read Command Examples

Shell builtin for retrieving data from stdin. More information: https://manned.org/read.1p.

• Store data that you type from the keyboard:

read {{variable}}

• Store each of the next lines you enter as values of an array:

read -a {{array}}

• Specify the number of maximum characters to be read:

read -n {{character_count}} {{variable}}

• Assign multiple values to multiple variables:

read {{_ variable1 _ variable2}} <<< {{"The surname is Bond"}}

• Do not let backslash (\) act as an escape character:

read -r {{variable}}

• Display a prompt before the input:

read -p "{{Enter your input here: }}" {{variable}}

• Do not echo typed characters (silent mode):

read -s {{variable}}

• Read stdin and perform an action on every line:

while read line; do {{echo|ls|rm|...}} "$line"; done < {{/dev/stdin|path/to/file|...}}