$ PS3='enter choice '
$ select choice in bish bash bosh
> do
> printf "choice is %s; REPLY is %s\n" "$choice" "$REPLY"
> done
1) bish
2) bash
3) bosh
enter choice 1
choice is bish; REPLY is 1
enter choice 2
choice is bash; REPLY is 2
enter choice 3
choice is bosh; REPLY is 3
enter choice 4
choice is ; REPLY is 4
enter choice fred
choice is ; REPLY is fred
enter choice

declare -A mymenu
...
mymenu["some_key"]="some value"
...
select mychoice in "${!mymenu[@]}"
do
   if [[ -z "$mychoice" ]]
   then 
      echo "bad choice %s - try again\n" "$REPLY"
      continue
   fi
   # use $mychoice or ${mymenu[$mychoice]} here
done

read_options(){
        local choice
        local -a choices one two three debug pause
        local PS3
        printf -vPS3 "Enter choice [1 - %d] " ${#choices}


# the max choice is static 

#TODO add max choice as variable 



       # read -p "Enter choice [ 1 - 3] " choice
        select choice "${choices[@]}"
        do


        #case $choice in
        case $REPLY in
                1) one ;;
                2) two ;;
                3) three ;;
                4) select_command_DEBUG "pass command to function" "lsusb"  ;; #pass$
                5) select_command_DEBUG " menu 5 pass list_wlan_interfaces() to func$
                " list_wlan_interfaces " ;;  
                6) pause ;;    # back to GUI exit 0;;
                *) echo -e "${RED}Error...${STD}" && sleep 2
        esac
done
}

select choice in fred ginger mary
do case choice in
   fred) do_fred ;;
   ginger) do_ginger ;;
   mary) do_mary ;;
esac
done

select choice in fred mike ginger mary
do case choice in
   fred) do_fred ;;
   ginger) do_ginger ;;
   mary) do_mary ;;
   mike) do_mike ;;
esac
done