The Linux Command Line (2012)
Part IV. Writing Shell Scripts
Chapter 28. Reading Keyboard Input
The scripts we have written so far lack a feature common to most computer programs—interactivity, the ability of the program to interact with the user. While many programs don’t need to be interactive, some programs benefit from being able to accept input directly from the user. Take, for example, this script from the previous chapter:
#!/bin/bash
# test-integer2: evaluate the value of an integer.
INT=-5
if [[ "$INT" =˜ ^-?[0-9]+$ ]]; then
if [ $INT -eq 0 ]; then
echo "INT is zero."
else
if [ $INT -lt 0 ]; then
echo "INT is negative."
else
echo "INT is positive."
fi
if [ $((INT % 2)) -eq 0 ]; then
echo "INT is even."
else
echo "INT is odd."
fi
fi
else
echo "INT is not an integer." >&2
exit 1
fi
Each time we want to change the value of INT, we have to edit the script. The script would be much more useful if it could ask the user for a value. In this chapter, we will begin to look at how we can add interactivity to our programs.
read—Read Values from Standard Input
The read built-in command is used to read a single line of standard input. This command can be used to read keyboard input or, when redirection is employed, a line of data from a file. The command has the following syntax:
read [-options] [variable...]
where options is one or more of the available options listed in Table 28-1 and variable is the name of one or more variables used to hold the input value. If no variable name is supplied, the shell variable REPLY contains the line of data.
Table 28-1. read Options
Option |
Description |
-a array |
Assign the input to array, starting with index zero. We will cover arrays in Chapter 35. |
-d delimiter |
The first character in the string delimiter is used to indicate end of input, rather than a newline character. |
-e |
Use Readline to handle input. This permits input editing in the same manner as the command line. |
-n num |
Read num characters of input, rather than an entire line. |
-p prompt |
Display a prompt for input using the string prompt. |
-r |
Raw mode. Do not interpret backslash characters as escapes. |
-s |
Silent mode. Do not echo characters to the display as they are typed. This is useful when inputting passwords and other confidential information. |
-t seconds |
Timeout. Terminate input after seconds. read returns a non-zero exit status if an input times out. |
-u fd |
Use input from file descriptor fd, rather than standard input. |
Basically, read assigns fields from standard input to the specified variables. If we modify our integer evaluation script to use read, it might look like this:
#!/bin/bash
# read-integer: evaluate the value of an integer.
echo -n "Please enter an integer -> "
read int
if [[ "$int" =˜ ^-?[0-9]+$ ]]; then
if [ $int -eq 0 ]; then
echo "$int is zero."
else
if [ $int -lt 0 ]; then
echo "$int is negative."
else
echo "$int is positive."
fi
if [ $((int % 2)) -eq 0 ]; then
echo "$int is even."
else
echo "$int is odd."
fi
fi
else
echo "Input value is not an integer." >&2
exit 1
fi
We use echo with the -n option (which suppresses the trailing newline on output) to display a prompt and then use read to input a value for the variable int. Running this script results in this:
[me@linuxbox ˜]$ read-integer
Please enter an integer -> 5
5 is positive.
5 is odd.
read can assign input to multiple variables, as shown in this script:
#!/bin/bash
# read-multiple: read multiple values from keyboard
echo -n "Enter one or more values > "
read var1 var2 var3 var4 var5
echo "var1 = '$var1'"
echo "var2 = '$var2'"
echo "var3 = '$var3'"
echo "var4 = '$var4'"
echo "var5 = '$var5'"
In this script, we assign and display up to five values. Notice how read behaves when given different numbers of values:
[me@linuxbox ˜]$ read-multiple
Enter one or more values > a b c d e
var1 = 'a'
var2 = 'b'
var3 = 'c'
var4 = 'd'
var5 = 'e'
[me@linuxbox ˜]$ read-multiple
Enter one or more values > a
var1 = 'a'
var2 = ''
var3 = ''
var4 = ''
var5 = ''
[me@linuxbox ˜]$ read-multiple
Enter one or more values > a b c d e f g
var1 = 'a'
var2 = 'b'
var3 = 'c'
var4 = 'd'
var5 = 'e f g'
If read receives fewer than the expected number, the extra variables are empty, while an excessive amount of input results in the final variable containing all of the extra input.
