[dywang@dywmac ~]$ cd zzz [dywang@dywmac zzz]$ read var 123456 [dywang@dywmac zzz]$ echo $var 123456
[dywang@dywmac zzz]$ read -p 'keyin a number: ' var keyin a number: 2100 [dywang@dywmac zzz]$ echo $var 2100
[dywang@dywmac zzz]$ read -p 'keyin a number: ' -t 3 var keyin a number: [dywang@dywmac zzz]$ echo $var