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2024-01-01
NAME
dialog - display dialog boxes from shell scripts
SYNOPSIS
dialog --clear
dialog --create-rc file
dialog --print-maxsize
dialog common-options box-options
DESCRIPTION
Dialog is a program that will let you present a variety of questions
or display messages using dialog boxes from a shell script. These
types of dialog boxes are implemented (though not all are necessarily
compiled into dialog):
buildlist, calendar, checklist, dselect, editbox, form, fselect,
gauge, infobox, inputbox, inputmenu, menu, mixedform, mixedgauge,
msgbox (message), passwordbox, passwordform, pause, prgbox,
programbox, progressbox, radiolist, rangebox, tailbox, tailboxbg,
textbox, timebox, treeview, and yesno (yes/no).
You can put more than one dialog box into a script:
+ Use the "--and-widget" token to force dialog to proceed to the
next dialog unless you have pressed ESC to cancel, or
+ Simply add the tokens for the next dialog box, making a chain.
Dialog stops chaining when the return code from a dialog is
nonzero, e.g., Cancel or No (see DIAGNOSTICS).
Some widgets, e.g., checklist, will write text to dialog's output.
Normally that is the standard error, but there are options for
changing this: "--output-fd", "--stderr" and "--stdout". No text is
written if the Cancel button (or ESC) is pressed; dialog exits
immediately in that case.
OPTIONS
All options begin with "--" (two ASCII hyphens, for the benefit of
those using systems with deranged locale support).
A "--" by itself is used as an escape, i.e., the next token on the
command-line is not treated as an option. This is different from
getopt(1), which uses that token to treat the remaining tokens as
parameters rather than options.
dialog --title -- --Not an option
dialog --title This -- --title is
Dialog uses no parameters, and uses its own options parser.
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When a common (e.g., non-widget) option is repeated, the last found is
the one that is used. Boolean options are handled specially so they
can be cancelled, by adding (or omitting) a "no" modifier after the
leading "--". For instance, --no-shadow is documented here, but
--shadow also is accepted.
The "--args" option tells dialog to list the command-line parameters
to the standard error. This is useful when debugging complex scripts
using the "--" and "--file", since the command-line may be rewritten
as these are expanded.
The "--file" option tells dialog to read parameters from the file
named as its value.
dialog --file parameterfile
Blanks not within double-quotes are discarded (use backslashes to
quote single characters). The result is inserted into the command-
line, replacing "--file" and its option value. Interpretation of the
command-line resumes from that point. If parameterfile begins with
"&", dialog interprets the following text as a file descriptor number
rather than a filename.
Most widgets accept height and width parameters, which can be used to
automatically size the widget to accommodate multi-line message prompt
values:
+ If the parameter is negative, dialog uses the screen's size.
+ If the parameter is zero, dialog uses minimum size for the widget
to display the prompt and data.
+ Otherwise, dialog uses the given size for the widget.
Common Options
Most of the common options are reset before processing each widget.
--ascii-lines
Rather than draw graphics lines around boxes, draw ASCII "+" and
"-" in the same place. See also "--no-lines".
--aspect ratio
This gives you some control over the box dimensions when using
auto sizing (specifying 0 for height and width). It represents
width / height. The default is 9, which means 9 characters wide
to every 1 line high.
--backtitle backtitle
Specifies a backtitle string to be displayed on the backdrop, at
the top of the screen.
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--begin y x
Specify the position of the upper left corner of a dialog box on
the screen.
--cancel-label string
Override the label used for "Cancel" buttons.
--clear
Clears the widget screen, keeping only the screen_color
background. Use this when you combine widgets with
"--and-widget" to erase the contents of a previous widget on the
screen, so it won't be seen under the contents of a following
widget. Understand this as the complement of "--keep-window".
To compare the effects, use these:
All three widgets visible, staircase effect, ordered 1,2,3:
dialog \
--begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
--and-widget --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
--and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
Only the last widget is left visible:
dialog \
--clear --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
--and-widget --clear --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
--and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
All three widgets visible, staircase effect, ordered 3,2,1:
dialog \
--keep-window --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
--and-widget --keep-window --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
--and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
First and third widget visible, staircase effect, ordered 3,1:
dialog \
--keep-window --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
--and-widget --clear --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
--and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
Note, if you want to restore original console colors and send
your cursor home after the dialog program has exited, use the
clear(1) command. Conversely, if you want to clear the screen
and send your cursor to the lower left after the dialog program
has exited, use the --erase-on-exit option.
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--color-mode code
Extend the --colors option to the content of programbox, tailbox
and textbox. Use code "2" for this feature.
--colors
Interpret embedded "\Z" sequences in the dialog text by the
following character, which tells dialog to set colors or video
attributes:
+ 0 through 7 are the ANSI color numbers used in curses: black,
red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan and white
respectively.
+ Bold is set by 'b', reset by 'B'.
+ Reverse is set by 'r', reset by 'R'.
+ Underline is set by 'u', reset by 'U'.
+ The settings are cumulative, e.g., "\Zb\Z1" makes the
following text bold (perhaps bright) red.
+ Restore normal settings with "\Zn".
--column-separator string
Tell dialog to split data for radio/checkboxes and menus on the
occurrences of the given string, and to align the split data into
columns.
--cr-wrap
Interpret embedded newlines in the dialog text as a newline on
the screen. Otherwise, dialog will only wrap lines where needed
to fit inside the text box.
Even though you can control line breaks with this, Dialog will
still wrap any lines that are too long for the width of the box.
Without cr-wrap, the layout of your text may be formatted to look
nice in the source code of your script without affecting the way
it will look in the dialog.
The cr-wrap feature is implemented subject to these conditions:
+ the string contains "\n" and the --no-nl-expand option is not
used, or
+ the --trim option is used.
For more information, see Whitespace Options.
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--create-rc file
When dialog supports run-time configuration, this can be used to
dump a sample configuration file to the file specified by file.
--cursor-off-label
Place the terminal cursor at the end of a button instead of on
the first character of the button label. This is useful to
reduce visual confusion when the cursor coloration interacts
poorly with the button-label text colors.
