I have a read_user_input.sh script:

#!/bin/bash



# set -e



prompt="bla? [Y/n] "



while true; do

    read -p "$prompt" -n 1 -s -t 3 reply

    case $reply in

        ""|Y|y) echo "bla!!!"; break;;

        N|n) echo "no bla :( you suck"; break;;

        *) ;;

    esac

done

Works as I expected - i.e.

• User inputs "Y" -> bla


• User inputs "y" -> bla


• User hits Enter -> bla


• Timeout -> bla

However, when adding set -e - the read ends with error > 128.

From read --help:

Exit Status:

The return code is zero, unless end-of-file is encountered, read times out
(in which case it's greater than 128), a variable assignment error occurs,
or an invalid file descriptor is supplied as the argument to -u.

What would be the best way to overcome this?

1. adding || true seems not right, as it would hide any real errors.


2. I also don't want to remove the set -e.


3. One other thing I thought about was handling it in trap but that seems like an overkill