.\" Copyright (c) 1980 Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.  The Berkeley software License Agreement
.\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution.
.\"
.\"	@(#)gets.1	4.1 (Berkeley) 4/29/85
.\"
.TH GETS 1 "4/1/81"
.UC 4
.SH NAME
gets \- get a string from standard input
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B gets
[ default ]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B N.B.:
This command was introduced for use in \fI.login\fR scripts when the facilities
of the 
.IR tset (1)
command were not totally adequate in setting the terminal type.
This is no longer true, and
.I gets
should no longer be needed.
To boot, a construct ``$<'' is available in
.IR csh (1)
now which has the functionality of
.IR gets:
.IP
\fBset a=$<\fR
.br
\fBif ($a == '') set a=default
.LP
replaces
.IP
\fBset a=`gets default`\fR
.LP
Users of
.IR sh (1)
should use its
.I read
command rather than
.I gets.
.PP
.I Gets
can be used with
.IR csh (1)
to read a string from the standard input.
If a
.I default
is given it is used if just return is typed, or if an error occurs.
The resultant string (either the default or as read from the standard
input is written to the standard output.
If no
.I default
is given and an error occurs,
.I gets
exits with exit status 1.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
csh (1)
.SH BUGS
.I Gets
is obsolete.