--date-format format
If the host provides strftime, this option allows you to specify
the format of the date printed for the --calendar widget. The
time of day (hour, minute, second) are the current local time.
--defaultno
Make the default value of the yes/no box a No. Likewise, treat
the default button of widgets that provide "OK" and "Cancel" as a
Cancel. If "--no-cancel" or "--visit-items" are given those
options overrides this, making the default button always "Yes"
(internally the same as "OK").
--default-button string
Set the default (preselected) button in a widget. By
preselecting a button, a script makes it possible for the user to
simply press Enter to proceed through a dialog with minimum
interaction.
The option's value is the name of the button: ok, yes, cancel,
no, help or extra.
Normally the first button in each widget is the default. The
first button shown is determined by the widget together with the
"--no-ok" and "--no-cancel" options. If this option is not
given, there is no default button assigned.
--default-item string
Set the default item in a checklist, form or menu box. Normally
the first item in the box is the default.
--erase-on-exit
When dialog exits, remove the dialog widget, erasing the entire
screen to its native background color, and place the terminal
cursor at the lower left corner.
--exit-label string
Override the label used for "EXIT" buttons.
--extra-button
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Show an extra button, between "OK" and "Cancel" buttons.
The extra button appears between "Yes" and "No" for the yesno
widget.
--extra-label string
Override the label used for "Extra" buttons. Note: for inputmenu
widgets, this defaults to "Rename".
--help
Prints the help message to the standard output and exits. The
help message is also printed if no options are given, or if an
unrecognized option is given.
--help-button
Show a help-button after "OK" and "Cancel" buttons in boxes which
have a list of tagged items (i.e., checklist, radiolist, menu,
and treeview boxes).
The help-button appears after "Yes" and "No" for the yesno
widget.
On exit, the return status indicates that the Help button was
pressed. Dialog also writes a message to its output after the
token "HELP":
+ If "--item-help" is also given, the item-help text is
written.
+ Otherwise, the item's tag (the first field) is written.
You can use the --help-tags option and/or set the
DIALOG_ITEM_HELP environment variable to modify these messages
and exit-status.
This option can be applied to other widgets, which have an "OK"
button, whether or not the "Cancel" button is used. The return
status and output are not treated specially for the other
widgets; the help-button is just an extra button.
--help-label string
Override the label used for "Help" buttons.
--help-status
If the help-button is selected, writes the checklist, radiolist
or form information after the item-help "HELP" information. This
can be used to reconstruct the state of a checklist after
processing the help request.
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--help-tags
Modify the messages written on exit for --help-button by making
them always just the item's tag. This does not affect the exit
status code.
--hfile filename
Display the given file using a textbox when the user presses F1.
--hline string
Display the given string centered at the bottom of the widget.
--ignore
Ignore options that dialog does not recognize. Some well-known
ones such as "--icon" are ignored anyway, but this is a better
choice for compatibility with other implementations.
--input-fd fd
Read keyboard input from the given file descriptor. Most dialog
scripts read from the standard input, but the gauge widget reads
a pipe (which is always standard input). Some configurations do
not work properly when dialog tries to reopen the terminal. Use
this option (with appropriate juggling of file-descriptors) if
your script must work in that type of environment.
--insecure
Makes the password widget friendlier but less secure, by echoing
asterisks for each character.
--iso-week
Set the starting point for the week-number shown in the
"--calendar" option according to ISO-8601, which starts numbering
with the first week which includes a Thursday in January.
--item-help
Interpret the tags data for checklist, radiolist and menu boxes
adding a column which is displayed in the bottom line of the
screen, for the currently selected item.
--keep-tite
When built with ncurses, dialog normally checks to see if it is
running in an xterm, and in that case tries to suppress the
initialization strings that would make it switch to the alternate
screen. Switching between the normal and alternate screens is
visually distracting in a script which runs dialog several times.
Use this option to allow dialog to use those initialization
strings.
--keep-window
Normally when dialog performs several tailboxbg widgets connected
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by "--and-widget", it clears the old widget from the screen by
painting over it. Use this option to suppress that repainting.
At exit, dialog repaints all of the widgets which have been
marked with "--keep-window", even if they are not tailboxbg
widgets. That causes them to be repainted in reverse order. See
the discussion of the "--clear" option for examples.
--last-key
At exit, report the last key which the user entered. This is the
curses key code rather than a symbol or literal character, and is
only reported for keys which are bound to an action. It can be
used by scripts to distinguish between two keys which are bound
to the same action.
--max-input size
Limit input strings to the given size. If not specified, the
limit is 2048.
--no-cancel
Suppress the "Cancel" button in checklist, inputbox and menu box
modes. A script can still test if the user pressed the ESC key
to cancel to quit.
--no-collapse
Normally dialog converts tabs to spaces and reduces multiple
spaces to a single space for text which is displayed in a message
boxes, etc. Use this option to disable that feature. Note that
dialog will still wrap text, subject to the "--cr-wrap" and
"--trim" options.
The no-collapse feature is implemented subject to these
conditions:
+ the string contains "\n" and the --no-nl-expand option is not
used, or
+ the --trim option is not used.
For more information, see Whitespace Options.
--no-hot-list
Tells dialog to suppress the hotkey feature for lists, e.g., the
checkbox, menus.
Normally, the first uppercase character of a list entry will be
highlighted, and typing that character will move the focus to
that entry. This option suppresses both the highlighting and the
movement.
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Hotkeys for buttons ("OK" , "Cancel", etc.) are unaffected.
--no-items
Some widgets (checklist, inputmenu, radiolist, menu) display a
list with two columns (a "tag" and "item", i.e., "description").
This option tells dialog to read shorter rows, omitting the
"item" part of the list. This is occasionally useful, e.g., if
the tags provide enough information.
See also --no-tags. If both options are given, this one is
ignored.
--no-kill
Tells dialog to put the tailboxbg box in the background, printing
its process id to dialog's output. SIGHUP is disabled for the
background process.
--no-label string
Override the label used for "No" buttons.
--no-lines
Rather than draw lines around boxes, draw spaces in the same
place. See also "--ascii-lines".
--no-mouse
Do not enable the mouse.
