Quick Tip

Tame Your Terminal Echo with `stty`

Challenge: Sometimes when you’re typing in the terminal, especially with commands that involve sensitive information or complex configurations, you might want to temporarily disable the echoing of characters to the screen. This can be useful for security or to prevent accidental display of sensitive data.

The Solution: The `stty` command can be used to control terminal line settings, including echo.

stty -echo

Why it works: The `stty -echo` command tells the terminal driver to stop echoing input characters back to the screen. You can re-enable it with `stty echo`.

Pro-Tip: If you need to type a password and want to be absolutely sure it’s not visible, use `read -s -p “Enter password: ” password` which uses the `-s` (silent) option to prevent echoing.

Linux Tips & Tricks | © ngelinux.com | 6/17/2026