Getting the masked value of a password field?

Question

I've got a normal password field from which I would like to "get" the masked value - yep, that ugly ********** obfuscated value.

HTML:

<input type="password" name="password" value="" id="password"></input>

JS/JQ DOM:

$("#password").val(); // Password in cleartext

The masked value is just a series of the same characters. It's useless. — Evan Mulawski, Jul 21 '11 at 14:54
Really though, why would you need the "masked value"? You just want the number of characters right? Some browsers show asterisks, some show big dots, etc. — Wesley Murch, Jul 21 '11 at 14:55
What do you mean the masked value?The masked value is simply the clear text but obfuscated so that other people can't see it.The password of course is sent as is (the value IS what you enter, if you write 'password' in a password field, the value of that field IS password) otherwise how would the server check if your username/password combo is correct? — Nicola Peluchetti, Jul 21 '11 at 15:00

score 10 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 21 '16 at 13:20

10

If you mean that you want a string that contains as much * as the number of characters you inserted in a password field you could do:

var password = $("#password").val();
password  = password.replace(/./g, '*');

edited Mar 21 '16 at 13:20

SwDevMan81

48,814
22
151
184

answered Jul 21 '11 at 14:51

Nicola Peluchetti

76,206
31
145
192

Maybe i'm stupid but i understood that he was implying that the there is a 'masked' value of the password. Seeing other answers i'm wrong, i'll edit my answer. – Nicola Peluchetti Jul 21 '11 at 14:53
It's not an answer. It's a comment. I'm not saying that what you wrote in it is wrong. – Lightness Races in Orbit Jul 21 '11 at 14:58
That's a clean oneliner. Thank you! – Industrial Jul 21 '11 at 15:02
@Zootious i didn't copy your answer, i just edited a previous one i did (we mad the post more or less at the same time and we thought the same thing! :)) – Nicola Peluchetti Jul 21 '11 at 15:14

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:16

3

Get a string repeat function on the go, then use this:

repeat('*', $('#myfield').val().length);

or (depending on the implementation you go with):

'*'.repeat($('#myfield').val().length);

My personal suggestion:

function repeat(s, n) {
    return new Array(isNaN(n) ? 1 : ++n).join(s);
}

var password = "lolcakes";
console.log(repeat('*', password.length));
// ^ Output: ********

Live demo.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:16

Community

1
1

answered Jul 21 '11 at 14:52

Lightness Races in Orbit

378,754
76
643
1,055

James McCormack · Answer 3 · 2011-07-21T14:58:10.770

1

Do a regex replace on $("#myfield").val(); that replaces all characters with * ?

alert($("#myfield").val().replace(/./g, '*'));

edited Jul 21 '11 at 14:58

answered Jul 21 '11 at 14:52

James McCormack

9,217
3
47
57

I doubt this will affect performance to any discernible degree. – James McCormack Jul 21 '11 at 14:59
1

That's not *your* point maybe, if your goal is to save a few cpu cycles. *My* point is to do a simple task in one easily read line, without having to create a helper function. – James McCormack Jul 21 '11 at 15:06
2

This approach promotes poor coding practices. You can solve this problem in a single line without a helper function (although a helper function is the _right_ thing to create here) without resorting to spooling up an entire pattern matching engine. – Lightness Races in Orbit Jul 21 '11 at 15:12

Getting the masked value of a password field?

3 Answers3