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synthead

Member

Registered: 2006-05-09

Posts: 1,337

read: color prompt?

How do I get a read prompt in color?  Escape sequences seem to fail here.

read -p "Type something: "

synthead

Member

Registered: 2006-05-09

Posts: 1,337

Re: read: color prompt?

Oh, I can't use echo beforehand here because I'm trying to get a command history going.  When I send up/down keys, it erases the prompt.

#!/bin/bash

HISTORYFILE=".buildpkgs_history"
BUILDPKGEXEC="./buildpkg"

ext () {
 history -w $HISTORYFILE
 exit
}

trap ext SIGINT
history -r $HISTORYFILE

for (( ; ; ))
do
 #echo -ne '\E[36;40m'"==> "; tput sgr0; echo -n "Which package to build? "
 read -ep "Which package to build? " pkgtobuild; history -s $pkgtobuild
 $BUILDPKGEXEC $pkgtobuild
done

bcat

Member

From: New York, NY, USA

Registered: 2009-01-02

Posts: 30

Website

Re: read: color prompt?

I'm away from a shell right now, but I think this might work.

#!/bin/bash

HISTORYFILE=".buildpkgs_history"
BUILDPKGEXEC="./buildpkg"

ext () {
 history -w $HISTORYFILE
 exit
}

trap ext SIGINT
history -r $HISTORYFILE

prompt=$(tput setaf 6; echo -n '==> '; tput sgr0; echo -n 'Which package to build? ')

for (( ; ; ))
do
 read -ep "$prompt" pkgtobuild; history -s $pkgtobuild
 $BUILDPKGEXEC $pkgtobuild
done

Basically, just cache your prompt and the necessary escape sequences in a variable, then pass that to the read builtin.

Last edited by bcat (2010-06-29 16:37:38)

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Running Arch on a Dell Studio 1735. xmonad FTW! Dotfiles here.
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evil

Member

From: Indianapolis, IN

Registered: 2010-03-06

Posts: 41

Website

Re: read: color prompt?

I'm away from a shell right now, but I think this might work.

#!/bin/bash

HISTORYFILE=".buildpkgs_history"
BUILDPKGEXEC="./buildpkg"

ext () {
 history -w $HISTORYFILE
 exit
}

trap ext SIGINT
history -r $HISTORYFILE

prompt=$(tput setaf 6; echo -n '==> '; tput sgr0; echo -n 'Which package to build? ')

for (( ; ; ))
do
 read -ep "$prompt" pkgtobuild; history -s $pkgtobuild
 $BUILDPKGEXEC $pkgtobuild
done

Basically, just cache your prompt and the necessary escape sequences in a variable, then pass that to the read builtin.

I tested it and it works.

---

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bcat

Member

From: New York, NY, USA

Registered: 2009-01-02

Posts: 30

Website

Re: read: color prompt?

Cool!

---

Running Arch on a Dell Studio 1735. xmonad FTW! Dotfiles here.
Want free cloud-based file sharing? Sign up for Dropbox and we both get some bonus storage!

synthead

Member

Registered: 2006-05-09

Posts: 1,337

Re: read: color prompt?

Yeeeah!  Thanks!