/usr/share/zsh/5.5.1/help
Edit: /usr/share/zsh/5.5.1/help/read (5814B)
read [ -rszpqAclneE ] [ -t [ num ] ] [ -k [ num ] ] [ -d delim ]
[ -u n ] [ name[?prompt] ] [ name ... ]
Read one line and break it into fields using the characters in
$IFS as separators, except as noted below. The first field is
assigned to the first name, the second field to the second name,
etc., with leftover fields assigned to the last name. If name
is omitted then REPLY is used for scalars and reply for arrays.
-r Raw mode: a `\' at the end of a line does not signify
line continuation and backslashes in the line don't quote
the following character and are not removed.
-s Don't echo back characters if reading from the terminal.
-q Read only one character from the terminal and set name to
`y' if this character was `y' or `Y' and to `n' other-
wise. With this flag set the return status is zero only
if the character was `y' or `Y'. This option may be used
with a timeout (see -t); if the read times out, or
encounters end of file, status 2 is returned. Input is
read from the terminal unless one of -u or -p is present.
This option may also be used within zle widgets.
-k [ num ]
Read only one (or num) characters. All are assigned to
the first name, without word splitting. This flag is
ignored when -q is present. Input is read from the ter-
minal unless one of -u or -p is present. This option may
also be used within zle widgets.
Note that despite the mnemonic `key' this option does
read full characters, which may consist of multiple bytes
if the option MULTIBYTE is set.
-z Read one entry from the editor buffer stack and assign it
to the first name, without word splitting. Text is
pushed onto the stack with `print -z' or with push-line
from the line editor (see zshzle(1)). This flag is
ignored when the -k or -q flags are present.
-e
-E The input read is printed (echoed) to the standard out-
put. If the -e flag is used, no input is assigned to the
parameters.
-A The first name is taken as the name of an array and all
words are assigned to it.
-c
-l These flags are allowed only if called inside a function
used for completion (specified with the -K flag to com-
pctl). If the -c flag is given, the words of the current
command are read. If the -l flag is given, the whole line
is assigned as a scalar. If both flags are present, -l
is used and -c is ignored.
-n Together with -c, the number of the word the cursor is on
is read. With -l, the index of the character the cursor
is on is read. Note that the command name is word number
1, not word 0, and that when the cursor is at the end of
the line, its character index is the length of the line
plus one.
-u n Input is read from file descriptor n.
-p Input is read from the coprocess.
-d delim
Input is terminated by the first character of delim
instead of by newline.
-t [ num ]
Test if input is available before attempting to read. If
num is present, it must begin with a digit and will be
evaluated to give a number of seconds, which may be a
floating point number; in this case the read times out if
input is not available within this time. If num is not
present, it is taken to be zero, so that read returns
immediately if no input is available. If no input is
available, return status 1 and do not set any variables.
This option is not available when reading from the editor
buffer with -z, when called from within completion with
-c or -l, with -q which clears the input queue before
reading, or within zle where other mechanisms should be
used to test for input.
Note that read does not attempt to alter the input pro-
cessing mode. The default mode is canonical input, in
which an entire line is read at a time, so usually `read
-t' will not read anything until an entire line has been
typed. However, when reading from the terminal with -k
input is processed one key at a time; in this case, only
availability of the first character is tested, so that
e.g. `read -t -k 2' can still block on the second charac-
ter. Use two instances of `read -t -k' if this is not
what is wanted.
If the first argument contains a `?', the remainder of this word
is used as a prompt on standard error when the shell is interac-
tive.
The value (exit status) of read is 1 when an end-of-file is
encountered, or when -c or -l is present and the command is not
called from a compctl function, or as described for -q. Other-
wise the value is 0.
The behavior of some combinations of the -k, -p, -q, -u and -z
flags is undefined. Presently -q cancels all the others, -p
cancels -u, -k cancels -z, and otherwise -z cancels both -p and
-u.
The -c or -l flags cancel any and all of -kpquz.