Name
read
Synopsis
read [options
] [variable1 variable2
...]
Read one line of standard input and assign each word (as defined by
IFS) to the corresponding variable
, with
all leftover words assigned to the last variable. If only one
variable is specified, the entire line is assigned to that variable.
The return status is 0 unless EOF is reached, a distinction that is
useful for running loops over input files. If no variable names are
provided, read the entire string into the environment variable REPLY.
Options
- -a
var
Read each word into an element of
var
, which is treated as an array variable.- -d
char
Stop reading the line at
char
instead of at the newline.- -e
Line editing and command history are enabled during input.
- -n
num
Read only
num
characters from the line.- -p
string
Display the prompt
string
to the user before reading each line, if input is interactive.- -r
Raw mode; ignore \ as a line continuation character.
- -s
Don’t echo the characters entered by the user (useful for reading a password).
- -t
seconds
Time out and return without setting any variables if input is interactive and no input has been entered for
seconds
seconds.- -u
fd
Read input from specified file descriptor
fd
instead of standard input.
Examples
$read first last address
Sarah Caldwell 123 Main Street $echo "$last, $first\n$address"
Caldwell, Sarah 123 Main Street
The following commands, which read a password into the variable
$user_pw
and then display its value, use recently
added options that are not in all versions of
bash ...
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