--password does not allow for asking interactively

[jscott0]

youtube-dl's --help page says

-p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left out, youtube-dl will ask interactively.

This means that, when the argument to -p (and --password, respectively) is omitted, it is to prompt for the user's password for downloading a video. This is a useful feature to have, as typing a password as plain text into one's shell is insecure, especially if it saves a log of commands run (i.e. GNU Bash).

However, with the current latest stable version of youtube-dl, the following error can be seen when attempting to make youtube-dl prompt for the password.

youtube-dl: error: --password option requires an argument

However, the --help page states that --password should not require an argument so that it can allow one to be prompted for a password. This shows a conflict between youtube-dl's behavior and its documentation.

[dstftw]

Left out means -p should not be passed in command line at all only -u.

[phihag]

Note that the --help says option, not argument. The error message should make that distinction clear, but nevertheless, if you can suggest a better wording, we may use that.