#!/bin/bash
USR=
PSW=
read_psw()
{
cat passwords.tab | while read LINE; do
   USR=`echo "${LINE}" | awk '-F\t' '{print $2}'`
   echo "\$USR in read_psw: $USR"
   PSW=`echo "${LINE}" | awk '-F\t' '{print $3}'`
   echo "\$PSW in read_psw: $PSW"
done
}

init()
{
read_psw
echo "\$USR in init: $USR"
echo "\$PSW in init: $PSW"
}

init

exit  0 

oracle@eras:~/bin$ ./test.sh
$USR in read_psw: USER01
$PSW in read_psw: PASSWORD01
$USR in init: 
$PSW in init:

#!/bin/bash
USR=
PSW=
read_psw()
{
#cat passwords.tab | while read LINE; do
for LINE in "`cat passwords.tab`"; do
   USR=`echo "${LINE}" | awk '-F\t' '{print $2}'`
   echo "\$USR in read_psw: $USR"
   PSW=`echo "${LINE}" | awk '-F\t' '{print $3}'`
   echo "\$PSW in read_psw: $PSW"
done
}

init()
{
read_psw
echo "\$USR in init: $USR"
echo "\$PSW in init: $PSW"
}

init

exit  0