Login or Register to Ask a Question and Join Our Community

Sponsored Content
Full Discussion: Using read to prompt for editable user input in Bash 3
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting Using read to prompt for editable user input in Bash 3 Post 302736929 by Don Cragun on Wednesday 28th of November 2012 07:05:13 AM
Old 11-28-2012
A simpler portable way to do the same thing is:
Code:
#!/bin/bash
default=user1
printf "Please enter the username you would like to add (%s): " "$default"
read input
USERNAME=${input:-$default}
echo USERNAME is $USERNAME

It should work with any version of bash, ksh, or any other POSIX conforming shell.
The only portable option to the read utility is -r.

Note that I used printf instead of echo because the way you specify printing a prompt without a newline using echo varies from system to system.
 

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

getline to read input from a user

Hi, The gcc compiler has warned about using gets(), so I've been trying my hand at getline. Problem is that I've been able to read from a file, but what I really need is to read from a user's input. I want to use getline like a scanf() command, but I can't figure what to substitute for the fp... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: sdsd
6 Replies

2. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

How to read a line of text from user input?

Hiii I wanna a read a line of text from standard input. The user enter data like this way name phone_no month1_salary month2_salary that is user enter the name ,phone no and salary of 2 months in a single line by giving spaces. I wanna add the 3rd and 4th fields ...ie add both... (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: krishnampkkm
4 Replies

3. Shell Programming and Scripting

Bash user input

Hi all, I currently have a script which uses read -p for user interaction. e.g. read -p "New user? " user Is it possible to have it so if the user enters nothing and just presses return it can resort to a specified value instead? Thanks! :) (5 Replies)
Discussion started by: JayC89
5 Replies

4. Shell Programming and Scripting

BASH - read use a path as input

I am trying to script simply data transfer. I would like to have the user input the source "SRC" (/Volumes/DriveName/Users/johnq123) and then name the directory that the copied information will go to, "DST" . put I can't get it to work - #!/bin/bash ... (8 Replies)
Discussion started by: dropkick888
8 Replies

5. Shell Programming and Scripting

Solaris- Read command from user input

I need to write a bourne shell script (solaris 10) that accepts input from the user. The input will be a command- any command like ls/ pwd/ mv etc. After the input is read, the shell must execute the command supplied by the user. I know we use read to play with user inputs. Just not sure how to... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: PDManc
2 Replies

6. Shell Programming and Scripting

Help with Bash user input

I am starting to learn how to use bash and I would like the script to do the following: Asks the user for his/her name Asks the user for one number Asks the user for another number Then it adds the two numbers, Also multiply the two numbers I have the part where you get the name, and I... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: boyboy1212
3 Replies

7. Shell Programming and Scripting

Help with Bash piped while-read and a read user input at the same time

Hi I am new to writing script and want to use a Bash Piped while-read and read from user input. if something happens on server.log then do while loop or if something happend on user input then do while loop. Pseudocode something like: tail -n 3 -f server.log | while read serverline || read... (8 Replies)
Discussion started by: MyMorris
8 Replies

8. Shell Programming and Scripting

BASH - read does not wait for user input in some circumstances

Hello. I am running 2 scripts : script_1 and script_2 These scripts are run as root Script 2 contains : #!/bin/bash # # ~/bin/script_2 # E_BAD_PARAM=115 # date2stamp () { date --date "$1" +%Y-%m-%d___%H:%M:%S } # USER_NAME=$1 NB_PARAM=$# PARAM0=$0 (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: jcdole
2 Replies

9. Shell Programming and Scripting

Perl to read user input

I am creating a bash that uses perl . The below code closes before the input is entered. If I run the perl as a .pl it is fine. What am I doing wrong? Thank you :). #!/bin/bash cd 'C:\Users\cmccabe\Desktop\wget' wget -O getCSV.txt http://xxx.xx.xxx.xxx/data/getCSV.csv print... (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: cmccabe
4 Replies

10. Shell Programming and Scripting

Bash read input in case statement not working as expected

I'm having an issue with bash read input when using a case statement. The script halts and doesn't read the input on the first loop. if I hit enter then the scripts starts to respond as expected. Need some help here. defaultans=8hrs read -e -i $defaultans -p "${bldwht}How long would you like... (5 Replies)
Discussion started by: woodson2
5 Replies

LEARN ABOUT OSF1

line

line(1) 						      General Commands Manual							   line(1)

NAME

       line - Reads one line from standard input

SYNOPSIS

       line

STANDARDS

       Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows:

       line:  XCU5.0

       Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags.

OPTIONS

       None

DESCRIPTION

       The  line  command  copies one line, up to and including a newline, from standard input and writes it to standard output.  Use this command
       within a shell command file to read from your terminal.	The line command always writes at least a newline character.

NOTES

       The line utility has no internationalization features and is marked LEGACY in XCU Issue 5. Use the read utility instead.

EXIT STATUS

       Success.  End-of-File.

EXAMPLES

       To read a line from the keyboard and append it to a file, enter: echo 'Enter comments for the log:' echo ': c' line >>log

       This shell procedure displays the message: Enter comments for the log:

       It then reads a line of text from the keyboard and adds it to the end of the file log.  The echo  ':  c'  command  displays  a	:  (colon)
       prompt.	See the echo command for information about the c escape sequence.

SEE ALSO

       Commands:  echo(1), ksh(1), read(1), Bourne shell sh(1b), POSIX shell sh(1p)

       Functions:  read(2)

       Standards:  standards(5)

																	   line(1)
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:28 AM.
Unix & Linux Forums Content Copyright 1993-2022. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy