read (Standard Input)
The read command is the command in shell scripting for reading from standard in. In its most basic form, you can merely prompt the user for input.
#!/bin/bash
echo "Please enter your name"
read name
echo "Hello, $name. How are you?"
For more advanced usage, you can use it in a while statement to read data from standard input line-by-line.
#!/bin/bash
while read line
do
echo "The next line from standard in is: $line"
done
The output of the above script is shown here:
$ cat TestFile
Cool Beans
This is
a test.
$ cat TestFile | ./TestScript.sh
The next line from standard in is: Cool Beans
The next line from standard in is: This is
The next line from standard in is: a test.
page revision: 3, last edited: 20 Jun 2008 06:36