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Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers [Solved] Variable Name as a Prompt Post 302631139 by agama on Friday 27th of April 2012 12:10:18 AM
Old 04-27-2012
Have a go with this:

Code:
#!/usr/bin/env ksh
function VariableName
{
        echo "***************************************" >&2
        printf "Please Enter Variable Name : " >&2
        read Read_VariableName
        echo "${Read_VariableName}"
}


VariableName | read Read_VariableName

echo "${Read_VariableName}"



Your main problem is that your echo commands, which you assumed were going to the tty, were going to the read in the main body of the script. By redirecting them to stderr, the prompt and other information go to the tty, while the echo goes into VariableName.

You could also code
Code:
Read_VariableName=$( VariableName )



since you are only capturing the output into a single variable. This would work in bash as well as kshell. The echo/printf commands still need to be redirected; it's just an alternate approach.

I changed your echo -n to a printf command. Echo has so many different implementations that when I need to do something other than normal (e.g. adding the -n) I use printf. Just a preference of mine and no real bearing here.

---------- Post updated 04-27-12 at 00:10 ---------- Previous update was 04-26-12 at 23:51 ----------

I did have a go with your original script, and regardless of function definition style, function name, or name(), it works for me in both Kshell and bash. Given that your kernel seems pretty old, I'm wondering if you don't have a very old shell too. If you continue to have issues, it might be interesting to know what version of the shell you are running. Try excuting the command echo ${.sh.version} at the command line, or ksh --version.

Last edited by agama; 04-27-2012 at 12:57 AM.. Reason: code tag issue
 

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echo(1B)					     SunOS/BSD Compatibility Package Commands						  echo(1B)

NAME
echo - echo arguments to standard output SYNOPSIS
/usr/ucb/echo [-n] [argument] DESCRIPTION
echo writes its arguments, separated by BLANKs and terminated by a NEWLINE, to the standard output. echo is useful for producing diagnostics in command files and for sending known data into a pipe, and for displaying the contents of envi- ronment variables. For example, you can use echo to determine how many subdirectories below the root directory (/) is your current directory, as follows: o echo your current-working-directory's full pathname o pipe the output through tr to translate the path's embedded slash-characters into space-characters o pipe that output through wc -w for a count of the names in your path. example% /usr/bin/echo "echo $PWD | tr '/' ' ' | wc -w" See tr(1) and wc(1) for their functionality. The shells csh(1), ksh(1), and sh(1), each have an echo built-in command, which, by default, will have precedence, and will be invoked if the user calls echo without a full pathname. /usr/ucb/echo and csh's echo() have an -n option, but do not understand back-slashed escape characters. sh's echo(), ksh's echo(), and /usr/bin/echo, on the other hand, understand the black-slashed escape characters, and ksh's echo() also understands a as the audible bell character; however, these commands do not have an -n option. OPTIONS
-n Do not add the NEWLINE to the output. ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes: +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ | ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ |Availability |SUNWscpu | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ SEE ALSO
csh(1), echo(1), ksh(1), sh(1), tr(1), wc(1), attributes(5) NOTES
The -n option is a transition aid for BSD applications, and may not be supported in future releases. SunOS 5.10 3 Aug 1994 echo(1B)
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