title: IFS and bash code to read enter pressed by the user
body: <p>Is there something wrong with this code</p>
  
  <pre><code>IFS=''
  for i in `seq 1 20`; do
          sleep 1
          echo $((20-$i)) seconds till abort ... 
  done
  
  variable="dummy"
  read -p "Enter to continue" -t 1 -N 1 variable
  echo -e "\n"
  while [ "$variable" != $'\x0a' ] 
  do
  read -p "Enter to continue" -t 1 -N 1 variable
  echo -e "\n" 
  done
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The error is 20: syntax error in expression (error token is "2</p>
  
  <p>If I remove the IFS='' then the countdown works fine, but then the part with "enter to continue" fails.</p>
  
  <p>Is it advisable to put IFS='', coz I have seen that this variable is a delimiter for word boundaries?</p>