--no-nl-expand
Do not convert "\n" substrings of the message/prompt text into
literal newlines.
The no-nl-expand feature is used only if the string contains "\n"
so that there is something to convert.
For more information, see Whitespace Options.
--no-ok
Suppress the "OK" button, so that it is not displayed. A script
can still test if the user pressed the "Enter" key to accept the
data:
+ The "Enter" key is always handled as the "OK" button when the
--no-ok option is used. That is, by default it is bound to
the LEAVE virtual key.
When --no-ok is not used, you can use the the Tab key to move
the cursor through the fields and buttons on the widget. In
that case, the "Enter" key activates the current button if
the cursor is positioned on a button.
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+ To provide for the case where you want to activate a button
when using --no-ok, there is another virtual key LEAVE, which
activates the current button. By default, ^D (EOF) is bound
to that key.
--no-shadow
Suppress shadows that would be drawn to the right and bottom of
each dialog box.
--no-tags
Some widgets (checklist, inputmenu, radiolist, menu) display a
list with two columns (a "tag" and "description"). The tag is
useful for scripting, but may not help the user. The --no-tags
option (from Xdialog) may be used to suppress the column of tags
from the display. Unlike the --no-items option, this does not
affect the data which is read from the script.
Xdialog does not display the tag column for the analogous
buildlist and treeview widgets; dialog does the same.
Normally dialog allows you to quickly move to entries on the
displayed list, by matching a single character to the first
character of the tag. When the --no-tags option is given, dialog
matches against the first character of the description. In
either case, the matchable character is highlighted.
--ok-label string
Override the label used for "OK" buttons.
--output-fd fd
Direct output to the given file descriptor. Most dialog scripts
write to the standard error, but error messages may also be
written there, depending on your script.
--separator string
--output-separator string
Specify a string that will separate the output on dialog's output
from checklists, rather than a newline (for --separate-output) or
a space. This applies to other widgets such as forms and
editboxes which normally use a newline.
--print-maxsize
Print the maximum size of dialog boxes, i.e., the screen size, to
dialog's output. This may be used alone, without other options.
--print-size
Prints the size of each dialog box to dialog's output when the
box is initialized.
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--print-text-only string [ height [ width ] ]
Prints the string as it would be wrapped in a message box to
dialog's output.
Because the optional height and width default to zero, if they
are omitted, dialog autosizes according to the screen dimensions.
--print-text-size string [ height [ width ] ]
Prints the size of the string as it would be wrapped in a message
box, to dialog's output, as
height width
Because the optional height and width parameters default to zero,
if they are omitted, dialog autosizes according to the screen
dimensions.
--print-version
Prints dialog's version to dialog's output. This may be used
alone, without other options. It does not cause dialog to exit
by itself.
--quoted
Normally dialog quotes the strings returned by checklist's as
well as the item-help text. Use this option to quote all string
results as needed (i.e., if the string contains whitespace or a
single or double-quote character).
--reorder
By default, the buildlist widget uses the same order for the
output (right) list as for the input (left). Use this option to
tell dialog to use the order in which a user adds selections to
the output list.
--scrollbar
For widgets holding a scrollable set of data, draw a scrollbar on
its right-margin. This does not respond to the mouse.
--separate-output
For certain widgets (buildlist, checklist, treeview), output
result one line at a time, with no quoting. This facilitates
parsing by another program.
--separate-widget string
Specify a string that will separate the output on dialog's output
from each widget. This is used to simplify parsing the result of
a dialog with several widgets. If this option is not given, the
default separator string is a tab character.
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--single-quoted
Use single-quoting as needed (and no quotes if unneeded) for the
output of checklist's as well as the item-help text.
If this option is not set, dialog may use double quotes around
each item. In either case, dialog adds backslashes to make the
output useful in shell scripts.
Single quotes would be needed if the string contains whitespace
or a single or double-quote character.
--size-err
Check the resulting size of a dialog box before trying to use it,
printing the resulting size if it is larger than the screen.
(This option is obsolete, since all new-window calls are
checked).
--sleep secs
Sleep (delay) for the given number of seconds after processing a
dialog box.
--stderr
Direct output to the standard error. This is the default, since
curses normally writes screen updates to the standard output.
--stdout
Direct output to the standard output. This option is provided
for compatibility with Xdialog, however using it in portable
scripts is not recommended, since curses normally writes its
screen updates to the standard output. If you use this option,
dialog attempts to reopen the terminal so it can write to the
display. Depending on the platform and your environment, that
may fail.
--tab-correct
Convert each tab character to one or more spaces (for the textbox
widget; otherwise to a single space). Otherwise, tabs are
rendered according to the curses library's interpretation. The
--no-collapse option disables tab expansion.
--tab-len n
Specify the number of spaces that a tab character occupies if the
"--tab-correct" option is given. The default is 8. This option
is only effective for the textbox widget.
--time-format format
If the host provides strftime, this option allows you to specify
the format of the time printed for the --timebox widget. The
day, month, year values in this case are for the current local
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time.
--timeout secs
Timeout if no user response within the given number of seconds.
A timeout of zero seconds is ignored.
Normally a timeout causes an ESC character to be entered in the
current widget, cancelling it. Other widgets may still be on the
screen; these are not cancelled. Set the DIALOG_TIMEOUT
environment variable to tell dialog to directly exit instead,
i.e., cancelling all widgets on the screen.
This option is ignored by the "--pause" widget. It is also
overridden if the background "--tailboxbg" option is used to set
up multiple concurrent widgets.
--title title
Specifies a title string to be displayed at the top of the dialog
box.
--trace filename
logs the command-line parameters, keystrokes and other
information to the given file. If dialog reads a configure file,
it is logged as well. Piped input to the gauge widget is logged.
Use control/T to log a picture of the current dialog window.
The dialog program handles some command-line parameters
specially, and removes them from the parameter list as they are
processed. For example, if the first option is --trace, then
that is processed (and removed) before dialog initializes the
display.
--week-start day
sets the starting day for the week, used in the "--calendar"
option. The day parameter can be
+ a number (0 to 6, Sunday through Saturday using POSIX) or
+ the special value "locale" (this works with systems using
glibc, providing an extension to the locale command, the
first_weekday value).