If no variables are listed after the read command, a shell variable, REPLY, will be assigned all the input:
#!/bin/bash
# read-single: read multiple values into default variable
echo -n "Enter one or more values > "
read
echo "REPLY = '$REPLY'"
Running this script results in this:
[me@linuxbox ˜]$ read-single
Enter one or more values > a b c d
REPLY = 'a b c d'
Options
read supports the options shown previously in Table 28-1.
Using the various options, we can do interesting things with read. For example, with the -p option, we can provide a prompt string:
#!/bin/bash
# read-single: read multiple values into default variable
read -p "Enter one or more values > "
echo "REPLY = '$REPLY'"
With the -t and -s options we can write a script that reads “secret” input and times out if the input is not completed in a specified time:
#!/bin/bash
# read-secret: input a secret passphrase
if read -t 10 -sp "Enter secret passphrase > " secret_pass; then
echo -e "\nSecret passphrase = '$secret_pass'"
else
echo -e "\nInput timed out" >&2
exit 1
fi
The script prompts the user for a secret passphrase and waits 10 seconds for input. If the entry is not completed within the specified time, the script exits with an error. Since the -s option is included, the characters of the passphrase are not echoed to the display as they are typed.
Separating Input Fields with IFS
Normally, the shell performs word splitting on the input provided to read. As we have seen, this means that multiple words separated by one or more spaces become separate items on the input line and are assigned to separate variables by read. This behavior is configured by a shell variable named IFS (for Internal Field Separator). The default value of IFS contains a space, a tab, and a newline character, each of which will separate items from one another.
We can adjust the value of IFS to control the separation of fields input to read. For example, the /etc/passwd file contains lines of data that use the colon character as a field separator. By changing the value of IFS to a single colon, we can use read to input the contents of /etc/passwd and successfully separate fields into different variables. Here we have a script that does just that:
#!/bin/bash
# read-ifs: read fields from a file
FILE=/etc/passwd
read -p "Enter a username > " user_name
file_info=$(grep "^$user_name:" $FILE)
if [ -n "$file_info" ]; then
IFS=":" read user pw uid gid name home shell <<< "$file_info"
echo "User = '$user'"
echo "UID = '$uid'"
echo "GID = '$gid'"
echo "Full Name = '$name'"
echo "Home Dir. = '$home'"
echo "Shell = '$shell'"
else
echo "No such user '$user_name'" >&2
exit 1
fi
This script prompts the user to enter the username of an account on the system and then displays the different fields found in the user’s record in the /etc/passwd file. The script contains two interesting lines. The first, at , assigns the results of a grep command to the variable file_info. The regular expression used by grep ensures that the username will match only a single line in the /etc/passwd file.
The second interesting line, at , consists of three parts: a variable assignment, a read command with a list of variable names as arguments, and a strange new redirection operator. We’ll look at the variable assignment first.
The shell allows one or more variable assignments to take place immediately before a command. These assignments alter the environment for the command that follows. The effect of the assignment is temporary, only changing the environment for the duration of the command. In our case, the value of IFS is changed to a colon character. Alternatively, we could have coded it this way:
OLD_IFS="$IFS"
IFS=":"
read user pw uid gid name home shell <<< "$file_info"
IFS="$OLD_IFS"
where we store the value of IFS, assign a new value, perform the read command, and then restore IFS to its original value. Clearly, placing the variable assignment in front of the command is a more concise way of doing the same thing.
The <<< operator indicates a here string. A here string is like a here document, only shorter, consisting of a single string. In our example, the line of data from the /etc/passwd file is fed to the standard input of the read command. We might wonder why this rather oblique method was chosen rather than
echo "$file_info" | IFS=":" read user pw uid gid name home shell
Well, there’s a reason . . .
You Can’t Pipe read
While the read command normally takes input from standard input, you cannot do this:
echo "foo" | read
We would expect this to work, but it does not. The command will appear to succeed, but the REPLY variable will always be empty. Why is this?
The explanation has to do with the way the shell handles pipelines. In bash (and other shells such as sh), pipelines create subshells. These are copies of the shell and its environment that are used to execute the command in the pipeline. In our previous example, read is executed in a subshell.
Subshells in Unix-like systems create copies of the environment for the processes to use while they execute. When the processes finish, the copy of the environment is destroyed. This means that a subshell can never alter the environment of its parent process. read assigns variables, which then become part of the environment. In the example above, read assigns the value foo to the variable REPLYin its subshell’s environment, but when the command exits, the subshell and its environment are destroyed, and the effect of the assignment is lost.
Using here strings is one way to work around this behavior. Another method is discussed in Chapter 36.
