timeout read wont work

[KillerLink]

Hi!

I would like to write a bash script which is waiting for input from the user.
But it should stop waiting for input after a give time.

I found some examples showing the following:
read -t 10 -p "Eingabe erwartet" inputvar;

but it says illegal option: -t

i found this on serveral sites and i wonder why its not working.

so, does somebody have a solution?

Edit: Im using Ubuntu 11.04 and im writing bash scripts.

[dwhitney67]

Edit: Im using Ubuntu 11.04 and im writing bash scripts.

Are you sure that you are using bash? Ubuntu comes with dash, which is a slimmed down version of bash.

Verify that you have bash installed; an easy way is to examine /bin/bash to ensure that it is not a symlink to /bin/dash.

[JupiterV2]

Does your script start with #!/bin/sh or #!/bin/bash? I ask because /bin/sh is a symlink to dash on Ubuntu and lacks some of the features bash has. I don't know if this is causing your problem or not.

[Bachstelze]

Are you sure that you are using bash? Ubuntu comes with dash, which is a slimmed down version of bash.

dash is not a "slimmed down version of Bash", it is a completely different and separate shell.


Verify that you have bash installed; an easy way is to examine /bin/bash to ensure that it is not a symlink to /bin/dash.

Bash is always installed in Ubuntu, alongside with dash, and is the default interactive shell. /bin/sh by default points to /bin/dash but can be made to point to /bin/bash, either manually or through debconf (dpkg-reconfigure dash). It is generally considered a bad idea, though. If a script needs Bash, it should say so and have /bin/bash in the shebang line.

[KillerLink]

hmm okay my script starts with:
#!/bin/sh

im editing an exisitng longer script to my wishes, so i need to stay at this "#!/bin/sh".

questions i have now:
1) im writing dash and not bash, is this correct?
2) how could i get bash, write bash scripts?
3) what do i do in my script whiche has "#!/bin/sh" on top to get a timing out read function?
i need to wait only a given time for input. if time is overlapped it should continue with next programm line.

thanks for already give answers, im counting on further more ; )

[Bachstelze]

1. Probably. Run the command


ls -l /bin/sh

to know which shell your script runs with.

2. If you want your script to run in Bash, changing #!/bin/sh to #!/bin/bash is the proper way. Alternatively, you can make /bin/sh point to Bash with


sudo dpkg-reconfigure dash

Answer "No" and /bin/sh will be made to point to /bin/bash. But then your script may not work on systems where /bin/sh does not point to Bash (or which do not have Bash at all).

[JupiterV2]

hmm okay my script starts with:
#!/bin/sh

im editing an exisitng longer script to my wishes, so i need to stay at this "#!/bin/sh".

I would argue that, since read is an internal command to bash, that NOT requiring your script to use/depend on bash would be a bad idea. /bin/sh could point to tsch, ash, sh, dash, bash, csh, etc. Since read command may not work the same, or at all, on other shells it makes sense to require/depend on bash. I highly recommend changing the shebang to #!/bin/bash. At least then users will know why your script won't run or run as intended.

[KillerLink]

Hey, thank you for all your replies!
I experimented around and found out that i could
change #!/bin/sh to #!/bin/bash
as you said, and the script still worked, so
i also was able to use read -t now!

So thank you all, you helped me alot!