#003 Select Menus

Getting multiple-choice input from a user in a bash script.

Notes

Bash scripts are great for automating system management tasks. They are made more useful and general if there’s a way for the user to change the behaviour. This is what command line parameters are usually for.

But sometimes it is best to get interactive input with a menu of options.

The select built-in function provides a very simple way to implement a menu.

Example

The example.sh demonstrates a basic menu using select.

$ ./example.sh

This script demonstrates the basic select menu.

1) apple
2) orange
3) quit
select> 1
You picked apple (1)
select> 2
You picked orange (2)
select> 3
You picked quit (3)

Credits and References

• 9.6. Making menus with the select built-in
• How can I create a select menu in a shell script?
• Menu driven scripts