read

What it does

How to write it

read [-ers] [-a ARRAY] [-d DELIM] [-i TEXT] [-n N] [-N N] [-p PROMPT] [-t TIMEOUT] [-u FD] [NAME]...

Most used

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$ run as a normal user# run as root (or with sudo)

1. 1Ask a question

   $read -p "Your name: " NAME; echo "Hello $NAME"

   Simple input in scripts.

2. 2Ask for a password

   $read -s -p "Password: " PASS; echo

   Nothing is shown while typing.

3. 3Process a file line by line

   $while read -r LINE; do echo "line: $LINE"; done < /etc/hostname

   -r keeps backslashes.

4. 4Split fields

   $echo "anna sales 3000" | { read -r NAME GROUP GID; echo "$NAME is in $GROUP ($GID)"; }

   Words go to the names in order.

5. 5Split /etc/passwd fields

   $while IFS=: read -r USER _ UID _; do [ "$UID" -ge 1000 ] && echo "$USER"; done < /etc/passwd

   IFS=: splits on colons.

6. 6Yes/no with a timeout

   $read -t 10 -n 1 -p "Continue? [y/N] " ANSWER; echo; [ "$ANSWER" = y ] || exit 1

   Defaults to no after 10 seconds.

7. 7Into an array

   $read -r -a PARTS <<< "a b c"; echo "${PARTS[1]}"
   b

   Index starts at 0.

8. 8Read command output (not a pipe into while)

   $while read -r PID CMD; do echo "$PID $CMD"; done < <(ps -eo pid=,comm= | head -3)

   Process substitution keeps variables after the loop.

9. 9Default value with editing

   $read -e -i "/backup" -p "Target folder: " DIR

   The user can edit the default.

10. 10Pause a script

    $read -r -p "Press Enter to continue"

    Waits for Enter.

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Exit codes