This is an extract from the bash manual obtained by typing 'man bash'.


BASH(1) 							       BASH(1)

       read [-ers] [-u fd] [-t timeout] [-a aname] [-p prompt] [-n nchars] [-d
       delim] [name ...]
	      One  line  is  read  from  the  standard input, or from the file
	      descriptor fd supplied as an argument to the -u option, and  the
	      first word is assigned to the first name, the second word to the
	      second name, and so on, with leftover words and their  interven
	      ing  separators  assigned  to the last name.  If there are fewer
	      words read from the input stream than names, the remaining names
	      are  assigned  empty  values.  The characters in IFS are used to
	      split the line into words.  The backslash character (\)  may  be
	      used  to	remove any special meaning for the next character read
	      and for line continuation.  Options, if supplied, have the  fol
	      lowing meanings:
	      -a aname
		     The words are assigned to sequential indices of the array
		     variable aname, starting at 0.  aname is unset before any
		     new  values  are  assigned.   Other  name	arguments  are
		     ignored.
	      -d delim
		     The first character of delim is  used  to	terminate  the
		     input line, rather than newline.
	      -e     If the standard input is coming from a terminal, readline
		     (see READLINE above) is used to obtain the line.
	      -n nchars
		     read returns after reading nchars characters rather  than
		     waiting for a complete line of input.
	      -p prompt
		     Display prompt on standard error, without a trailing new
		     line, before attempting to read any input.  The prompt is
		     displayed only if input is coming from a terminal.
	      -r     Backslash does not act as an escape character.  The back
		     slash is considered to be part of the line.  In  particu
		     lar,  a  backslash-newline pair may not be used as a line
		     continuation.
	      -s     Silent mode.  If input is coming from a terminal, charac
		     ters are not echoed.
	      -t timeout
		     Cause  read  to time out and return failure if a complete
		     line of input is not read within timeout  seconds.   This
		     option  has  no  effect if read is not reading input from
		     the terminal or a pipe.
	      -u fd  Read input from file descriptor fd.

	      If no names are supplied, the line read is assigned to the vari
	      able  REPLY.   The  return  code	is zero, unless end-of-file is
	      encountered, read times out, or an invalid  file	descriptor  is
	      supplied as the argument to -u.