inquire ()  {
  echo  -n "$1 [y/n]? "
  read answer
  finish="-1"
  while [ "$finish" = '-1' ]
  do
    finish="1"
    if [ "$answer" = '' ];
    then
      answer=""
    else
      case $answer in
        y | Y | yes | YES ) answer="y";;
        n | N | no | NO ) answer="n";;
        *) finish="-1";
           echo -n 'Invalid response -- please reenter:';
           read answer;;
       esac
    fi
  done
}

... other stuff

inquire "Install now?"

...

多选版本：

ask () {                        # $1=question $2=options
    # set REPLY
    # options: x=..|y=..
    while $(true); do
        printf '%s [%s] ' "$1" "$2"
        stty cbreak
        REPLY=$(dd if=/dev/tty bs=1 count=1 2> /dev/null)
        stty -cbreak
        test "$REPLY" != "$(printf '\n')" && printf '\n'
        (
            IFS='|'
            for o in $2; do
                if [ "$REPLY" = "${o%%=*}" ]; then
                    printf '\n'
                    break
                fi
            done
        ) | grep ^ > /dev/null && return
    done
}

例子：

$ ask 'continue?' 'y=yes|n=no|m=maybe'
continue? [y=yes|n=no|m=maybe] g
continue? [y=yes|n=no|m=maybe] k
continue? [y=yes|n=no|m=maybe] y
$

它会将REPLY设置为y（在脚本中）。

此解决方案读取单个字符，并在yes响应时调用函数。

read -p "Are you sure? (y/n) " -n 1
echo
if [[ $REPLY =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
    do_something      
fi

我建议你使用对话框。。。

Linux学徒：使用对话框改进Bash Shell脚本对话框命令允许在shell脚本中使用窗口框，以使其使用更具交互性。

它简单易用，还有一个名为gdialog的gnome版本，它采用了完全相同的参数，但在X上显示了GUI风格。

read -p "Are you alright? (y/n) " RESP
if [ "$RESP" = "y" ]; then
  echo "Glad to hear it"
else
  echo "You need more bash programming"
fi

一个衬垫：

read -p "Continue? [Enter] → Yes, [Ctrl]+[C] → No."

这假设“否”和“取消”具有相同的结果，因此没有理由区别对待它们。