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line(1)

HP-UX 11i Version 3: February 2007
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NAME

line — read one line from user input

SYNOPSIS

line [-t timeout]

DESCRIPTION

line copies one line (up to a new-line) from the standard input and writes it on the standard output. It returns an exit code of 1 on EOF and always prints at least a new-line. It is often used within shell files to read from the user's terminal.

Options

line recognizes the following command-line option:

-t timeout

Timeout after timeout seconds where timeout is an integer value (if a non-integer value is specified, it is converted to an integer; i.e., rounded down). A blank is required between -t and the timeout argument. This option is not documented in POSIX and other industry standards, and should not be used in portable applications.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

International Code Set Support

Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported.

EXAMPLES

The following lines in a shell script prompt for a file name and display information about the file:

echo 'Enter file name: \c' reply=`line` ls -l $reply

To limit the response time to 10 seconds, use the form:

reply=`line -t 10`

then test for no response. If no response occurs before timeout expires, a default behavior should be provided.

WARNINGS

This command is likely to be withdrawn from X/Open standards. Applications using this command might not be portable to other vendors' systems. As an alternative read is recommended.

SEE ALSO

sh(1), read(2).

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE

line: SVID2, SVID3, XPG2, XPG3

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