Hide/encrypt password in bash file to stop accidentally seeing it

OpenSSL provides a passwd command that can encrypt but doesn’t decrypt as it only does hashes. You could also download something like aesutil so you can use a capable and well-known symmetric encryption routine.

For example:

#!/bin/sh    
# using aesutil
SALT=$(mkrand 15) # mkrand generates a 15-character random passwd
MYENCPASS="i/b9pkcpQAPy7BzH2JlqHVoJc2mNTBM=" # echo "passwd" | aes -e -b -B -p $SALT 
MYPASS=$(echo "$MYENCPASS" | aes -d -b -p $SALT)

# and usage
serverControl.sh -u admin -p $MYPASS -c shutdown