Shell scripting: read one line at a time from keyboard

Posted by Vivek Gite [Last updated: March 7, 2006]

Sometime it is necessary to read one line from a file or keyboard. We have Shell script utility to read a file line by line here and here. However, you can use line command to do same thing.

For example, read one line from keyboard and store to variable called na:

$ na=$(line)

Howdy Guest

$ echo $na

Output:

Howdy Guest

The utility line copies one line (up to a newline) from standard input (keyboard) to standard output (screen). It always prints at least a newline and returns an exit status of 1 on EOF or read error.

You can easily use line command in a shell scripts.

(Check out all of our posts on Shell Scripting)

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