The bash 'read' command is still not the best way to get an accurate
copy of a line from a text file.  Even if you use the -r (raw) option,
leading space on input lines is lost.  This is really a case where you
want to use something other than the shell builtins.

I missed the original post, I'm afraid, so I'll go back and dig it up
to see what the OP was trying to accomplish...