Bash If statement with user input

Question

I am trying to create a bash script that will prompt user input asking what vpn tunnel that the user would like to connect to. So, for example.. there is pvn1 and vpn2 so it needs to be something like: I understand that in it's current state it is pseudo code..

read -p "Connect to vpn1 or vpn2? (enter vpn1 or vpn2)"

if vpn1
        then /path/to/vpn/cert
if vpn2
        then /path/to/vpn/cert

I would appreciate some guidence with this as the only thing I can find online are "yes/no" input responses.. but these are usually [if "yes" then do "this" .. if "no or other" than do "nothing or exit"...

This example is too simple for what I need done. I need an exact bash command ran for "vpn1" and another exact bash command for "vpn2"

I appreciate all help :)

Barmar · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-15 02:29:29Z

2

You need to give a variable to the read command, and then compare it.

read -p "Connect to vpn1 or vpn2? (enter vpn1 or vpn2)" vpn
case "$vpn" in
    vpn1) do stuff ;;
    vpn2) do other stuff ;;
    *) echo "Enter vpn1 or vpn2" ;;
esac

Replace do stuff and do other stuff with the actual commands you want to run in each case.

edited Aug 15, 2017 at 2:29

answered Aug 15, 2017 at 0:23

Barmar

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4 Comments

aphexlog Over a year ago

This is the error that I receive upon using this: syntax error near unexpected token `do'

Barmar Over a year ago

Those aren't actual commands, they're just placeholders where you put what you want to do.

aphexlog Over a year ago

Ahh, I was thinking that 'do' was the initialization command.. like "if" "$this" "do" {this command}

Barmar Over a year ago

Yeah, I can see how you might think that, since do is a keyword in for and while.

ssharma · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-15 00:31:15Z

0

Try this out:

read -p "vpn1 or vpn2? (Enter vpn1 or vpn2)" vpn
if [[ $vpn == "vpn1" ]]
   then 
       /path/to/vpn1/cert
elif [[ $vpn == "vpn2" ]]
   then
       /path/to/vpn2/cert
else 
    echo "vpn1 or vpn2 has to be entered in order to continue"
fi

answered Aug 15, 2017 at 0:31

ssharma

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5 Comments

ssharma Over a year ago

Note that I didn't test this out.

Gordon Davisson Over a year ago

Note that [[ ]] and == are bash features that aren't available in all shells, so you should only use them in scripts with shebang lines that specify bash (i.e. #!/bin/bash or #!/usr/bin/env bash). The portable equivalent would be e.g. if [ "$vpn" = vpn1 ]; then.

aphexlog Over a year ago

this only eccepts "vpn" as an answer. I tested it and it only accepts whatever is at the end of this line: read -p "vpn1 or vpn2? (Enter vpn1 or vpn2)" vpn

aphexlog Over a year ago

Otherwise it tells me 'echo "vpn1 or vpn2 has to be entered in order to continue"'

Gordon Davisson Over a year ago

@aphexlog It works for me as written. Make sure you've copied it (or my variant) correctly.

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