+ a string matching one of the abbreviations for the day of the
week shown in the calendar widget, e.g., "Mo" for "Monday".
--trim
eliminate leading blanks, trim literal newlines and repeated
blanks from message text.
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The trim feature is implemented subject to these conditions:
+ the string does not contain "\n" or
+ the --no-nl-expand option is used.
For more information, see Whitespace Options.
See also the "--cr-wrap" and "--no-collapse" options.
--version
Prints dialog's version to the standard output, and exits. See
also "--print-version".
--visit-items
Modify the tab-traversal of checklist, radiolist, menubox and
inputmenu to include the list of items as one of the states.
This is useful as a visual aid, i.e., the cursor position helps
some users.
When this option is given, the cursor is initially placed on the
list. Abbreviations (the first letter of the tag) apply to the
list items. If you tab to the button row, abbreviations apply to
the buttons.
--yes-label string
Override the label used for "Yes" buttons.
Box Options
All dialog boxes have at least three parameters:
text the caption or contents of the box.
height the height of the dialog box.
width the width of the dialog box.
Other parameters depend on the box type.
--buildlist text height width list-height [ tag item status ] ...
A buildlist dialog displays two lists, side-by-side. The list on
the left shows unselected items. The list on the right shows
selected items. As items are selected or unselected, they move
between the lists.
Use a carriage return or the "OK" button to accept the current
value in the selected-window and exit. The results are written
using the order displayed in the selected-window.
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The initial on/off state of each entry is specified by status.
The dialog behaves like a menu, using the --visit-items to
control whether the cursor is allowed to visit the lists
directly.
+ If --visit-items is not given, tab-traversal uses two states
(OK/Cancel).
+ If --visit-items is given, tab-traversal uses four states
(Left/Right/OK/Cancel).
Whether or not --visit-items is given, it is possible to move the
highlight between the two lists using the default "^" (left-
column) and "$" (right-column) keys.
On exit, a list of the tag strings of those entries that are
turned on will be printed on dialog's output.
If the "--separate-output" option is not given, the strings will
be quoted as needed to make it simple for scripts to separate
them. By default, this uses double-quotes, as needed. See the
"--single-quoted" option, which modifies the quoting behavior.
--calendar text height width day month year
A calendar box displays month, day and year in separately
adjustable windows. If the values for day, month or year are
missing or negative, the current date's corresponding values are
used. You can increment or decrement any of those using the
left-, up-, right-, and down-arrows. Use vi-style h, j, k and l
for moving around the array of days in a month. Use tab or
backtab to move between windows. If the year is given as zero,
the current date is used as an initial value.
On exit, the date is printed in the form day/month/year. The
format can be overridden using the --date-format option.
--checklist text height width list-height [ tag item status ] ...
A checklist box is similar to a menu box; there are multiple
entries presented in the form of a menu. Another difference is
that you can indicate which entry is currently selected, by
setting its status to on. Instead of choosing one entry among
the entries, each entry can be turned on or off by the user. The
initial on/off state of each entry is specified by status.
On exit, a list of the tag strings of those entries that are
turned on will be printed on dialog's output.
If the "--separate-output" option is not given, the strings will
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be quoted as needed to make it simple for scripts to separate
them. By default, this uses double-quotes (as needed). See the
"--single-quoted" option, which modifies the quoting behavior.
--dselect filepath height width
The directory-selection dialog displays a text-entry window in
which you can type a directory, and above that a windows with
directory names.
Here filepath can be a filepath in which case the directory
window will display the contents of the path and the text-entry
window will contain the preselected directory.
Use tab or arrow keys to move between the windows. Within the
directory window, use the up/down arrow keys to scroll the
current selection. Use the space-bar to copy the current
selection into the text-entry window.
Typing any printable characters switches focus to the text-entry
window, entering that character as well as scrolling the
directory window to the closest match.
Use a carriage return or the "OK" button to accept the current
value in the text-entry window and exit.
On exit, the contents of the text-entry window are written to
dialog's output.
--editbox filepath height width
The edit-box dialog displays a copy of the file. You may edit it
using the backspace, delete and cursor keys to correct typing
errors. It also recognizes pageup/pagedown. Unlike the
--inputbox, you must tab to the "OK" or "Cancel" buttons to close
the dialog. Pressing the "Enter" key within the box will split
the corresponding line.
On exit, the contents of the edit window are written to dialog's
output.
--form text height width formheight [ label y x item y x flen ilen ] ...
The form dialog displays a form consisting of labels and fields,
which are positioned on a scrollable window by coordinates given
in the script. The field length flen and input-length ilen tell
how long the field can be. The former defines the length shown
for a selected field, while the latter defines the permissible
length of the data entered in the field.
+ If flen is zero, the corresponding field cannot be altered.
and the contents of the field determine the displayed-length.
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+ If flen is negative, the corresponding field cannot be
altered, and the negated value of flen is used as the
displayed-length.
+ If ilen is zero, it is set to flen.
Use up/down arrows (or control/N, control/P) to move between
fields. Use tab to move between windows.
On exit, the contents of the form-fields are written to dialog's
output, each field separated by a newline. The text used to fill
non-editable fields (flen is zero or negative) is not written
out.
--fselect filepath height width
The fselect (file-selection) dialog displays a text-entry window
in which you can type a filename (or directory), and above that
two windows with directory names and filenames.
Here filepath can be a filepath in which case the file and
directory windows will display the contents of the path and the
text-entry window will contain the preselected filename.
Use tab or arrow keys to move between the windows. Within the
directory or filename windows, use the up/down arrow keys to
scroll the current selection. Use the space-bar to copy the
current selection into the text-entry window.
Typing any printable characters switches focus to the text-entry
window, entering that character as well as scrolling the
directory and filename windows to the closest match.
Typing the space character forces dialog to complete the current
name (up to the point where there may be a match against more
than one entry).
Use a carriage return or the "OK" button to accept the current
value in the text-entry window and exit.
On exit, the contents of the text-entry window are written to
dialog's output.
