getting input from stdin

10-08-06, 06:39 AM

compboy

Hi

Im new to unix scripting and now Im trying to get user input from stdin

and this is what I did

echo "enter your name: "
read name

and it will run with the pointer to take the stdin on the next line

enter your name:
_

what should I do to take put the input pointer just after the string
"enter your name: " not on the next line.
eg:

enter your name: _

thanks a lot

10-08-06, 07:46 AM

Bill Marcum

On 7 Oct 2006 22:39:20 -0700, compboy
<compboyxyz> wrote:
[..]
> _
>
> what should I do to take put the input pointer just after the string
> "enter your name: " not on the next line.
> eg:
>
> enter your name: _
>
> thanks a lot
>
printf "enter your name: "

10-08-06, 08:27 AM

Chris F.A. Johnson

On 2006-10-08, compboy wrote:
> Hi
>
> Im new to unix scripting and now Im trying to get user input from stdin
>
> and this is what I did
>
> echo "enter your name: "
> read name
>
> and it will run with the pointer to take the stdin on the next line
>
> enter your name:
> _
>
> what should I do to take put the input pointer just after the string
> "enter your name: " not on the next line.
> eg:
>
> enter your name: _

The read command in some shells have methods for doing it. For
example, with bash there is the -p option:

read -p "enter your name: " name

If your shell doesn't have anything like that (read the man page),
use:

printf "enter your name: "
read name

10-09-06, 04:28 AM

Maxim

compboy wrote:
[..]
> enter your name:
> _
>
> what should I do to take put the input pointer just after the string
> "enter your name: " not on the next line.
> eg:
>
> enter your name: _
>
> thanks a lot

very simple,like this:

echo -e "enter your name:\c "
read name

there "\c" means not change a new line,and only works with option "-e"
on.man it

10-09-06, 04:36 AM

Chris F.A. Johnson

On 2006-10-09, Maxim wrote:
>
> compboy wrote:
>
> very simple,like this:
>
> echo -e "enter your name:\c "
> read name
>
> there "\c" means not change a new line,and only works with option "-e"
> on.man it

It will not work at all in many shells. The -e option is not
standard.

10-09-06, 08:26 AM

Stephane CHAZELAS

2006-10-8, 23:36(-04), Chris F.A. Johnson:
[...]
>> echo -e "enter your name:\c "
>> read name
>>
>> there "\c" means not change a new line,and only works with option "-e"
>> on.man it
>
> It will not work at all in many shells. The -e option is not
> standard.
[...]

And the standard (both POSIX and Unix) say that the above
command should either output:

"-e enter your name: \c<Newline>" (POSIX)

or

"-e enter your name: " (Unix and POSIX)

An with

echo -n "enter your name: "

Unix: "-n enter your name: "
POSIX: result unspecified, so shouldn't be used

echo "enter your name: \c"

is Unix conformant, but not POSIX conformant.

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