NAME

       g.ask  - Prompts the user for the names of GRASS data base files.

KEYWORDS

       general, map management

SYNOPSIS

       g.ask
       g.ask help
       g.ask  type=string   [prompt="string"]   element=string   [desc="string"]   unixfile=string   [--verbose]
       [--quiet]

   Parameters:
       type=string
           The type of query
           Options: old,new,any,mapset

       prompt=
           The prompt to be displayed to the user

       element=string
           The database element to be queried

       desc=
           A short description of the database element

       unixfile=string
           The name of a unix file to store the user's response

DESCRIPTION

       g.ask is designed for shell scripts that need to prompt the user for the name of a data base file in  the
       user's current GRASS location.  After g.ask is invoked with needed parameters, it will query the user for
       a  file  name of the specified type and element.  After the user responds to this query, the program will
       write four lines to the UNIX output file specified by unixfile.

OUTPUT

       Upon receiving the user's response to its request for a  file  name,  g.ask  writes  four  lines  to  the
       specified  unixfile; this output file is placed in the user's current working directory, unless otherwise
       specified, and contains the following lines:
       name='some_name'
       mapset='some_mapset'
       fullname='some_fullname'
       file='some_fullpath'

       The output is /bin/sh commands to set the variable name to the file name specified by the  user  (of  the
       element  and  type requested by g.ask), mapset to the GRASS mapset in which this file resides (or will be
       created), fullname is the name with the mapset embedded in it, and  file  to  the  full  UNIX  path  name
       identifying this file.  These variables may be set in the /bin/sh as follows: . unixfile

       The  .  is a shell command which means read the unixfile and execute the commands found there.  It is NOT
       part of the unixfile name and MUST be followed by a space.

NOTES

       The user may choose to simply hit the return key and  not  enter  a  file  name.   If  this  happens  the
       variables will be set as follows:
       name=
       mapset=
       fullname=
       file=

       The following is a way to test for this case:
       if [ ! "$file" ]
       then
            exit
       fi

SEE ALSO

       d.ask, g.filename, g.findfile, g.gisenv, g.parser

AUTHOR

       Michael Shapiro, U.S.Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory

       Last changed: $Date: 2011-11-08 03:29:50 -0800 (Tue, 08 Nov 2011) $

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       © 2003-2013 GRASS Development Team

GRASS 6.4.3                                                                                        g.ask(1grass)