1.3 KiB
====== User selections ======
===== Synopsis =====
select ; do
done
select in ; do
done
# alternative, historical and undocumented syntax
select
{
}
select in
{
}
===== Description ===== This compound command provides a kind of menu. The user is prompted with a //numbered list// of the given words, and is asked to input the index number of the word. If a word was selected, the variable '''' is set to this word, and the list '''' is executed.
If no ''in '' is given, then the positional parameters are taken as words (as if ''in "$@"'' was written).
Regardless of the functionality, the //number// the user entered is saved in the variable ''REPLY''.
Bash knows an alternative syntax for the ''select'' command, enclosing the loop body in ''{...}'' instead of ''do ... done'':
select x in 1 2 3
{
echo $x
}
This syntax is not documented and should not be used. I found the parser definitions for it in 1.x code, and in modern 4.x code. My guess is that it's there for compatiblity reasons. This syntax is not specified by POSIX(R).
===== Examples =====
===== Portability considerations =====
===== See also =====