--gauge text height width [percent]
A gauge box displays a meter along the bottom of the box. The
meter indicates the percentage. New percentages are read from
standard input, one integer per line. The meter is updated to
reflect each new percentage. If the standard input reads the
string "XXX", then the first line following is taken as an
integer percentage, then subsequent lines up to another "XXX" are
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used for a new prompt. The gauge exits when EOF is reached on
the standard input.
The percent value denotes the initial percentage shown in the
meter. If not specified, it is zero.
On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. The widget
accepts no input, so the exit status is always OK.
--infobox text height width
An info box is basically a message box. However, in this case,
dialog will exit immediately after displaying the message to the
user. The screen is not cleared when dialog exits, so that the
message will remain on the screen until the calling shell script
clears it later. This is useful when you want to inform the user
that some operations are carrying on that may require some time
to finish.
On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. An OK exit
status is returned.
--inputbox text height width [init]
An input box is useful when you want to ask questions that
require the user to input a string as the answer. If init is
supplied it is used to initialize the input string. When
entering the string, the backspace, delete and cursor keys can be
used to correct typing errors. If the input string is longer
than can fit in the dialog box, the input field will be scrolled.
On exit, the input string will be printed on dialog's output.
--inputmenu text height width menu-height [ tag item ] ...
An inputmenu box is very similar to an ordinary menu box. There
are only a few differences between them:
1. The entries are not automatically centered but left adjusted.
2. An extra button (called Rename/) is implied to rename the
current item when it is pressed.
3. It is possible to rename the current entry by pressing the
Rename button. Then dialog will write the following on
dialog's output.
RENAMED <tag> <item>
--menu text height width menu-height [ tag item ] ...
As its name suggests, a menu box is a dialog box that can be used
to present a list of choices in the form of a menu for the user
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to choose. Choices are displayed in the order given. Each menu
entry consists of a tag string and an item string. The tag gives
the entry a name to distinguish it from the other entries in the
menu. The item is a short description of the option that the
entry represents. The user can move between the menu entries by
pressing the cursor keys, the first letter of the tag as a hot-
key, or the number keys 1 through 9. There are menu-height
entries displayed in the menu at one time, but the menu will be
scrolled if there are more entries than that.
On exit the tag of the chosen menu entry will be printed on
dialog's output. If the "--help-button" option is given, the
corresponding help text will be printed if the user selects the
help button.
--mixedform text height width formheight [ label y x item y x flen ilen itype ] ...
The mixedform dialog displays a form consisting of labels and
fields, much like the --form dialog. It differs by adding a
field-type parameter to each field's description. Each bit in
the type denotes an attribute of the field:
1 hidden, e.g., a password field.
2 readonly, e.g., a label.
--mixedgauge text height width percent [ tag1 item1 ] ...
A mixedgauge box displays a meter along the bottom of the box.
The meter indicates the percentage.
It also displays a list of the tag/- and item/-values at the top
of the box. See dialog(3) for the tag values.
The text is shown as a caption between the list and meter. The
percent value denotes the initial percentage shown in the meter.
No provision is made for reading data from the standard input as
--gauge does.
On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. The widget
accepts no input, so the exit status is always OK.
--msgbox text height width
A message box is very similar to a yes/no box. The only
difference between a message box and a yes/no box is that a
message box has only a single OK button. You can use this dialog
box to display any message you like. After reading the message,
the user can press the ENTER key so that dialog will exit and the
calling shell script can continue its operation.
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If the message is too large for the space, dialog may allow you
to scroll it, provided that the underlying curses implementation
is capable enough. In this case, a percentage is shown in the
base of the widget.
On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an "OK"
button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be
returned.
--pause text height width seconds
A pause box displays a meter along the bottom of the box. The
meter indicates how many seconds remain until the end of the
pause. The pause exits when timeout is reached or the user
presses the OK button (status OK) or the user presses the CANCEL
button or Esc key.
--passwordbox text height width [init]
A password box is similar to an input box, except that the text
the user enters is not displayed. This is useful when prompting
for passwords or other sensitive information. Be aware that if
anything is passed in "init", it will be visible in the system's
process table to casual snoopers. Also, it is very confusing to
the user to provide them with a default password they cannot see.
For these reasons, using "init" is highly discouraged. See
"--insecure" if you do not care about your password.
On exit, the input string will be printed on dialog's output.
--passwordform text height width formheight [ label y x item y x flen ilen ] ...
This is identical to --form except that all text fields are
treated as password widgets rather than inputbox widgets.
--prgbox text command height width
--prgbox command height width
A prgbox is very similar to a programbox.
This dialog box is used to display the output of a command that
is specified as an argument to prgbox.
After the command completes, the user can press the ENTER key so
that dialog will exit and the calling shell script can continue
its operation.
If four parameters are given, it displays the text under the
title, delineated from the scrolling file's contents. If only
three parameters are given, this text is omitted.
--programbox text height width
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--programbox height width
A programbox is very similar to a progressbox. The only
difference between a program box and a progress box is that a
program box displays an OK button (but only after the command
completes).
This dialog box is used to display the piped output of a command.
After the command completes, the user can press the ENTER key so
that dialog will exit and the calling shell script can continue
its operation.
If three parameters are given, it displays the text under the
title, delineated from the scrolling file's contents. If only
two parameters are given, this text is omitted.
--progressbox text height width
--progressbox height width
A progressbox is similar to an tailbox, except that
a) rather than displaying the contents of a file,
it displays the piped output of a command and
b) it will exit when it reaches the end of the file
(there is no "OK" button).
If three parameters are given, it displays the text under the
title, delineated from the scrolling file's contents. If only
two parameters are given, this text is omitted.
--radiolist text height width list-height [ tag item status ] ...
A radiolist box is similar to a menu box. The only difference is
that you can indicate which entry is currently selected, by
setting its status to on.
On exit, the tag of the selected item is written to dialog's
output.
--rangebox text height width min-value max-value default-value
Allow the user to select from a range of values, e.g., using a
slider. The dialog shows the current value as a bar (like the
gauge dialog). Tabs or arrow keys move the cursor between the
buttons and the value. When the cursor is on the value, you can
edit it by:
left/right cursor movement to select a digit to modify
+/- characters to increment/decrement the digit by one
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0 through 9
to set the digit to the given value
Some keys are also recognized in all cursor positions:
home/end
set the value to its maximum or minimum
pageup/pagedown
increment the value so that the slider moves by one column
--tailbox file height width
Display text from a file in a dialog box, as in a "tail -f"
command. Scroll left/right using vi-style 'h' and 'l', or
arrow-keys. A '0' resets the scrolling.
