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From: mcgrew@ichthous.Eng.Sun.COM (Darin McGrew)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell
Subject: Re: Prompting for yes/no in csh
Message-ID: <5459@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 8 Jan 91 17:24:18 GMT
References: <3821@ns-mx.uiowa.edu>
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dkeber@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu (Dave Keber) writes:
>What is the easiest way to prompt for a yes/no (or any string/number, etc.)
>from a csh shell script?

The standard way is to use the pseudo-variable "$<" as follows--

	#!/bin/csh
	echo -n "Really [yn]? "
	set answer = "$<"
	echo "You answered '$answer'"

>I thought of writing a short C program that asks for input then writing the
>answer to standard output, and then calling that program in my shell script,
>but that seems a rather convoluted way of going about it...or is it?

Well, yes, it's convoluted.  But you don't have to write a new
tool to do it this way--

	#!/bin/csh
	echo -n "Really [yn]? "
	set answer = "`head -1`"
	echo "You answered '$answer'"

Darin McGrew			mcgrew@Eng.Sun.COM
Affiliation stated for identification purposes only.