How to ask for user input and amend shell script?

Question

I am creating a Loop that will let me rsync files from a variable directory one level above and then bzip those files at every level, infinitely until I press CTRL+C. So far this is what I have for the shell script:

while :

do

        rsync -av ../gene/ .
        bzip2 -kv */*/*/*/*/*/*/*
        bzip2 -kv */*/*/*/*/*/*
        bzip2 -kv */*/*/*/*/*
        bzip2 -kv */*/*/*/*
        bzip2 -kv */*/*/*
        bzip2 -kv */*/*
        bzip2 -kv */*
        echo "Press [CTRL+C] to stop.."
        sleep 1
done

What I would like to have happen is it ask for the directory that it should rsync from. The directory is not always gene and is variable, so user input is a must. Any help with this and possibly cleaning the script up is much appreciated.

Answer 1

You could do this:

#!/bin/bash

myFolder=$1;

echo "Working on "$myFolder;

while :

do

        rsync -av $myFolder .
        bzip2 -kv */*/*/*/*/*/*/*
        bzip2 -kv */*/*/*/*/*/*
        bzip2 -kv */*/*/*/*/*
        bzip2 -kv */*/*/*/*
        bzip2 -kv */*/*/*
        bzip2 -kv */*/*
        bzip2 -kv */*
        echo "Press [CTRL+C] to stop.."
        sleep 1
done

save with the name someprogram.sh and excute (if you are there)

bash ./someprogram.sh someFolder