Simple menus in Bash scripts with select

Welcome to the next pikoTutorial ! The select command in shell scripting provides an easy way to present a list of options to the user and handle their selection. It is particularly useful when you have a predefined set of choices and want the user to pick one. #!/bin/bash # Define menu options options=("Option 1" "Option 2" "Option 3" "Quit") # Prompt user with menu PS3="Select an option: " # Display menu using select loop select choice in "${options[@]}" do case $choice in "Option 1") echo "You chose Option 1" ;; "Option 2") echo "You chose Option 2" ;; "Option 3") echo "You chose Option 3" ;; "Quit") echo "Exiting..." break ;; *) echo "Invalid option! Please select a valid number." ;; esac done When you run that script, you can see that all the options and prompt have been automatically printed out and you can select them in a loop: 1) Option 1 2) Option 2 3) Option 3 4) Quit Select an option: 3 You chose Option 3 Select an option: 1 You chose Option 1 Select an option: 4 Exiting...

May 1, 2025 - 09:48

Simple menus in Bash scripts with select

Welcome to the next pikoTutorial !

The select command in shell scripting provides an easy way to present a list of options to the user and handle their selection. It is particularly useful when you have a predefined set of choices and want the user to pick one.

#!/bin/bash
# Define menu options
options=("Option 1" "Option 2" "Option 3" "Quit")
# Prompt user with menu
PS3="Select an option: "
# Display menu using select loop
select choice in "${options[@]}"
do
    case $choice in
        "Option 1")
            echo "You chose Option 1"
            ;;
        "Option 2")
            echo "You chose Option 2"
            ;;
        "Option 3")
            echo "You chose Option 3"
            ;;
        "Quit")
            echo "Exiting..."
            break
            ;;
        *)
            echo "Invalid option! Please select a valid number."
            ;;
    esac
done

When you run that script, you can see that all the options and prompt have been automatically printed out and you can select them in a loop:

1) Option 1
2) Option 2
3) Option 3
4) Quit
Select an option: 3
You chose Option 3
Select an option: 1
You chose Option 1
Select an option: 4
Exiting...