On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an "OK"
button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be
returned.
--tailboxbg file height width
Display text from a file in a dialog box as a background task, as
in a "tail -f &" command. Scroll left/right using vi-style 'h'
and 'l', or arrow-keys. A '0' resets the scrolling.
Dialog treats the background task specially if there are other
widgets (--and-widget) on the screen concurrently. Until those
widgets are closed (e.g., an "OK"), dialog will perform all of
the tailboxbg widgets in the same process, polling for updates.
You may use a tab to traverse between the widgets on the screen,
and close them individually, e.g., by pressing ENTER. Once the
non-tailboxbg widgets are closed, dialog forks a copy of itself
into the background, and prints its process id if the "--no-kill"
option is given.
On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an "EXIT"
button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be
returned.
NOTE: Older versions of dialog forked immediately and attempted
to update the screen individually. Besides being bad for
performance, it was unworkable. Some older scripts may not work
properly with the polled scheme.
--textbox file height width
A text box lets you display the contents of a text file in a
dialog box. It is like a simple text file viewer. The user can
move through the file by using the cursor, page-up, page-down and
HOME/END keys available on most keyboards. If the lines are too
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long to be displayed in the box, the LEFT/RIGHT keys can be used
to scroll the text region horizontally. You may also use vi-
style keys h, j, k, and l in place of the cursor keys, and B or N
in place of the page-up and page-down keys. Scroll up/down using
vi-style 'k' and 'j', or arrow-keys. Scroll left/right using
vi-style 'h' and 'l', or arrow-keys. A '0' resets the left/right
scrolling. For more convenience, vi-style forward and backward
searching functions are also provided.
On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an "EXIT"
button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be
returned.
--timebox text height [width hour minute second]
A dialog is displayed which allows you to select hour, minute and
second. If the values for hour, minute or second are missing or
negative, the current date's corresponding values are used. You
can increment or decrement any of those using the left-, up-,
right- and down-arrows. Use tab or backtab to move between
windows.
On exit, the result is printed in the form hour:minute:second.
The format can be overridden using the --time-format option.
--treeview text height width list-height [ tag item status depth ] ...
Display data organized as a tree. Each group of data contains a
tag, the text to display for the item, its status ("on" or "off")
and the depth of the item in the tree.
Only one item can be selected (like the radiolist). The tag is
not displayed.
On exit, the tag of the selected item is written to dialog's
output.
--yesno text height width
A yes/no dialog box of size height rows by width columns will be
displayed. The string specified by text is displayed inside the
dialog box. If this string is too long to fit in one line, it
will be automatically divided into multiple lines at appropriate
places. The text string can also contain the sub-string \n
or newline characters `\n' to control line breaking explicitly.
This dialog box is useful for asking questions that require the
user to answer either yes or no. The dialog box has a Yes button
and a No button, in which the user can switch between by pressing
the TAB key.
On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. In addition to
the "Yes" and "No" exit codes (see DIAGNOSTICS) an ESC exit
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status may be returned.
The codes used for "Yes" and "No" match those used for "OK" and
"Cancel", internally no distinction is made.
Obsolete Options
--beep
This was used to tell the original cdialog that it should make a
beep when the separate processes of the tailboxbg widget would
repaint the screen.
--beep-after
Beep after a user has completed a widget by pressing one of the
buttons.
Whitespace Options
These options can be used to transform whitespace (space, tab,
newline) as dialog reads the script:
--cr-wrap, --no-collapse, --no-nl-expand, and --trim
The options are not independent:
+ Dialog checks if the script contains at least one "\n" and (unless
--no-nl-expand is set) will ignore the --no-collapse and --trim
options.
+ After checking for "\n" and the --no-nl-expand option, dialog
handles the --trim option.
If the --trim option takes effect, then dialog ignores
--no-collapse. It changes sequences of tabs, spaces (and newlines
unless -cr-wrap is set) to a single space.
+ If neither the "\n" or --trim cases apply, dialog checks
--no-collapse to decide whether to reduce sequences of tabs and
spaces to a single space.
In this case, dialog ignores --cr-wrap and does not modify
newlines.
Taking those dependencies into account, here is a table summarizing
the behavior for the various combinations of options. The table
assumes that the script contains at least one "\n" when the
--no-nl-expand option is not set.
tab(/) ; lB lB lB lB lB lB lB lB lB lB _ _ _ _ _ lw4 lw4 lw4 lw4
lw29. cr-/no-/no-/trim/Result wrap/collapse/nl-expand
no/no/no/no/T{ Convert tab to space. Convert newline to space.
Convert "\n" to newline. T} no/no/no/yes/T{ Convert tab to
space. Convert newline to space. Convert "\n" to newline. T}
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no/no/yes/no/T{ Convert tab to space. Do not convert newline to
space. Convert multiple-space to single. Show "\n" literally.
T} no/no/yes/yes/T{ Convert tab to space. Convert multiple-space
to single. Convert newline to space. Show "\n" literally. T}
no/yes/no/no/T{ Convert newline to space. Convert "\n" to
newline. T} no/yes/no/yes/T{ Convert newline to space. Convert
"\n" to newline. T} no/yes/yes/no/T{ Do not convert newline to
space. Do not reduce multiple blanks. Show "\n" literally. T}
no/yes/yes/yes/T{ Convert multiple-space to single. Convert
newline to space. Show "\n" literally. T} yes/no/no/no/T{
Convert tab to space. Wrap on newline. Convert "\n" to newline.
T} yes/no/no/yes/T{ Convert tab to space. Wrap on newline.
