This tech-recipe contains basic information on how to create text- based menus for kornshell scripts in VI. My experience is with IBM AIX 4.x.
To begin, create a new file (for example, test.ksh) by typing the following: vi test.ksh
The file test.ksh will be created and opened in VI.
In this file, we will add the following lines (An explanation is given below.):
________
clear
print “TEST Script MENU”
PS3=”Test Menu, enter choice:”
select clean_menu in “View script” “Edit script” “Print script” “Exit”
do
case $clean_menu in
“View script”)
pg test.ksh;;
“Edit script”)
vi test.ksh;;
“Print Report”)
lp test.ksh;;
“Exit”) break ;;
esac
done
_____
When run, the lines above will look like the following:
TEST Script MENU
1) View script
2) Edit script
3) Print script
4) Exit
Test Menu, enter choice:
This is a basic menu-driven script.
_____
PS3= :
This is what will be shown at the bottom. I usually have the name of the script. (in my example, Test Menu, enter choice:)
select case_menu … :
This can be whatever you choose it to be. Be sure you reference the same name in the: case $clean_menu in
The options after the select case_menu :
These are the menu options that will be seen. You need to have these match up with the references to them in the latter part of the script.
Always close each command with the following: ;; (Notice you need 2.)
In the beginning, start with a simple script and learn how that works. Then, once you get the basics, you can start creating submenus or have menu options that will call other scripts or menus, You could even have your script call functions you create within the script.
