diff -wup a/dmenu.c b/dmenu.c
--- a/dmenu.c	2017-06-12 00:35:39.814716857 +0200
+++ b/dmenu.c	2017-06-11 23:59:18.794768196 +0200
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ struct item {
 static char text[BUFSIZ] = "";
 static char *embed;
 static int bh, mw, mh;
-static int inputw = 0, promptw;
+static int inputw = 0, promptw, passwd = 0;
 static int lrpad; /* sum of left and right padding */
 static size_t cursor;
 static struct item *items = NULL;
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ drawmenu(void)
 	unsigned int curpos;
 	struct item *item;
 	int x = 0, y = 0, w;
+	char *censort;
 
 	drw_setscheme(drw, scheme[SchemeNorm]);
 	drw_rect(drw, 0, 0, mw, mh, 1, 1);
@@ -142,7 +143,12 @@ drawmenu(void)
 	/* draw input field */
 	w = (lines > 0 || !matches) ? mw - x : inputw;
 	drw_setscheme(drw, scheme[SchemeNorm]);
-	drw_text(drw, x, 0, w, bh, lrpad / 2, text, 0);
+	if (passwd) {
+	        censort = ecalloc(1, sizeof(text));
+		memset(censort, '.', strlen(text));
+		drw_text(drw, x, 0, w, bh, lrpad / 2, censort, 0);
+		free(censort);
+	} else drw_text(drw, x, 0, w, bh, lrpad / 2, text, 0);
 
 	drw_font_getexts(drw->fonts, text, cursor, &curpos, NULL);
 	if ((curpos += lrpad / 2 - 1) < w) {
@@ -481,6 +487,11 @@ readstdin(void)
 	size_t i, imax = 0, size = 0;
 	unsigned int tmpmax = 0;
 
+	if (passwd) {
+	        inputw = lines = 0;
+	        return;
+	}
+
 	/* read each line from stdin and add it to the item list */
 	for (i = 0; fgets(buf, sizeof buf, stdin); i++) {
 		if (i + 1 >= size / sizeof *items)
@@ -636,7 +647,7 @@ setup(void)
 static void
 usage(void)
 {
-	fputs("usage: dmenu [-bfiv] [-l lines] [-p prompt] [-fn font] [-m monitor]\n"
+	fputs("usage: dmenu [-bfiPv] [-l lines] [-p prompt] [-fn font] [-m monitor]\n"
 	      "             [-nb color] [-nf color] [-sb color] [-sf color] [-w windowid]\n", stderr);
 	exit(1);
 }
@@ -659,7 +670,9 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "-i")) { /* case-insensitive item matching */
 			fstrncmp = strncasecmp;
 			fstrstr = cistrstr;
-		} else if (i + 1 == argc)
+		} else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "-P"))   /* is the input a password */
+		        passwd = 1;
+		else if (i + 1 == argc)
 			usage();
 		/* these options take one argument */
 		else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "-l"))   /* number of lines in vertical list */