Hello, I want to accept user input variable in the middle of the page or any specified location not at the starting of the line using read command. If I use read command I have to enter the input a the beginning of the next line. Any type of help is welcome. Thanks in advance. Regards Swapan

Just use newline metacharacters after the question you want answered: #! /bin/sh echo "Enter something:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n" read ANSWER ....do stuff... -jim

I would recommend using tput For example #!/bin/ksh echo "what is your name" tput cup 10 10 ; read myname This would ask, what is your name, then 10 lines down and 10 lines over you would be entering in your response. Its very flexible so you can basically have the user enter in their input anywhere. Play around with it.