#!/usr/bin/env bash declare uname declare -i cnt=0 declare -a vNames echo "Hello there!" echo -e "If you feel like you don't wanna talk to me anymore, just hit the \"Enter\" key." uname="test" while [[ ! -z "${uname}" ]]; do read -p "What's your name? " uname if [[ ! -z "${uname}" ]]; then vNames[++cnt]="${uname}" echo "Nice to meet you, ${vNames[${cnt}]}!" else echo "You want to no longer talk to me. Well, good riddance to bad rubbish!" fi done echo -n "I've gotten to know " case ${#vNames[@]} in 0) echo -n "nobody" ;; 1) echo -n "only one person" ;; *) echo -n "${#vNames[@]} persons" ;; esac echo " until now."