a person standing nearby can peep at the password. Normal password fields mask the characters with asterisks (*).
How can mask characters on a batch file?
I've seen this done on cmd before but I have no clue how.

Answer 1

You can use XCOPY for a hidden input, it can handle nearly all characters and you can also implement a backspace logic.
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
call :input
echo(
echo '!input!'
if "!input!"=="password" echo OK
exit /b
:input
for /F "tokens=1 delims=# " %%a in ('"prompt #$H# & echo on & for %%b in (1) do rem"') do (
set "\b=%%a"
)
set "input="
:keyLoop
call :GetKey
if not defined key exit /b
if "!key!"=="!\b!" (
if defined input (
set "input=!input:~0,-1!"
<nul set /p ".=!\b! !\b!"
)
) ELSE (
<nul set /p ".=*"
set "input=!input!!key!"
)
goto :keyLoop
:GetKey
setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
set "key="
for /F "usebackq delims=" %%L in (`xcopy /L /w "%~f0" "%~f0" 2^>NUL`) do (
if not defined key set "key=%%L"
)
(
endlocal
set "key=^%key:~-1%" !
exit /b
)
This code should be able to handle all characters, like ^!&%<>.
It's also possible to use backspace to delete the last entered character.
The line set "key=^%key:~-1%" ! seems odd, but it's used to escape the ! character with set "key=^!" ! in the delayed expansion context.
And to avoid problems for all other characters the last ! removes the caret, like in set "key=^A" ! will be evaluated to ``set "key=A"`

Answer 2

Ok, this is a bit different to what you may have had in mind, but that's you're fault for choosing batch for game dev.
The way I see it is you have 3 options:
Use an external program you self made in C#, C++, Python, [etc.]
Howver this requires an application to already do this for you (Which there probably is) or for you to have a knowledge in one of these languages
Use the choice command, to continuously take one key input and wait for the user to hit space to signify the end of the password
However this limits the password characters choice, and makes the program look ugly
Use 2 Batch threads, one that masks and tallies input while the other stores it to a variable.
This may be a bit dodgey at times, at would be a bit complicated but may be the only choice you have.
Now, as I was typing this an idea stuck my head on how to achieve this. Since it might take some time to test I thought I'd post the idea (as it seems to be a soloution to this problem, which has been around for a while).
Logic
One Batch Thread will simply use set /p to store all the input into a variable and upon completion will communicate to the other batch thread through the use of waitfor or a simple directory file.
Another Batch Thread would loop the pause >nul statement and would tally the number of times the pause statement is looped, printing out the appropriate amount of *'s. The other important job of this thread is to sense when the user has finished typing the password, upon which it exits.
Im starting to make this batch program now, but for now I'll just keep you informed of my idea so far.
Code
Login.bat
#echo off
Title Password Please:
:: This is the main code
REM This code relies on Masker.bat
REM SET password to be first and thrid letter,
REM of the day of the week.
set pass=%Date:~0,1%%Date:~2,1%
REM START Masker in the same window using /b tag and create hold.pass:
Echo 0 >%temp%\hold.pass
start /b Masker.bat "%pass%" *
REM Simply take input an leave the rest to Masker.bat
set /p pass_input=:
Echo 1 >>%temp%\hold.pass
cls
if /i "%pass%" NEQ "%pass_input%" (
Title Worng Password
Echo Wrong Password... Sorry.
Sleep 5
Exit
)
Pause > nul
REM Rest of Main game code is below or simply
:: START Main.bat & Exit
Masker.bat
#echo off
Title Password Please:
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
:: This is not the main code
REM This code is called upon by Login.bat (or the Main.bat game code)
REM CREATE the variables "passlen" and "mask":
set password=%~1
set passlen=0
:miniloop
set /a passlen+=1
if "!password:~%passlen%,1!" NEQ "" goto :miniloop
set password=
set mask=%~2
if "%mask%" EQU "" set mask=*
REM MAIN loop
:loop
cls
for /l %%a in (1,1,%passlen%) do (<nul set /p=%mask%)
sleep -m 150
for /f "usebackq" %%a in ("%temp%\hold.pass") do (if "%%~a" EQU "1" Del %temp%\hold.pass & Exit)
goto :loop
It still needs some more improvements, but I've spent aroung 30 min on it with little success to make it dynamically tell you how many characters you have typed in.
Anyone cane take this up, be my guest. Everything else works fine
Mona

Answer 3

This works without pressing enter after input of the password.
If you enter the correct password, ok.
if you enter a wrong password, it will stop when you enter the 9th character (can be adapted).
It does not care about capitalization.
Problem: the password is stored as pure text in the code
#echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set "s= abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
set p=
:loop
choice /C %s% /N >nul
set p=%p%!s:~%errorlevel%,1!&set /p =*<nul
if /i "%p%"=="secured" goto :right
if not "%p:~8,1%"=="" goto :wrong
goto :loop
goto :wrong
:right
echo you entered correct password: %p%
goto :eof
:wrong
echo you entered wrong password: %p%
goto :eof

Answer 4

You may use ReadFormattedLine subroutine for all kind of formatted input. For example, the command below read a password of 8 characters, display asterisks in the screen, and continue automatically with no need to press Enter:
call :ReadFormattedLine password="********" /M "Enter password (8 chars): "
This subroutine is written in pure Batch so it does not require any additional program, and it allows several formatted input operations, like read just numbers, convert letters to uppercase, etc. You may download ReadFormattedLine subroutine from Read a line with specific format.