Script to input encrpyted password into htdigest (Apache)

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

Hey guys,

This is my situation.

I'm using the script to add a user account, however, i want the same details copied into the htdigest password list. the format is username:virtualservername:hashed/encrypted password.

This is the command :

sudo htdigest /etc/apache2/passwords VIRTUALSERVERNAME USERNAME

This are the exert from my script:

 
# Adding User (1st Step)
  read -p "Enter username : " username
  read -p "Enter password : " password
  egrep "^$username" /etc/passwd >/dev/null
  pass=$(perl -e 'print crypt($ARGV[0], "password")' $password)
  useradd -m -p $pass $username
  [ $? -eq 0 ] && echo "User has been added to system!" || echo "Failed to add a user!"
 
# Adding webuser to apache password list
sudo htdigest /etc/apache2/passwords VIRTUALSERVERNAME $username <<-EOF
$password
$password
EOF

This doesn't work unfortunately.

I would still be asked to insert the password manually.

P/s: Removed the -s prefix for the password form as i want to see the password while typing it.