How to hide oracle database password in shell script

Question

Instead of giving password, how can I hide the password in the shell script

#!/bin/bash

sqlplus -S -L USERNAME/PASSWORD@"SERVICE_NAME" <<EOF
set feedback off trimspool on

SELECT * FROM TABLE;

spool off;
EXIT
EOF

It violates just about every sane rule against disclosing passwords to consider placing a password in a shell script. That said, the general approach is to include the credentials in a separate file that is only readable by the user who the script runs as and to source the credentials file from a location where no-one but the user has access. That is not a way to do it completely safe, It is just the safest way to do something unsafe the most safely. — David C. Rankin
– David C. Rankin, Commented Nov 5, 2015 at 4:01

FenderBender · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-23 09:18:15Z

1

This is how I do it:

echo -n "Enter password: "
read -s passwd
echo

sqlplus -s -S << EOF
  USERNAME/${passwd}@"SERVICE_NAME"

  select something from dual;

  exit;
EOF

A neat side effect of this is that the password is also hidden from the OS using ps -efx.

answered Oct 23, 2017 at 9:18

FenderBender

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