read command in zsh throws error

In zsh, running the command read -p 'erasing all directories (y/n) ?' ans, throws the error,

read: -p: no coprocess

But in bash, it prints a prompt. How do I do this in zsh?

Answers:

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Method 1

You can still use read, you just need to print a prompt first. In zsh, -p indicates that input should be read from a coprocess instead of indicating the prompt to use.

You can do the following instead, which is POSIX-compliant:

printf '%s ' 'erase all directories? (y/n)'
read ans

Method 2

or a more zsh-like way

() {
  local compcontext='yn:yes or no:(y n)'
  vared -cp 'erasing all directories (y/n) ? ' ans
}

Which allows completing the answer.

Method 3

Same as in ksh:

read 'ans?erasing all directories (y/n) ?'

Also note that zsh‘s read has the -q for yes/no answers:

if read -q '?erasing all directories (y/n) ?'; then
  rm -rf -- *(D/)
fi

It returns true if your enter yes and doesn’t require you to press Enter.

All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0