NAME

line − Reads one line from standard input

SYNOPSIS

line

STANDARDS

Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows:

line:  XPG4, XPG4-UNIX

Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags. 

OPTIONS

None

DESCRIPTION

The line command copies one line, up to and including a newline, from standard input and writes it to standard output.  Use this command within a shell command file to read from your terminal.  The line command always writes at least a newline character. 

NOTES

The line utility has no internationalization features and is considered obsolete and will be withdrawn in a future version. Use the read utility instead. 

EXIT STATUS

0 (zero)
Success.

1End-of-File. 

EXAMPLES

To read a line from the keyboard and append it to a file, enter:

echo ’Enter comments for the log:’
echo ’: \c’
line >>log

This shell procedure displays the message:

Enter comments for the log:

It then reads a line of text from the keyboard and adds it to the end of the file log.  The echo ’: \c’ command displays a : (colon) prompt.  See the echo command for information about the \c escape sequence. 

SEE ALSO

Commands:  echo(1), ksh(1), read(1), Bourne shell sh(1b), POSIX shell sh(1p)

Functions:  read(2)

Standards:  standards(5)