fill variable from bash menu - bash

Question

Here is a pretty straight forward menu:
VAR=""
PS3='Make a selection: '
options=("opt 1" "opt 2" "opt 3" "Quit")
select opt in "${options[#]}"
do
case $opt in
"opt 1")
echo "opt 1 selected"
;;
"opt 2")
echo "opt 2 selected"
;;
"opt 3")
echo "opt 3 selected"
;;
"Quit")
break
;;
*) echo "invalid option $REPLY";;
esac
done
I would like for each option to add the following:
for instance if "opt 1" is selected:
[[ $(VAR) ]] && VAR="${VAR}\|123" || VAR=123
for "opt 2", 456
for "opt 3", 789
At the end, we should have:
VAR=123\|789 if "opt 1" and "opt 3" have been choosen
or
VAR=789 if only "opt 3" have been choosen.
The issue I am facing with is that my syntax to populate VAR does not work: VAR stays empty after having exited menu.
Thanx folks!

Answer 1

Following your approach.
You are missing to export the variable VAR in order to be available once the script has been executed.
VAR=""
PS3='Make a selection: '
options=("opt 1" "opt 2" "opt 3" "Quit")
select opt in "${options[#]}"
do
case $opt in
"opt 1")
echo "opt 1 selected"
VAR="${VAR}\|123"
;;
"opt 2")
echo "opt 2 selected"
VAR="${VAR}\|456"
;;
"opt 3")
echo "opt 3 selected"
VAR="${VAR}\|789"
;;
"Quit")
break
;;
*) echo "invalid option $REPLY"
echo $VAR ;;
esac
done
export VAR
However, export only applies to child-processes. As workaround, you can execute the script as . test.sh
Example of output:
[10:08:18][/]# . test.sh
1) opt 1
2) opt 2
3) opt 3
4) Quit
Make a selection: 1
opt 1 selected
Make a selection: 2
opt 2 selected
Make a selection: 4
[10:08:18][/]#echo $VAR
\|123\|456
You can modify the way to assign the value of the variable for having the desired output.
By adding the dot as way of execution, you are sourcing the variable. More information here: Export variable from bash

Answer 2

Hope this helps you a little. It's less programming than with a case in it.
#! /bin/bash
VAR=""
# Declare options and values for options
declare -A OPTIONS
OPTIONS[opt 1]="123"
OPTIONS[opt 2]="456"
OPTIONS[opt 3]="789"
echo "Options: ${!OPTIONS[#]}"
while read -r -p "Make a selection: " opt; do
# If opt becomes quit or Quit, break from loop.
! [[ $opt =~ (Q|q)uit ]] || break
if [[ ${OPTIONS[$opt]}x == "x" ]]; then
echo "$opt unknown"
else
VAR+=${OPTIONS[$opt]}
fi
done
echo $VAR
exit 0