35.18. read: Reading from the Keyboard
The Bourne shell
read command reads a line of one or more words
from the keyboard (or standard input)[109] and stores the words in one or more
shell variables. This is usually what you use to read an answer from
the keyboard. For example:
echo -n "Type the filename: "
read filename
Here is how the read command works:
-
If you give the name of one shell variable, read
stores everything from the line into that variable:
read varname
-
If you name more than one variable, the first word typed goes into
the first variable, the second word into the second variable, and so
on. All leftover words go into the last variable. For example, with
these commands:
echo -n "Enter first and last name: "
read fn ln
if a user types John Smith, the
word John would be available from
$fn and Smith would be in
$ln. If the user types Jane
de Boes, then
Jane would be in $fn and the
two words de Boes are in $ln.
Some Bourne
shells have a built-in function named line that
reads a line from standard input and writes it to standard output.
Use it with command substitutions
(Section 28.14):
value=`line`
Go to http://examples.oreilly.com/upt3 for more information on: grabchars
The
grabchars program lets you read from the keyboard
without needing to press RETURN.
-- JP
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