read

Shell builtin for retrieving data from stdin. More information: https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bash.html#index-read.

• 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|…