Passing passwords more securely to mysql utilities on the command line
You can put the password in the my.cnf (or my.ini for Windows) and then login without specifying the password "over the wire". Obviously you want to keep that file secure, but in any decent setup, this should not be a problem.

LOGGING IN

[pol@localhost inst]$ ./bin/mysql --defaults-file=./my.cnf -S ./mysql.sock -u root  -- **NOTE: no password is needed here.**
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 2
Server version: 5.6.22-log Source distribution

Copyright (c) 2000, 2014, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.

mysql&gt; 


CONTENTS OF MY.INI OR MY.CNF

[client]
port        = 3306
socket      = /home/pol/Downloads/software/mysql/5.6/inst/mysqld.sock
host            = 127.0.0.1
user        = pol 
password    = dba   --  **&lt;&lt;-----NOTE password in client section**


PASSWORD NOT VISIBLE

mysql&gt; \! ps -ef |  grep mysql
pol       2173  2122  0 Apr19 pts/0    00:00:19 ./bin/mysqld --defaults-file=./my.cnf
pol       9294  2197  0 00:09 pts/1    00:00:00 ./bin/mysql --defaults-file=./my.cnf -S ./mysql.sock -u root   **NOTE - no password visible "over the wire"
pol       9360  9294  0 00:16 pts/1    00:00:00 sh -c  ps -ef |  grep mysql
pol       9362  9360  0 00:16 pts/1    00:00:00 grep mysql