Read n lines at a time using Bash

Question

I read the help read page, but still don't quite make sense. Don't know which option to use.

How can I read N lines at a time using Bash?

Answer 1

With Bash≥4 you can use mapfile like so:

while mapfile -t -n 10 ary && ((${#ary[@]})); do
    printf '%s
' "${ary[@]}"
    printf -- '--- SNIP ---
'
done < file

That's to read 10 lines at a time.