I'm trying to create a command menu. Using a loop, i want the program to continue to execute until the user selects option 4 (exit). Im very frustrated at this point, and cannot figure how to loop it on my own. I would appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction.

heres what i have so far. Keep in mind i am a newbie to linux and im learning on my own. Now i'm not sure where to place the loop and what kind, i've tried many things, i've given up. I'm using VI.
"
!#/bin/bash
echo "Enter your name: "
read name
echo "Menu for $name"

echo "1. Display a long listing of the current directory"
echo "2. Display who is logged on the system"
echo "3. Display the current date and time"
echo "4. Quit"
echo "Enter an option: "
read answer
echo

case $answer in
1) ls -a;;
2) who;;
3) date;;
4) break;;
esac
"

you would want a while loop. this page looks like it will be a good reference: http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-G...ect_09_02.html

ie, you will loop "while" your input variable is not equal to "4" (or whatever your exit input number corresponds to)

by the way, it is good that you included your code in your post (however even better if you use the CODE tags!). if you had not (and had not specified which scripting language, or even compiled language ie C for that matter), then your first response you would get would likely be "what language". the reason for this is that there are hundreds (if not thousands) of programming languages, and all support different constructs (ie while loop) and will have different syntax.

I've implemented the while loop, how do i tell the loop to only loop once, and then let the user select another option? Right now, it's just continuously looping through the user selected option.

!#/bin/bash
echo "Enter your name: "
read name
echo "Menu for $name"

echo "1. Display a long listing of the current directory"
echo "2. Display who is logged on the system"
echo "3. Display the current date and time"
echo "4. Quit"
echo "Enter an option: "
read answer
echo
while [ $answer -ne 4 ]
do
case $answer in
1) ls -a;;
2) who;;
3) date;;
4) break;;
esac
done

I figured it out. I used the 'until' loop instead. Thanks for the help, nadroj!!! I'm sure ill be back.