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limiting data inputs for the user

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# 1  
Old 05-15-2008
limiting data inputs for the user
if my user has to enter the name of months to carry out a search how can I limit the input values to only the month names and nothing else?

so far my input criteria for the user is this:

Quote:
echo " "
echo "Enter the month in which you wish to search
(Please enter months in the form of Jan, Feb, Mar, etc...): "

read MONTH

grep $5 "$MONTH" tempfile > tempmonth
i would like it so the user can only enter the months in the way i have stated. otherwise they would get an error message.
# 2  
Old 05-15-2008
Code:
case MONTH in Jan|Feb|Mar|... you get the idea ...|Dec);; 
  *) echo Invalid month name, play again? >&2 ;; esac

# 3  
Old 05-15-2008
Quote:
>&2
i get it all bar that piece of code... what does it do?
# 4  
Old 05-15-2008
>&2 re-directs the output to file descriptor 2, which is called "Standard error", a channel used for outputting errors usually.

It's common unix practice.
# 5  
Old 05-15-2008
Of course I forgot the dollar sign on $MONTH ... blush. Sorry about that.
# 6  
Old 05-15-2008
Code:
echo " "
echo "Enter the month in which you wish to search
(Please enter months in the form of Jan, Feb, Mar, etc...): "

read MONTH

case $MONTH in [Jj]an|[Ff]eb|[Mm]ar|[Aa]pr|[Mm]ay|[Jj]un|[Jj]ul|[Aa]ug|[Ss]ep|[Oo]ct|[Nn]ov|[Dd]ec);; 
  *) echo "Invalid month name" ;; 
esac

grep $5 "$MONTH" tempfile > tempmonth

people are inputting data in this loop. i am trying to validate this loop so only months are entered. if the user enters the wrong data how do i loop it back so the user has to enter the month again. this is not the start of my code so using "start over" will not work.
# 7  
Old 05-15-2008
Code:
while true; do
  echo Enter month
  read MONTH
  case $MONTH in ...ok...) break;;
     *) echo Invalid month name, try again >&2 ;;
  esac
done

grep $5 "$MONTH" tempfile >tempmonth
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