Home / ubuntu / Questions / 1391923
Accepted
Joe Cola
Asked: 2022-02-10 02:07:51 +0800 CST

how to create input read with newline in bash?

  • 772

I want to ask

I have a problem, how do I get input in bash to do newlines?

read -p "List Name: " list

cat <<EOF >names.txt
List Names:
$list

EOF

i can not do a new line or use the command \n , how to add a new line command ?

I want result output names.txt like this

List Name :
    Robert
    James
    Samuel
command-line

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    If you want a list with one item per line, you can use readarray:

    # Read list
echo "Enter one name per line, finish with Ctrl-D:"
readarray -t list

# Use list as normal array
echo "Name List:"
printf '%s\n' "${list[@]}"

    Now you can use list as normal array, e.g. ${list[1]}.

    • 2

  2. By default bash uses a space character as a delimiter to separate words. This shell script uses a space character as a delimiter to separate three names that are input by the user. Paste the following shell script into a text file named input-names.sh, right click input-names.sh, select Properties -> Permissions tab and put a checkmark to the left of Allow executing file as a program.

    #!/bin/bash

# Read multiple inputs
echo "Type three names separated by space characters."
read name1 name2 name3
echo "List name :"
echo "    $name1"
echo "    $name2"
echo "    $name3"

    The following output will appear after executing the above script.

    :~$ ./input-names.sh
Type three names separated by space characters.
Robert James Samuel
List name :
    Robert
    James 
    Samuel
    • 1