AIX Tip of the Week: Using the Korn Shell select to Create Selection Menu's

Audience: AIX Administrators and End Users

Date: May 11, 2000

The Korn shell select command can be used to create a selection menu. To illustrate, the attached shell script generates the following selection menu for a hypothetical operator console:

XYZ Operator Console

1) SystemBackup 
2) ListActiveUsers
3) ManageDatabase
4) MonitorPerformance
5) Quit

Choose a number:

Korn Shell Script that Creates Above Menu

#!/usr/bin/ksh
# Shell script to illustrate the use of
# the Korn shell "select" command
# to create selection menus
# B.Spencer 5/11/00

echo "XYZ Operator Console"
echo

# PS3 is an environment variable
# that sets the menu prompt
PS3="Choose a number: "

# The select command creates the menu
select CHOICE in SystemBackup ListActiveUsers ManageDatabase MonitorPerformance Quit
do
  case $CHOICE in
        SystemBackup)  mksysb -i /dev/rmt0;;
     ListActiveUsers)  who;;
      ManageDatabase)  svrmgr;;
  MonitorPerformance)  topas;;
                Quit)  exit;;
                   *)  echo "\nInvalid Choice\n";;
  esac
done