Convert "\n" to newline. T} yes/no/yes/no/T{ Convert tab to
space. Do not convert newline to space. Convert multiple-space
to single. Show "\n" literally. T} yes/no/yes/yes/T{ Convert
tab to space. Convert multiple-space to single. Wrap on
newline. Show "\n" literally. T} yes/yes/no/no/T{ Wrap on
newline. Convert "\n" to newline. T} yes/yes/no/yes/T{ Wrap on
newline. Convert "\n" to newline. T} yes/yes/yes/no/T{ Do not
convert newline to space. Do not reduce multiple blanks. Show
"\n" literally. T} yes/yes/yes/yes/T{ Convert multiple-space to
single. Wrap on newline. Show "\n" literally. T}
RUN-TIME CONFIGURATION
1. Create a sample configuration file by typing:
dialog --create-rc file
2. At start, dialog determines the settings to use as follows:
a) if environment variable DIALOGRC is set, its value determines
the name of the configuration file.
b) if the file in (a) is not found, use the file $HOME/.dialogrc
as the configuration file.
c) if the file in (b) is not found, try using the GLOBALRC file
determined at compile-time, i.e., /etc/dialogrc.
d) if the file in (c) is not found, use compiled in defaults.
3. Edit the sample configuration file and copy it to some place that
dialog can find, as stated in step 2 above.
KEY BINDINGS
You can override or add to key bindings in dialog by adding to the
configuration file. Dialog's bindkey command maps single keys to its
internal coding.
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bindkey widget curses_key dialog_key
The widget name can be "*" (all widgets), or specific widgets such as
textbox. Specific widget bindings override the "*" bindings. User-
defined bindings override the built-in bindings.
The curses_key can be expressed in different forms:
+ It may be any of the names derived from curses.h, e.g., "HELP"
from "KEY_HELP".
+ Dialog also recognizes ANSI control characters such as "^A", "^?",
as well as C1-controls such as "~A" and "~?".
+ Finally, dialog allows backslash escapes as in C. Those can be
octal character values such as "\033" (the ASCII escape
character), or the characters listed in this table:
tab(/) ; lI lI _ _ l l . Escaped/Actual \b/backspace
\f/form feed \n/new line (line feed) \r/carriage return
\s/space \t/tab \^/"^" (caret) \?/"?" (question mark) \\/"\"
(backslash) _
Dialog's internal keycode names correspond to the DLG_KEYS_ENUM type
in dlg_keys.h, e.g., "HELP" from "DLGK_HELP".
Widget Names
Some widgets (such as the formbox) have an area where fields can be
edited. Those are managed in a subwindow of the widget, and may have
separate keybindings from the main widget because the subwindows are
registered using a different name.
tab(/) ; lI lI lI _ _ _ l l l . Widget/Window name/Subwindow
Name calendar/calendar checklist/checklist
editbox/editbox/editbox2 form/formbox/formfield
fselect/fselect/fselect2 inputbox/inputbox/inputbox2
menu/menubox/menu msgbox/msgbox pause/pause
progressbox/progressbox radiolist/radiolist tailbox/tailbox
textbox/textbox/searchbox timebox/timebox yesno/yesno _
Some widgets are actually other widgets, using internal settings to
modify the behavior. Those use the same widget name as the actual
widget:
tab(/) ; lI lI _ _ l l . Widget/Actual Widget dselect/fselect
infobox/msgbox inputmenu/menu mixedform/form passwordbox/inputbox
passwordform/form prgbox/progressbox programbox/progressbox
tailboxbg/tailbox _
Built-in Bindings
This manual page does not list the key bindings for each widget,
because that detailed information can be obtained by running dialog.
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If you have set the --trace option, dialog writes the key-binding
information for each widget as it is registered.
A few bindings are built-in, independent of particular widgets: tab(/)
; lI lI _ _ l l . Key/Purpose Control-I/forward tab-traversal, e.g.,
with --tailboxbg. Control-L/repaints the screen. Control-T/writes a
screen dump to the --trace file. Control-V/suppresses special-keys
for the next input byte. DLGK_FIELD_NEXT/forward tab-traversal, like
Control-I. DLGK_FIELD_PREV/backward tab-traversal, like back-tab.
DLGK_HELPFILE/displays the help-file specified with --hfile.
KEY_BTAB/backward tab-traversal, e.g., with --tailboxbg. _
Example
Normally dialog uses different keys for navigating between the buttons
and editing part of a dialog versus navigating within the editing
part. That is, tab (and back-tab) traverse buttons (or between
buttons and the editing part), while arrow keys traverse fields within
the editing part. Tabs are also recognized as a special case for
traversing between widgets, e.g., when using multiple tailboxbg
widgets.
Some users may wish to use the same key for traversing within the
editing part as for traversing between buttons. The form widget is
written to support this sort of redefinition of the keys, by adding a
special group in dlgk_keys.h for "form" (left/right/next/prev). Here
is an example binding demonstrating how to do this:
bindkey formfield TAB form_NEXT
bindkey formbox TAB form_NEXT
bindkey formfield BTAB form_prev
bindkey formbox BTAB form_prev
That type of redefinition would not be useful in other widgets, e.g.,
calendar, due to the potentially large number of fields to traverse.
EXIT STATUS
Exit status is subject to being overridden by environment variables.
The default values and corresponding environment variables that can
override them are:
0 if the YES or OK button is pressed (DIALOG_OK).
1 if the No or Cancel button is pressed (DIALOG_CANCEL).
2 if the Help button is pressed (DIALOG_HELP),
except as noted below about DIALOG_ITEM_HELP.
3 if the Extra button is pressed (DIALOG_EXTRA).
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4 if the Help button is pressed,
and the --item-help option is set
and the DIALOG_ITEM_HELP environment variable is set to 4.
While any of the exit-codes can be overridden using environment
variables, this special case was introduced in 2004 to simplify
compatibility. Dialog uses DIALOG_ITEM_HELP (4) internally, but
unless the environment variable is also set, it changes that to
DIALOG_HELP (2) on exit.
5 if a timeout expires and the DIALOG_TIMEOUT variable is set to 5.
-1 if errors occur inside dialog (DIALOG_ERROR) or dialog exits
because the ESC key (DIALOG_ESC) was pressed.
ENVIRONMENT
DIALOGOPTS Define this variable to apply any of the common options
to each widget. Most of the common options are reset
before processing each widget. If you set the options
in this environment variable, they are applied to
dialog's state after the reset. As in the "--file"
option, double-quotes and backslashes are interpreted.
