Command Reference Guide
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STANDARD Printed by: Nora Chuang [nchuang] STANDARD
/build/1111/BRICK/man1/!!!intro.1
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l
line(1) line(1)
NAME
line - read one line from user input
SYNOPSIS
line [-t timeout ]
DESCRIPTION
line copies one line (up to a new-line) from the standard input and writes it on the standard output. It
returns an exit code of 1 on EOF and always prints at least a new-line. It is often used within shell files to
read from the user’s terminal.
Options
line recognizes the following command-line option:
-t timeout Timeout after timeout seconds where timeout is an integer value (if a non-integer value is
specified, it is converted to an integer; i.e., rounded down). A blank is required between
-t and the timeout argument. This option is not documented in POSIX and other indus-
try standards, and should not be used in portable applications.
EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
International Code Set Support
Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported.
EXAMPLES
The following lines in a shell script prompt for a file name and display information about the file:
echo ’Enter file name: \c’
reply=‘line‘
ls -l $reply
To limit the response time to 10 seconds, use the form:
reply=‘line -t 10‘
then test for no response. If no response occurs before timeout expires, a default behavior should be pro-
vided.
WARNINGS
This command is likely to be withdrawn from X/Open standards. Applications using this command might
not be portable to other vendors’ systems. As an alternative read
is recommended.
SEE ALSO
sh(1), read(2).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
line: SVID2, SVID3, XPG2, XPG3
HP-UX Release 11i: December 2000 − 1 − Section 1−−451
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