在shell提示符下获取用户输入的最简单和最广泛的方法是read命令。说明其用途的最佳方法是简单的演示：

while true; do
    read -p "Do you wish to install this program? " yn
    case $yn in
        [Yy]* ) make install; break;;
        [Nn]* ) exit;;
        * ) echo "Please answer yes or no.";;
    esac
done

Steven Huwig指出的另一种方法是Bash的select命令。下面是使用select的相同示例：

echo "Do you wish to install this program?"
select yn in "Yes" "No"; do
    case $yn in
        Yes ) make install; break;;
        No ) exit;;
    esac
done

使用select，您不需要清理输入–它会显示可用的选项，并键入与您的选择相对应的数字。它也会自动循环，所以如果它们提供了无效的输入，就不需要使用while true循环来重试。

此外，Léa Gris在她的回答中展示了一种使请求语言不可知的方法。调整我的第一个示例以更好地服务于多种语言可能如下所示：

set -- $(locale LC_MESSAGES)
yesexpr="$1"; noexpr="$2"; yesword="$3"; noword="$4"

while true; do
    read -p "Install (${yesword} / ${noword})? " yn
    if [[ "$yn" =~ $yesexpr ]]; then make install; exit; fi
    if [[ "$yn" =~ $noexpr ]]; then exit; fi
    echo "Answer ${yesword} / ${noword}."
done

显然，其他通信字符串在这里仍然没有翻译（Install，Answer），这需要在更完整的翻译中解决，但在许多情况下，即使是部分翻译也会很有用。

最后，请查看F.Hauri的优秀答案。

echo "Please enter some input: "
read input_variable
echo "You entered: $input_variable"

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?"

...

更通用的是：

function menu(){
    title="Question time"
    prompt="Select:"
    options=("Yes" "No" "Maybe")
    echo "$title"
    PS3="$prompt"
    select opt in "${options[@]}" "Quit/Cancel"; do
        case "$REPLY" in
            1 ) echo "You picked $opt which is option $REPLY";;
            2 ) echo "You picked $opt which is option $REPLY";;
            3 ) echo "You picked $opt which is option $REPLY";;
            $(( ${#options[@]}+1 )) ) clear; echo "Goodbye!"; exit;;
            *) echo "Invalid option. Try another one.";continue;;
         esac
     done
     return
}

您可以在读取时使用默认REPLY，将其转换为小写，并使用表达式与一组变量进行比较。该脚本还支持ja/si/oui

read -rp "Do you want a demo? [y/n/c] "

[[ ${REPLY,,} =~ ^(c|cancel)$ ]] && { echo "Selected Cancel"; exit 1; }

if [[ ${REPLY,,} =~ ^(y|yes|j|ja|s|si|o|oui)$ ]]; then
   echo "Positive"
fi

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