Create bash script menu with labels

January 3, 2022

I would like to create a bash script so I can select a server I can connect to using mosh.
Currently I have this small script that shows me the username and ip of the server.
Its difficult to remember what server does what so I would like to add some remark to the ip.

How could I modify it in such way that it also shows me a label or remark to the menu entry so its easier for me to identify the server.

Currently it looks like this:

#!/bin/bash

PS3='Pick a server (or ctrl-c to quit): '
select item in \
"username@someip" \
"username@someip" \
"username@someip" \
"username@someip" \
"username@someip" \
"username@someip"
do
               mosh $item
exit 0
done

which creates the following menu:

1) username@someip  3) username@someip  5) username@someip
2) username@someip  4) username@someip  6) username@someip

how could I modify this script so it creates the following menu:

1) username@someip (some remark) 3) username@someip (some remark)   5) username@someip (some remark)
2) username@someip (some remark) 4) username@someip (some remark)   6) username@someip (some remark)

Thank you!

>Solution :

Learn (Parameter Expansion Rules)[https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Shell-Parameter-Expansion.html]

#!/bin/bash
PS3='Pick a server (or ctrl-c to quit): '
select item in "u1@ip1 (foo)" "u1@ip2 (bar)" "u2@ip1 (baz)" "u2@ip2 (foo bar)" 
do mosh "${item%% *}" # strips the unwanted part
done