Re: Bash "read" command: want to preload some data

[Bob Cox <debian-user@lists.bobcox.com>]

On Sat, Mar 06, 2010 at 09:44:13 -0600, Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. (bss@iguanasuicide.net) wrote: 

> PROMPT="stuff"
> DEFAULT="path"
> 
> printf '%s [%s] ?' "$PROMPT" "$DEFAULT"
> read FILEPATH
> if [ -z "$FILEPATH" ]; then
> 	FILEPATH="$DEFAULT"
> fi

Boyd and André - thank you both for your suggestions, which are probably
as good as it well get, without the -i functionality in bash4 (assuming
I stick to bash - Ron's hint re python noted).  To be of use to me, I
really want the ability to edit the existing text when it is offered to
the user and I think an upgrade to bash 4 is going to be worth a try as
this is just a part of a quite big bash script which I have been
constantly tweaking for years.

Thanks again.

-- 
Bob Cox.  Stoke Gifford, near Bristol, UK.
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