Validating Input
With our new ability to have keyboard input comes an additional programming challenge: validating input. Very often the difference between a well-written program and a poorly written one lies in the program’s ability to deal with the unexpected. Frequently, the unexpected appears in the form of bad input. We did a little of this with our evaluation programs in the previous chapter, where we checked the values of integers and screened out empty values and non-numeric characters. It is important to perform these kinds of programming checks every time a program receives input to guard against invalid data. This is especially important for programs that are shared by multiple users. Omitting these safeguards in the interests of economy might be excused if a program is to be used once and only by the author to perform some special task. Even then, if the program performs dangerous tasks such as deleting files, it would be wise to include data validation, just in case.
Here we have an example program that validates various kinds of input:
#!/bin/bash
# read-validate: validate input
invalid_input () {
echo "Invalid input '$REPLY'" >& 2
exit 1
}
read -p "Enter a single item > "
# input is empty (invalid)
[[ -z $REPLY ]] && invalid_input
# input is multiple items (invalid)
(( $(echo $REPLY | wc -w) > 1 )) && invalid_input
# is input a valid filename?
if [[ $REPLY =˜ ^[-[:alnum:]\._]+$ ]]; then
echo "'$REPLY' is a valid filename."
if [[ -e $REPLY ]]; then
echo "And file '$REPLY' exists."
else
echo "However, file '$REPLY' does not exist."
fi
# is input a floating point number?
if [[ $REPLY =˜ ^-?[[:digit:]]*\.[[:digit:]]+$ ]]; then
echo "'$REPLY' is a floating point number."
else
echo "'$REPLY' is not a floating point number."
fi
# is input an integer?
if [[ $REPLY =˜ ^-?[[:digit:]]+$ ]]; then
echo "'$REPLY' is an integer."
else
echo "'$REPLY' is not an integer."
fi
else
echo "The string '$REPLY' is not a valid filename."
fi
This script prompts the user to enter an item. The item is subsequently analyzed to determine its contents. As we can see, the script makes use of many of the concepts that we have covered thus far, including shell functions, [[ ]], (( )), the control operator &&, and if, as well as a healthy dose of regular expressions.
Menus
A common type of interactivity is called menu driven. In menu-driven programs, the user is presented with a list of choices and is asked to choose one. For example, we could imagine a program that presented the following:
Please Select:
1. Display System Information
2. Display Disk Space
3. Display Home Space Utilization
0. Quit
Enter selection [0-3] >
Using what we learned from writing our sys_info_page program, we can construct a menu-driven program to perform the tasks on the above menu:
#!/bin/bash
# read-menu: a menu driven system information program
clear
echo "
Please Select:
1. Display System Information
2. Display Disk Space
3. Display Home Space Utilization
0. Quit
"
read -p "Enter selection [0-3] > "
if [[ $REPLY =˜ ^[0-3]$ ]]; then
if [[ $REPLY == 0 ]]; then
echo "Program terminated."
exit
fi
if [[ $REPLY == 1 ]]; then
echo "Hostname: $HOSTNAME"
uptime
exit
fi
if [[ $REPLY == 2 ]]; then
df -h
exit
fi
if [[ $REPLY == 3 ]]; then
if [[ $(id -u) -eq 0 ]]; then
echo "Home Space Utilization (All Users)"
du -sh /home/*
else
echo "Home Space Utilization ($USER)"
du -sh $HOME
fi
exit
fi
else
echo "Invalid entry." >&2
exit 1
fi
This script is logically divided into two parts. The first part displays the menu and inputs the response from the user. The second part identifies the response and carries out the selected action. Notice the use of the exit command in this script. It is used here to prevent the script from executing unnecessary code after an action has been carried out. The presence of multiple exit points in a program is generally a bad idea (it makes program logic harder to understand), but it works in this script.
Final Note
In this chapter, we took our first steps toward interactivity, allowing users to input data into our programs via the keyboard. Using the techniques presented thus far, it is possible to write many useful programs, such as specialized calculation programs and easy-to-use frontends for arcane command-line tools. In the next chapter, we will build on the menu-driven program concept to make it even better.
Extra Credit
It is important to study the programs in this chapter carefully and have a complete understanding of the way they are logically structured, as the programs to come will be increasingly complex. As an exercise, rewrite the programs in this chapter using the test command rather than the [[ ]]compound command. Hint: Use grep to evaluate the regular expressions, and then evaluate its exit status. This will be good practice.