As I mentioned in my comment on the article, setting $TMOUT if you want a timeout on a 'read' command is unnecessary and unclear. Just use "read -t": read

As I mentioned in my comment on the article, setting $TMOUT if you want a timeout on a 'read' command is unnecessary and unclear. Just use "read -t": read -t 5 foo || foo='No reply' Setting $TMOUT affects all following 'read' commands. Also, setting $TMOUT in an interactive shell sets a timeout for a response to the primary prompt, terminating the shell if the user doesn't respond in time.