“Yes/No” in Bash Script – Prompt for Confirmation
Article Number: 483 | Rating: 5/5 from 1 votes | Last Updated: Mon, Feb 18, 2019 2:34 PM
Very often in bash scrips you need to ask for user input that requires a Yes or No answer.
For example, you may want to put a quick “Are you sure?” prompt for confirmation before execution of some potentially dangerous part of a bash script.
In this article you’ll find three easiest and fastest ways to prompt for “Yes/No” confirmation in bash script.
Prompt To Continue In Bash
The best way to prompt for a confirmation to continue in a bash script is to use the read command (source):
read -p "Are you sure? " -n 1 -r echo # (optional) move to a new line if [[ ! $REPLY =~ ^[Yy]$ ]] then exit 1 fi
Simple “Yes/No” Dialog In Bash
One of the most widely used method to ask user for a confirmation in a bash script is to combine read
+ case
commands (source):
while true; do read -p "Do you wish to install this program?" yn case $yn in [Yy]* ) make install; break;; [Nn]* ) exit;; * ) echo "Please answer yes or no.";; esac done
Select From “Yes/No” Menu In Bash
Another easy method is to use select
command (source):
echo "Do you wish to install this program?" select yn in "Yes" "No" case $yn in Yes ) make install;; No ) exit;; esac