Read User Input (read)

read a line of input from the user and store as a variable

Description

A readline function to allow a line of data inputed from the terminal.

Usage

Classic usage

read "prompt" var_name

<stdin> -> read var_name

Script usage

read [ --prompt "prompt"         ]
     [ --variable var_name       ]
     [ --default "default value" ]
     [ --datatype data-type      ]
     [ --autocomplete { json }   ]
     [ --mask character          ]

Examples

Classic usage

read "What is your name? " name
out "Hello $name"

out What is your name? -> read name
out "Hello $name"

Script usage

read --prompt "Are you sure? [Y/n]" \
      --variable yn \
      --default Y

Secrets

read --prompt "Password: " --variable pw --mask *

Flags

• --autocomplete Autocompletion suggestions. Can be either a JSON array or a JSON object
• --datatype Murex data-type for the read data (default: str)
• --default If a zero length string is returned but neither ctrl+c nor ctrl+d were pressed, then the default value defined here will be returned
• --mask Optional password mask, for reading secrets
• --prompt User notification to display
• --variable Variable name to store the read data (default: read)

Detail

Classic usage

If read is called as a method then the prompt string is taken from stdin. Otherwise the prompt string will be the first parameter. However if no prompt string is given then read will not write a prompt.

The last parameter will be the variable name to store the string read by read. This variable cannot be prefixed by dollar, $, otherwise the shell will write the output of that variable as the last parameter rather than the name of the variable.

The data type the read line will be stored as is str (string). If you require this to be different then please use tread (typed read) or call read with the --datatype flag as per the script usage.

Synonyms

• read

See Also

• Define Type (cast): Alters the data-type of the previous function without altering its output
• Error String (err): Print a line to the stderr
• Output String (out): Print a string to the stdout with a trailing new line character
• Output With Type Annotation (tout): Print a string to the stdout and set it's data-type
• Read With Type (tread) (removed 7.x): read a line of input from the user and store as a user defined typed variable (deprecated)
• Truncate File (>): Writes stdin to disk - overwriting contents if file already exists
• %(Brace Quote): Initiates or terminates a string (variables expanded)
• >> Append File: Writes stdin to disk - appending contents if file already exists

---

This document was generated from builtins/core/io/read_doc.yaml.