Question

I have a script that checks if a file exists or not using the ls command. If there is not a file I ask the user if he would like to continue with the script.

What I am finding is that the read command excepts input from the terminal instead of the keyboard?

Here is my script:

function isfileThere(){
  output=$(ls ${1}  2>&1 >/dev/null)
  case $output in
    *"No such file or directory"*) 
      echo "DS not found: $output";
      option_exitprog; $output >> DSNotFound.txt ;;
    *) echo "DS found: $output";;
  esac
}

function option_exitprog(){
  while :
    do
    echo -n "Would you like to continue (y/n)?"
    read Answer
    #read -n1 -p "Would you like to continue (y/n)?"   Answer                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

    if [ ! -z "$Answer" ] ; then
        if [ "$Answer" == "y" ] ; then
            echo "Exiting script. Goodbye"
            exit 1
        elif [ "$Answer" == "n" ] ; then
            echo "Continue With Program"
            break
        else
            echo "We only accept (y/n)"
        fi
    else
        echo "You have entered a null string. We only accept (y/n)"
    fi
  done
}

function get_TotalEventEntries(){

cat<<EOF                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

####################################                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
#                                  #                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
#                                  #                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
#        get Total Entries         #                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
#                                  #                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
#                                  #                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
####################################                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

EOF                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

  while read LINE
    do
    let total_DSNumber=total_DSNumber+1

    #Check if files exist                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
    isfileThere ${FileDir}/*${LINE}*/*.root*

    #print to file                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
    #printf "${LINE}="  >> ${Filename}                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
    #getEntries ${LINE} >> ${Filename}                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
  done < ${DSWildCardFile}

  echo "Finished running over $total_DSNumber file(s)"
}

get_TotalEventEntries

Answer 1

The problem is at this line: done < ${DSWildCardFile}. You cannot read lines from this file and read user at the same time with read and simple redirection . To fix it, use more complex redirection and a new file descriptor:

while read -u 3 LINE
do
  ...
done 3< ${DSWildCardFile}