read

Read a line into a variable

$ read [variable]

$ read -p "Enter your name: " [name]

$ read -s -p "Password: " [password]

$ read -t 5 [variable]

$ read -n 1 [char]

$ read -a [array]

$ while read line; do echo "$line"; done < [file]

read [-p prompt] [-t timeout] [-n nchars] [-s] [-a array] [-d delim] [name...]

read is a shell builtin that reads a line from standard input (or a file descriptor) and splits it into words, assigning them to variables. It is fundamental to interactive shell scripts and processing text files.
Without variable names, input is stored in the REPLY variable. With multiple variables, words are assigned in order, with remaining words going to the last variable. Words are split according to the IFS (Internal Field Separator) variable.
The -r option is recommended for most uses as it prevents backslash interpretation, which can cause unexpected behavior with file paths or special characters.
In while read loops, read returns false (exit status 1) at end-of-file, making it ideal for processing files line by line.

-p prompt

Display prompt string before reading (bash)

Silent mode; do not echo input (for passwords)

Timeout after specified seconds; fail if no input

Return after reading specified number of characters

Read exactly N characters, ignoring delimiters

Read words into array variable

Use specified delimiter instead of newline

Do not treat backslash as escape character (raw mode)

Read from file descriptor instead of stdin

Use readline for input (enables line editing)

read is a shell builtin with varying options between shells (bash, zsh, dash). Options like -p, -a, and -t are bash extensions not available in POSIX sh.
Without -r, backslashes are interpreted as escape characters. Always use read -r unless you specifically need escape processing.
Leading and trailing whitespace is stripped based on IFS. To preserve whitespace, set IFS= before read: `IFS= read -r line`
The -t timeout option may not work in all shells or when reading from regular files (only terminals/pipes).

echo(1), printf(1), bash(1), sh(1)