How do I prompt for Yes/No/Cancel input in a Linux shell script?

Question

I want to pause input in a shell script, and prompt the user for choices.
The standard Yes, No, or Cancel type question.
How d

Answer 1

You can use the built-in read command ; Use the -p option to prompt the user with a question.

Since BASH4, you can now use -i to suggest an answer :

read -e -p "Enter the path to the file: " -i "/usr/local/etc/" FILEPATH
echo $FILEPATH

(But remember to use the "readline" option -e to allow line editing with arrow keys)

If you want a "yes / no" logic, you can do something like this:

read -e -p "
List the content of your home dir ? [Y/n] " YN

[[ $YN == "y" || $YN == "Y" || $YN == "" ]] && ls -la ~/