CODEWITHSUNDEEP
arraysbashshellunix
sdgd
sdgd

Reputation: 733

Shell - Taking the input from the user from each line

I'm trying to take the input from the user into an array but Shell is accepting user input separated by spaced. Is there any way to accept the user input given separately in each line. My code below:

#!/bin/bash
echo "enter the servers names..."
read -a array
for i in "${array[@]}"
do
echo $i
done
exit 0

Input:

hello world

I want to the input to be taken as below (in two different lines):

hello
world

Kindly help. Thanks.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 100

Answers (3)

rolly4444
rolly4444

Reputation: 67

#!/bin/bash
echo "enter the servers names..."
read -a array -d '\n'
for i in "${array[@]}"
do
echo $i
done
exit 0

or 

#!/bin/bash
echo "enter the servers names..."
readarray array
for i in "${array[@]}"
do
echo $i
done
exit 0

Upvotes: -1

linuxfan says Reinstate Monica
linuxfan says Reinstate Monica

Reputation: 4704

According to help read:

Reads a single line from the standard input, or from file descriptor FD...

This loop would do instead:

echo "enter the servers names..."
i=0
until false; do
  read server
  [ -z "$server" ] && break
  let i=i+1
  array[$i]="$server"
done

for i in "${array[@]}"; do
  echo $i
done
exit 0

The loop will exit on an empty line or EOF (ctrl-D).

Example session terminated by empty line:

@server:/tmp$ ./test.sh
enter the servers names...
se1
se2
se3

se1
se2
se3

Example session terminated by EOF on the empty line after se2:

@server:/tmp$ ./test.sh
enter the servers names...
se1
se2
se1
se2

Please note that I check for an empty string while reading the names; but it is possible to check for empty strings (or whatever else) in any loop, for example while printing them or doing other computations.

Upvotes: 1

zhenguoli
zhenguoli

Reputation: 2308

You can specify the delimiter of read to stop reading, rather than newline. (read man page)

-d delim continue until the first character of DELIM is read, rather than newline

For example:
read -d':' -a array

If you want there is no delimiter to input, you can use a loop to read into the elements of the array, then check whether the input is null string or not.

i=0
read "array[$i]"
while [ "${array[$i]}" ];
do
    let "i = i+1"
    read "array[$i]"
done

So the input will be

hello
world
# > there is one more empty line

Upvotes: 1

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