bash select command

Question

I'm trying to run a script that uses the select command and I get error below. I'm running the most recent version of ubuntu. Why does it say the commands are not found?

#!/bin/bash
# Scriptname: runit
PS3= "Select a program to execute: "
select program in 'ls -F' pwd date cal exit
do
  $program
done

This is the output:

runit.sh: 3: Select a program to execute: : not found
runit.sh: 4: select: not found
runit.sh: 5: Syntax error: "do" unexpected

John Kugelman · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-30 00:11:57Z

1

Delete the space after the equal sign:

PS3= "Select a program to execute: "
    ^

answered Oct 30, 2011 at 0:11

John Kugelman

365k70 gold badges555 silver badges600 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

user637965 Over a year ago

Thanks, but now I'm getting: runit.sh: 4: select: not found runit.sh: 5: Syntax error: "do" unexpected Could this be because of what version of bash I have? It says I have GNU bash, version 4.2.8(1)-release (i686-pc-linux-gnu)

starrify Over a year ago

@sq1020 It works fine on my laptop with PS3="Select a program to execute: " and GNU bash, version 4.2.10(2)-release (x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu)

Prince John Wesley Over a year ago

@sq1020: make sure that there is no typo or uppercase in the word select

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

bash select command

This is the output:

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

This is the output:

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related