Zsh Read Command Error – How to Fix Read Command Error in Zsh

readzsh

In zsh, running the command read -p 'erasing all directories (y/n) ?' ans, throws the error,

read: -p: no coprocess

But in bash, it prints a prompt. How do I do this in zsh?

Best Answer

You can still use read, you just need to print a prompt first. In zsh, -p indicates that input should be read from a coprocess instead of indicating the prompt to use.

You can do the following instead, which is POSIX-compliant:

printf '%s ' 'erase all directories? (y/n)'
read ans

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Zsh – How to Intercept ‘Command Not Found’ Error in Zsh

There is; it's the same as in bash, you make a function named command_not_found_handler. It'll be passed all the arguments that were given in the shell

$ foobar baz
zsh: command not found: foobar
$ function command_not_found_handler() {echo "You tried to run $1 with arg $2";}
$ foobar baz
You tried to run foobar with arg baz

What’s the zsh way to read n characters from stdin

It's a bit weird, but it is documented:

-k [num]

(…) Input is read from the terminal unless one of -u or -p is present.

The reason your first attempt hangs there is that it's reading from the terminal. Typing three characters on the terminal does unblock it. To read from standard input when you're asking for a limited number of characters rather than a whole line (with -k or -q), you need to pass -u 0 explicitly.

echo foobar | ( read -u 0 -k 3; echo $REPLY )

Best Answer

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Zsh – How to Intercept ‘Command Not Found’ Error in Zsh

What’s the zsh way to read n characters from stdin

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