The "--file" option is not considered a common option
(so you cannot embed it within this environment
variable).
DIALOGRC Define this variable if you want to specify the name of
the configuration file to use.
DIALOG_CANCEL
DIALOG_ERROR
DIALOG_ESC
DIALOG_EXTRA
DIALOG_HELP
DIALOG_ITEM_HELP
DIALOG_TIMEOUT
DIALOG_OK Define any of these variables to change the exit code
on
+ Cancel (1),
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+ error (-1),
+ ESC (255),
+ Extra (3),
+ Help (2),
+ Help with --item-help (2),
+ Timeout (5), or
+ OK (0).
Normally shell scripts cannot distinguish between -1
and 255.
DIALOG_TTY Set this variable to "1" to provide compatibility with
older versions of dialog which assumed that if the
script redirects the standard output, that the
"--stdout" option was given.
FILES
$HOME/.dialogrc default configuration file
PORTABILITY
Dialog works with X/Open curses. However, some implementations have
deficiencies:
+ HPUX curses (and perhaps others) do not open the terminal
properly for the newterm function. This interferes with
dialog's --input-fd option, by preventing cursor-keys and
similar escape sequences from being recognized.
+ NetBSD 5.1 curses has incomplete support for wide-characters.
dialog will build, but not all examples display properly.
COMPATIBILITY
You may want to write scripts which run with other dialog "clones".
Original Dialog
First, there is the "original" dialog program to consider (versions
0.3 to 0.9). It had some misspelled (or inconsistent) options. The
dialog program maps those deprecated options to the preferred ones.
They include:
tab(/) ; lI lI _ _ l l. Option/Treatment --beep-after/ignored
--guage/mapped to --gauge _
Xdialog
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This is an X application, rather than a terminal program. With some
care, it is possible to write useful scripts that work with both
Xdialog and dialog.
The dialog program ignores these options which are recognized by
Xdialog:
tab(/) ; lI lI _ _ l l. Option/Treatment --allow-close/ignored
--auto-placement/ignored --fixed-font/ignored --icon/ignored
--keep-colors/ignored --no-close/ignored --no-cr-wrap/ignored
--screen-center/ignored --separator/mapped to --separate-output
--smooth/ignored --under-mouse/ignored --wmclass/ignored _
Xdialog's manpage has a section discussing its compatibility with
dialog. There are some differences not shown in the manpage. For
example, the html documentation states
Note: former Xdialog releases used the "\n" (line feed) as a
results separator for the checklist widget; this has been changed
to "/" in Xdialog v1.5.0 to make it compatible with (c)dialog.
In your old scripts using the Xdialog checklist, you will then
have to add the --separate-output option before the --checklist
one.
Dialog has not used a different separator; the difference was likely
due to confusion regarding some script.
Whiptail
Then there is whiptail. For practical purposes, it is maintained by
Debian (very little work is done by its upstream developers). Its
documentation (README.whiptail) claims
whiptail(1) is a lightweight replacement for dialog(1),
to provide dialog boxes for shell scripts.
It is built on the
newt windowing library rather than the ncurses library, allowing
it to be smaller in embedded environments such as installers,
rescue disks, etc.
whiptail is designed to be drop-in compatible with dialog, but
has less features: some dialog boxes are not implemented, such
as tailbox, timebox, calendarbox, etc.
Comparing actual sizes (Debian testing, 2007/1/10): The total of sizes
for whiptail, the newt, popt and slang libraries is 757 KB. The
comparable number for dialog (counting ncurses) is 520 KB. Disregard
the first paragraph.
The second paragraph is misleading, since whiptail also does not work
for common options of dialog, such as the gauge box. whiptail is less
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compatible with dialog than the original mid-1990s dialog 0.4 program.
whiptail's manpage borrows features from dialog, e.g., but oddly cites
only dialog versions up to 0.4 (1994) as a source. That is, its
manpage refers to features which were borrowed from more recent
versions of dialog, e.g.,
+ --gauge (from 0.5)
+ --passwordbox (from Debian changes in 1999),
+ --default-item (from dialog 2000/02/22),
+ --output-fd (from dialog 2002/08/14).
Debian uses whiptail for the official dialog variation.
The dialog program ignores or maps these options which are recognized
by whiptail:
tab(/) ; lI lI _ _ l l. Option/Treatment --cancel-button/mapped
to --cancel-label --fb/ignored --fullbutton/ignored
--no-button/mapped to --no-label --nocancel/mapped to --no-cancel
--noitem/mapped to --no-items --notags/mapped to --no-tags
--ok-button/mapped to --ok-label --scrolltext/mapped to
--scrollbar --topleft/mapped to --begin 0 0 --yes-button/mapped
to --yes-label _
There are visual differences which are not addressed by command-line
options:
+ dialog centers lists within the window. whiptail typically puts
lists against the left margin.
+ whiptail uses angle brackets ("<" and ">") for marking buttons.
dialog uses square brackets.
+ whiptail marks the limits of subtitles with vertical bars. dialog
does not mark the limits.
+ whiptail attempts to mark the top/bottom cells of a scrollbar with
up/down arrows. When it cannot do this, it fills those cells with
the background color of the scrollbar and confusing the user.
dialog uses the entire scrollbar space, thereby getting better
resolution.
BUGS
Perhaps.
EXAMPLES
The dialog sources contain several samples of how to use the different
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box options and how they look. Just take a look into the directory
samples/ of the source.
AUTHORS
Thomas E. Dickey (updates for 0.9b and beyond) Kiran Cherupally the
mixed form and mixed gauge widgets. Tobias C. Rittweiler Valery
Reznic the form and progressbox widgets. Yura Kalinichenko adapted
the gauge widget as "pause".
This is a rewrite (except as needed to provide compatibility) of the
earlier version of dialog 0.9a, which lists as authors:
+ Savio Lam version 0.3, "dialog"
+ Stuart Herbert patch for version 0.4
+ Marc Ewing the gauge widget.
+ Pasquale De Marco "Pako" version 0.9a, "cdialog"
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