Goal: less the contents (from a variable) and then ask the user whether the contents should be saved to a file (i.e., .recovered_object) only after the user quits out of less.
The excerpt from my script is reproduced below:
...
# Show each blob until one is chosen
counter=1
while IFS='' read sha; do
printf "Showing blob %d of %d" "$counter" "$BLOB_COUNT"
contents=$(git show ${sha})
${PAGER:-less} ${contents}
if read -q '?Save and quit (y/n) ?'; then
echo "$contents" > .recovered_object
exit 0
else
((counter++))
fi
done <<< ${DANGLING_BLOBS_SHA}
exit 0
As it stands now, any keypress (other than y) skips to the next file...but this precludes the user from scrolling up (k) or down (j) or using less's other keymappings!
How do I prevent the if block from immediately running?
PS: I'm pretty new to shell scripting in general, so any pointers are welcome.
PSS: I am using zsh, but am not opposed to switching to bash if that's more conducive to achieving the desired UX.
lessexpects a filename as an argument, not a bunch of data (also, the variable isn't quoted, so it'll go through word splitting and wildcard expansion anyway). Since input to the loop is redirected (with<<<),readis going to read from that instead of the terminal. Also,echo ... > .recovered_objectwill overwrite any previous contents, so you'll only get the last saved blob (the previous ones have been overwritten)..recovered_object. Thanks for catching the quotation issue.