bash select multiple answers at once - bash

Question

I have a flat file called items that I want to populate a select but I want to be able to choose multiple items at one time.
contents of items file:
cat 1
dog 1
pig 1
cherry 2
apple 2
Basic script:
#!/bin/bash
PS3=$'\n\nSelect the animals you like: '
options=$(grep '1' items|grep -v '^#' |awk '{ print $1 }')
select choice in $options
do
echo "you selected: $choice"
done
exit 0
The way it flows now is I can only select one option at at time. I'd like to be able to answer 1,3 or 1 3 and have it respond "you selected: cat pig"
Thank you,
Tazmarine

Answer 1

I can offer a somewhat different approach that uses a different selection prompt style. Here's a bash function that allows user to select multiple options with arrow keys and Space, and confirm with Enter. It has a nice menu-like feel. I wrote it with the help of https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/415155. It can be called like this:
multiselect result "Option 1;Option 2;Option 3" "true;;true"
The result is stored as an array in a variable with the name supplied as the first argument. Last argument is optional and is used for making some options selected by default. It looks like this:
function prompt_for_multiselect {
# little helpers for terminal print control and key input
ESC=$( printf "\033")
cursor_blink_on() { printf "$ESC[?25h"; }
cursor_blink_off() { printf "$ESC[?25l"; }
cursor_to() { printf "$ESC[$1;${2:-1}H"; }
print_inactive() { printf "$2 $1 "; }
print_active() { printf "$2 $ESC[7m $1 $ESC[27m"; }
get_cursor_row() { IFS=';' read -sdR -p $'\E[6n' ROW COL; echo ${ROW#*[}; }
key_input() {
local key
IFS= read -rsn1 key 2>/dev/null >&2
if [[ $key = "" ]]; then echo enter; fi;
if [[ $key = $'\x20' ]]; then echo space; fi;
if [[ $key = $'\x1b' ]]; then
read -rsn2 key
if [[ $key = [A ]]; then echo up; fi;
if [[ $key = [B ]]; then echo down; fi;
fi
}
toggle_option() {
local arr_name=$1
eval "local arr=(\"\${${arr_name}[#]}\")"
local option=$2
if [[ ${arr[option]} == true ]]; then
arr[option]=
else
arr[option]=true
fi
eval $arr_name='("${arr[#]}")'
}
local retval=$1
local options
local defaults
IFS=';' read -r -a options <<< "$2"
if [[ -z $3 ]]; then
defaults=()
else
IFS=';' read -r -a defaults <<< "$3"
fi
local selected=()
for ((i=0; i<${#options[#]}; i++)); do
selected+=("${defaults[i]}")
printf "\n"
done
# determine current screen position for overwriting the options
local lastrow=`get_cursor_row`
local startrow=$(($lastrow - ${#options[#]}))
# ensure cursor and input echoing back on upon a ctrl+c during read -s
trap "cursor_blink_on; stty echo; printf '\n'; exit" 2
cursor_blink_off
local active=0
while true; do
# print options by overwriting the last lines
local idx=0
for option in "${options[#]}"; do
local prefix="[ ]"
if [[ ${selected[idx]} == true ]]; then
prefix="[x]"
fi
cursor_to $(($startrow + $idx))
if [ $idx -eq $active ]; then
print_active "$option" "$prefix"
else
print_inactive "$option" "$prefix"
fi
((idx++))
done
# user key control
case `key_input` in
space) toggle_option selected $active;;
enter) break;;
up) ((active--));
if [ $active -lt 0 ]; then active=$((${#options[#]} - 1)); fi;;
down) ((active++));
if [ $active -ge ${#options[#]} ]; then active=0; fi;;
esac
done
# cursor position back to normal
cursor_to $lastrow
printf "\n"
cursor_blink_on
eval $retval='("${selected[#]}")'
}

Answer 2

You can not do that as such, but you can always record each individual selection:
#!/bin/bash
PS3=$'\n\nSelect the animals you like: '
options=$(grep '1' items|grep -v '^#' |awk '{ print $1 }')
# Array for storing the user's choices
choices=()
select choice in $options Finished
do
# Stop choosing on this option
[[ $choice = Finished ]] && break
# Append the choice to the array
choices+=( "$choice" )
echo "$choice, got it. Any others?"
done
# Write out each choice
printf "You selected the following: "
for choice in "${choices[#]}"
do
printf "%s " "$choice"
done
printf '\n'
exit 0
Here's an example interaction:
$ ./myscript
1) cat
2) dog
3) pig
4) Finished
Select the animals you like: 3
pig, got it. Any others?
Select the animals you like: 1
cat, got it. Any others?
Select the animals you like: 4
You selected the following: pig cat
If you instead want to be able to write 3 1 on the same line, you'll have to make your own menu loop with echo and read

Answer 3

This is what I came up with. This seems to works as I want. I want the final output to be comma separated:
#!/bin/bash
newarray=(all $(grep '1' items|grep -v '^#' |awk '{ print $1 }'))
options() {
num=0
for i in ${newarray[#]}; do
echo "$num) $i"
((num++))
done
}
getanimal() {
while [[ "$show_clean" =~ [A-Za-z] || -z "$show_clean" ]]; do
echo "What animal do you like: "
options
read -p 'Enter number: ' show
echo
show_clean=$(echo $show|sed 's/[,.:;]/ /g')
selected=$(\
for s in $show_clean; do
echo -n "\${newarray[${s}]},"
done)
selected_clean=$(echo $selected|sed 's/,$//')
done
eval echo "You selected $selected_clean"
}
getanimal
exit 0