We previously looked at using echo with options in a shell, in this guide we would combine it with read command to prompt for user input.
Create and open up a new text file: nano $HOME/bin/hw3.sh
Add the following:
#!/bin/bash
echo -n "Hello There, may I ask your name: "
read
echo "Hello $REPLY"
exit 0Let's understand the command line by line:
#!/bin/bash - This is the interpreter, nothing new here
read - This reads a line from the standard input (e.g your keyboard input), you are to pass a variable to the read command. If you do not, it is going to use the default internal variable, which is the $REPLY variable.
echo "Hello $REPLY" - The $REPLY is the default value when a variable is not supplied to read, it would store whatever you type in the stdin, and we then echo it.
Remember to add an execution bit to the file: chmod +x $HOME/bin/hw3.sh
This the output:
user@server:~/bin$ hw3.sh
Hello There, may I ask your name: ? Mr. Devsrealmer
Hello Mr. Devsrealmer
user@server:~/bin$
In future guide, we would talk more on the read builtin command