Bash script doesn't read input

Question

I have a script that is suppose to run a command in the background, and it does that. The problem is that when the script comes upon a read command, it doesn't pause and accept input. Here it is:

printf "Where is yo music?: "
read musicPath

cd $musicPath
ls | while read currentSong;do
  seconds=`mdls "$currentSong"|sed -n '20p'|awk '{print $3}'|cut -d. -f1`
  hours=$((seconds / 3600))
  seconds=$((seconds % 3600))
  minutes=$((seconds / 60))
  seconds=$((seconds % 60))
  echo "Song: $currentSong"
  echo "Length: $hours:$minutes:$seconds"
  afplay "$currentSong"&
  printf "yes (y), no (n), or maybe (m): "
  read choice
  case $choice in
    y)
      mkdir ../Yes
      mv "$currentSong" ../Yes
    ;;
    n)
      mkdir ../No
      mv "$currentSong" ../No
    ;;
    m)
      mkdir ../Maybe
      mv "$currentSong" ../
    ;;
    *)
      echo "Invalid option! Continuing..."
    ;;
  esac
  kill $!
done

Answer 1

There are numerous issues with that script, but the one thats causing your specific issue is because you're reading from a pipe (the output of ls).

1. Don't parse ls

Use this instead

for currentSong in *; do
  ...
done

Aside from the numerous reasons you shouldnt parse ls, the issue you're seeing is because STDIN is connected to the output of ls. So when you issue a read, it can't read from the terminal because STDIN isn't connected to the terminal.

2. Use more quotes

You've got a fair amount of quotes spread around, but still missing some. Mainly just on the cd.

cd "$musicPath"

also

case "$choice"

3. Don't use backticks

Using backticks is ok sometimes. I frequently use them on the command line as it faster to type than $(). But for scripting, it's good practice to use $() instead.

seconds="$(mdls "$currentSong"|sed -n '20p'|awk '{print $3}'|cut -d. -f1)"

4. mkdir

Your mkdir will generate an (harmless but noisy) error if the directories already exist. Add a -p in there which will cause the mkdir to silently do nothing if it already exists

mkdir -p ../Yes

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Yes, there are a lot of pitfalls with bash. Not trying to be harsh, just trying to break bad habits.
Have fun :-)