1DIALOG(1) General Commands Manual DIALOG(1)
2
6 dialog - display dialog boxes from shell scripts
7
9 dialog --clear
10 dialog --create-rc file
11 dialog --print-maxsize
12 dialog common-options box-options
13
15 Dialog is a program that will let you present a variety of questions or
16 display messages using dialog boxes from a shell script. These types
17 of dialog boxes are implemented (though not all are necessarily com‐
18 piled into dialog):
19 buildlist, calendar, checklist, dselect, editbox, form, fselect,
21 gauge, infobox, inputbox, inputmenu, menu, mixedform,
22 mixedgauge, msgbox (message), passwordbox, passwordform, pause,
23 prgbox, programbox, progressbox, radiolist, rangebox, tailbox,
24 tailboxbg, textbox, timebox, treeview, and yesno (yes/no).
25 You can put more than one dialog box into a script:
27 · Use the "--and-widget" token to force dialog to proceed to the next
29 dialog unless you have pressed ESC to cancel, or
30 · Simply add the tokens for the next dialog box, making a chain. Di‐
32 alog stops chaining when the return code from a dialog is nonzero,
33 e.g., Cancel or No (see DIAGNOSTICS).
34 Some widgets, e.g., checklist, will write text to dialog's output.
36 Normally that is the standard error, but there are options for changing
37 this: "--output-fd", "--stderr" and "--stdout". No text is written if
38 the Cancel button (or ESC) is pressed; dialog exits immediately in that
39 case.
40
42 All options begin with "--" (two ASCII hyphens, for the benefit of
43 those using systems with deranged locale support).
44 A "--" by itself is used as an escape, i.e., the next token on the com‐
46 mand-line is not treated as an option.
47 dialog --title -- --Not an option
48 The "--args" option tells dialog to list the command-line parameters to
50 the standard error. This is useful when debugging complex scripts us‐
51 ing the "--" and "--file", since the command-line may be rewritten as
52 these are expanded.
53 The "--file" option tells dialog to read parameters from the file named
55 as its value.
56 dialog --file parameterfile
57 Blanks not within double-quotes are discarded (use backslashes to quote
59 single characters). The result is inserted into the command-line, re‐
60 placing "--file" and its option value. Interpretation of the command-
61 line resumes from that point. If parameterfile begins with "&", dialog
62 interprets the following text as a file descriptor number rather than a
63 filename.
64 Most widgets accept height and width parameters, which can be used to
66 automatically size the widget to accommodate multi-line message prompt
67 values:
68 · If the parameter is negative, dialog uses the screen's size.
70 · If the parameter is zero, dialog uses minimum size for the widget
72 to display the prompt and data.
73 · Otherwise, dialog uses the given size for the widget.
75 Common Options
77 Most of the common options are reset before processing each widget.
78 --ascii-lines
80 Rather than draw graphics lines around boxes, draw ASCII "+" and
81 "-" in the same place. See also "--no-lines".
82 --aspect ratio
84 This gives you some control over the box dimensions when using
85 auto sizing (specifying 0 for height and width). It represents
86 width / height. The default is 9, which means 9 characters wide
87 to every 1 line high.
88 --backtitle backtitle
90 Specifies a backtitle string to be displayed on the backdrop, at
91 the top of the screen.
92 --begin y x
94 Specify the position of the upper left corner of a dialog box on
95 the screen.
96 --cancel-label string
98 Override the label used for “Cancel” buttons.
99 --clear
101 Clears the widget screen, keeping only the screen_color back‐
102 ground. Use this when you combine widgets with "--and-widget"
103 to erase the contents of a previous widget on the screen, so it
104 won't be seen under the contents of a following widget. Under‐
105 stand this as the complement of "--keep-window". To compare the
106 effects, use these:
107 All three widgets visible, staircase effect, ordered 1,2,3:
109 dialog \
111 --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
112 --and-widget --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
113 --and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
114 Only the last widget is left visible:
116 dialog \
118 --clear --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
119 --and-widget --clear --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
120 --and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
121 All three widgets visible, staircase effect, ordered 3,2,1:
123 dialog \
125 --keep-window --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
126 --and-widget --keep-window --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
127 --and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
128 First and third widget visible, staircase effect, ordered 3,1:
130 dialog \
132 --keep-window --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
133 --and-widget --clear --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
134 --and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
135 Note, if you want to restore original console colors and send
137 your cursor home after the dialog program has exited, use the
138 clear (1) command.
139 --colors
141 Interpret embedded "\Z" sequences in the dialog text by the fol‐
142 lowing character, which tells dialog to set colors or video at‐
143 tributes:
144 · 0 through 7 are the ANSI color numbers used in curses:
146 black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan and white re‐
147 spectively.
148 · Bold is set by 'b', reset by 'B'.
150 · Reverse is set by 'r', reset by 'R'.
152 · Underline is set by 'u', reset by 'U'.
154 · The settings are cumulative, e.g., "\Zb\Z1" makes the fol‐
156 lowing text bold (perhaps bright) red.
157 · Restore normal settings with "\Zn".
159 --column-separator string
161 Tell dialog to split data for radio/checkboxes and menus on the
162 occurrences of the given string, and to align the split data in‐
163 to columns.
