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# 1  
Old 09-03-2016
Auto enter for prompt messages
Hello everybody,

I am coding a script, that allow the user to enter some information using prompt messages, i.e:

Code:
sEpisode=1
read -e -i "$sEpisode" -p "Start download from episode: " downloadFrom
sEpisode="${downloadFrom:-$sEpisode}"

This code allows the user to set the download from which episode, the default value is 1, is there anyway to auto select (auto enter) that default value if the user did not enter anything for 5 seconds delay?

Thanks in advance
# 2  
Old 09-03-2016
The read utility in the standards does not have a timeout option. And, you didn't bother telling us what operating system or shell (and version of that shell) you're using.

You might want to look at the man page on your system for your shell to see if your shell's read built-in has a -t seconds option or some other timeout option (and note the constraints for your shell under which that option will or will not have any effect on that script's execution).
# 3  
Old 09-03-2016
Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Cragun
And, you didn't bother telling us what operating system or shell (and version of that shell) you're using.
Sorry for the inconvenient:

Code:
# lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS
Release:        12.04
Codename:       precise


# which bash
/bin/bash

I looked in the help page for read:

Code:
read: usage: read [-ers] [-a array] [-d delim] [-i text] [-n nchars] [-N nchars] [-p prompt] [-t timeout] [-u fd] [name ...]

Then I ended up by:

Code:
#! /bin/bash

sEpisode=1
read -e -t 5 -i "$sEpisode" -p "Start download from episode: " downloadFrom
sEpisode="${downloadFrom:-$sEpisode}"

#clear

#echo 'S episode is ' $sEpisode

printf "\n"

eEpisode=7
read -e -t 5 -i "$eEpisode" -p "End download to pisode: " downloadTO
eEpisode="${downloadTo:-$eEpisode}"

clear

echo 'So resuming '
echo 'Start from '$sEpisode
echo 'End to '$eEpisode

Please correct me if I am wrong, or if there is a better way to do it Smilie
# 4  
Old 09-03-2016
The bash read built-in on my system doesn't have a -i init_string option, but after adjusting for that, I found that no matter what value I entered in response to the second prompt, eEpisode was always set to 7. Shells (including bash) distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters in variable names, so when you read into a variable named downloadTO and then use downloadTo, bash sees downloadTo as an undefined variable. One might assume that you would want to change:
Code:
eEpisode=7
read -e -t 5 -i "$eEpisode" -p "End download to pisode: " downloadTO
eEpisode="${downloadTo:-$eEpisode}"

to:
Code:
eEpisode=7
read -e -t 5 -i "$eEpisode" -p "End download to episode: " downloadTo
eEpisode="${downloadTo:-$eEpisode}"

This User Gave Thanks to Don Cragun For This Post:
Abu Rayane
# 5  
Old 09-05-2016
Sorry for that, I did not pay attention to these errors, I was focussing on timeout stuff Smilie
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