CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bash
Pablo
Pablo

Reputation: 515

display all 4 options each time in the select menu

I'm new to bash. I want to have a select menu in bash. It has four options. Here is the code:

PS3='Please enter your choice: '
options=("Option 1" "Option 2" "Option 3" "Option 4")
select opt in "${options[@]}"
do
    case $opt in
        "Option 1")
            echo "you chose choice $REPLY which is $opt"
            ;;
        "Option 2")
            echo "you chose choice $REPLY which is $opt"
            ;;
        "Option 3")
            echo "you chose choice $REPLY which is $opt"
            ;;
        "Exit")
            break
            ;;
        *) echo "invalid option $REPLY";;
    esac
done

When I execute this code, the first time full menu with 4 options appears, but later times (2nd, 3rd and ... times) only "Please enter your choice:" appears. I want each time all 4 options appear like the first time.

As another problem, I want each time that the program is executed and 4 options are re-appeared, the previous commands and terminal content to be cleared. I did this by putting a "clear" before:

select opt in "${options[@]}"

but this way only the first time the terminal content was cleared.

What can I do to solve these problems?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1459

Answers (2)

Cedric Zoppolo
Cedric Zoppolo

Reputation: 4743

You would have to add a new loop that embeds your menu and then add another break to each case, and for option 4 edit to break 2 as shown in code below. I also added the option to clear the screen after an option is selected.

#!/bin/bash
PS3='Please enter your choice: '
while true; do
    clear
    options=("Option 1" "Option 2" "Option 3" "Exit")
    select opt in "${options[@]}"
    do
        case $opt in
            "Option 1")
                echo "you chose choice $REPLY which is $opt"
                break
                ;;
            "Option 2")
                echo "you chose choice $REPLY which is $opt"
                break
                ;;
            "Option 3")
                echo "you chose choice $REPLY which is $opt"
                break
                ;;
            "Exit")
                break 2
                ;;
            *) echo "invalid option $REPLY";;
        esac
    done
done

So a case of use of this code would be:

$ ./select.sh
1) Option 1
2) Option 2
3) Option 3
4) Exit
Please enter your choice: 1
you chose choice 1 which is Option 1
1) Option 1
2) Option 2
3) Option 3
4) Exit
Please enter your choice: 2
you chose choice 2 which is Option 2
1) Option 1
2) Option 2
3) Option 3
4) Exit
Please enter your choice: 3
you chose choice 3 which is Option 3
1) Option 1
2) Option 2
3) Option 3
4) Exit
Please enter your choice: 4

$

Adding a pause after selection

In case you want to ensure that the user can read the option selected you can add the following line before the last done of the code:

read -p "Press [Enter] key to continue..."

That way the user will see the message and will have to press the Enter key to get the menu shown again.

And a case of use of this would be:

1) Option 1
2) Option 2
3) Option 3
4) Exit
Please enter your choice: 1
you chose choice 1 which is Option 1
Press [Enter] key to continue...

Upvotes: 1

chepner
chepner

Reputation: 531430

If the user hits enter without making any selection, the menu will be redisplayed. As far as I know, the only way to programmatically force the menu to be drawn again would be to wrap the select statement in another loop, and re-execute the select statement. You'll use break to exit the select and return to the top of the wrapper loop, and break 2 to exit from both the select and the wrapper.

PS3='Please enter your choice: '
options=("Option 1" "Option 2" "Option 3" "Option 4")
while :; do
  select opt in "${options[@]}"
  do
    case $opt in
        "Option 1")
            echo "you chose choice $REPLY which is $opt"
            ;;
        "Find Subdomain")
            echo "you chose choice $REPLY which is $opt"
            ;;
        "Option 3")
            echo "you chose choice $REPLY which is $opt"
            ;;
        "Option 4")
            break 2
            ;;
        *) echo "invalid option $REPLY";;
    esac
    break
  done
done

Upvotes: 1

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