my program is as follows echo -n "Enter SSN or q to quit:\c" read SSN while [ $SSN != q ] do # find the record grep $SSN personal # filename personal if [ $? -ne 0 ] then echo "Record does not exist" else #Allow the user to make changes #read does not read fieild ssn ln fn grep $SSN personal |tr ':' ' '|read ssn ln fn old_ssn=$SSN #provide menu to make changes echo "what ( s-ssn, l-ln, f-fn, q - quit):\c" read answer while [ $answer != q ] do case $answer in s) echo "Enter SSN:\c" read ssn ;; l) echo "Enter ln:\c" read ln ;; f) echo " Enter fn:\c" read fn ;; *) echo "not supported choice" ;; esac echo $SSN:$ln:$fn echo " what ( s - ssn, l - ln, f - fn , q -quit ):\c" read answer done #remove old record grep -v $old_ssn personal > temp mv temp personal # insert new one echo $ssn:$ln:$fn >> personal fi echo "Enter ssn or q to quit:\c" read ssn done # the problem with the script is that it does not allow me to make changes to the old ssn instead it prompts maybe my read mode is not working.......... please help me i am using mandrake 7.0 and am a newbeeeeeeee.