164 --cr-wrap
166 Interpret embedded newlines in the dialog text as a newline on
167 the screen. Otherwise, dialog will only wrap lines where needed
168 to fit inside the text box.
169 Even though you can control line breaks with this, Dialog will
171 still wrap any lines that are too long for the width of the box.
172 Without cr-wrap, the layout of your text may be formatted to
173 look nice in the source code of your script without affecting
174 the way it will look in the dialog.
175 The cr-wrap feature is implemented subject to these conditions:
177 · the string contains “\n” and the --no-nl-expand option is
179 not used, or
180 · the --trim option is used.
182 For more information, see Whitespace Options.
184 --create-rc file
186 When dialog supports run-time configuration, this can be used to
187 dump a sample configuration file to the file specified by file.
188 --date-format format
190 If the host provides strftime, this option allows you to specify
191 the format of the date printed for the --calendar widget. The
192 time of day (hour, minute, second) are the current local time.
193 --defaultno
195 Make the default value of the yes/no box a No. Likewise, treat
196 the default button of widgets that provide “OK” and “Cancel” as
197 a Cancel. If "--nocancel" or "--visit-items" are given those
198 options overrides this, making the default button always “Yes”
199 (internally the same as “OK”).
200 --default-button string
202 Set the default (preselected) button in a widget. By preselect‐
203 ing a button, a script makes it possible for the user to simply
204 press Enter to proceed through a dialog with minimum interac‐
205 tion.
206 The option's value is the name of the button: ok, yes, cancel,
208 no, help or extra.
209 Normally the first button in each widget is the default. The
211 first button shown is determined by the widget together with the
212 "--nook" and "--nocancel options. If this option is not given,
213 there is no default button assigned.
214 --default-item string
216 Set the default item in a checklist, form or menu box. Normally
217 the first item in the box is the default.
218 --exit-label string
220 Override the label used for “EXIT” buttons.
221 --extra-button
223 Show an extra button, between “OK” and “Cancel” buttons.
224 --extra-label string
226 Override the label used for “Extra” buttons. Note: for input‐
227 menu widgets, this defaults to “Rename”.
228 --help Prints the help message to the standard output and exits. The
230 help message is also printed if no options are given, or if an
231 unrecognized option is given.
232 --help-button
234 Show a help-button after “OK” and “Cancel” buttons, e.g., in
235 checklist, radiolist and menu boxes, and other widgets which
236 have an “OK” button, whether or not the “Cancel” button is used.
237 On exit, the return status will indicate that the Help button
239 was pressed. Dialog will also write a message to its output af‐
240 ter the token “HELP”:
241 · If "--item-help" is also given, the item-help text will be
243 written.
244 · Otherwise, the item's tag (the first field) will be written.
246 You can use the --help-tags option and/or set the DIA‐
248 LOG_ITEM_HELP environment variable to modify these messages and
249 exit-status.
250 --help-label string
252 Override the label used for “Help” buttons.
253 --help-status
255 If the help-button is selected, writes the checklist, radiolist
256 or form information after the item-help “HELP” information.
257 This can be used to reconstruct the state of a checklist after
258 processing the help request.
259 --help-tags
261 Modify the messages written on exit for --help-button by making
262 them always just the item's tag. This does not affect the exit
263 status code.
264 --hfile filename
266 Display the given file using a textbox when the user presses F1.
267 --hline string
269 Display the given string centered at the bottom of the widget.
270 --ignore
272 Ignore options that dialog does not recognize. Some well-known
273 ones such as "--icon" are ignored anyway, but this is a better
274 choice for compatibility with other implementations.
275 --input-fd fd
277 Read keyboard input from the given file descriptor. Most dialog
278 scripts read from the standard input, but the gauge widget reads
279 a pipe (which is always standard input). Some configurations do
280 not work properly when dialog tries to reopen the terminal. Use
281 this option (with appropriate juggling of file-descriptors) if
282 your script must work in that type of environment.
283 --insecure
285 Makes the password widget friendlier but less secure, by echoing
286 asterisks for each character.
287 --iso-week
289 Set the starting point for the week-number shown in the "--cal‐
290 endar" option according to ISO-8601, which starts numbering with
291 the first week which includes a Thursday in January.
292 --item-help
294 Interpret the tags data for checklist, radiolist and menu boxes
295 adding a column which is displayed in the bottom line of the
296 screen, for the currently selected item.
297 --keep-tite
299 When built with ncurses, dialog normally checks to see if it is
300 running in an xterm, and in that case tries to suppress the ini‐
301 tialization strings that would make it switch to the alternate
302 screen. Switching between the normal and alternate screens is
303 visually distracting in a script which runs dialog several
304 times. Use this option to allow dialog to use those initializa‐
305 tion strings.
306 --keep-window
308 Normally when dialog performs several tailboxbg widgets connect‐
309 ed by "--and-widget", it clears the old widget from the screen
310 by painting over it. Use this option to suppress that repaint‐
311 ing.
312 At exit, dialog repaints all of the widgets which have been
314 marked with "--keep-window", even if they are not tailboxbg wid‐
315 gets. That causes them to be repainted in reverse order. See
316 the discussion of the "--clear" option for examples.
317 --last-key
319 At exit, report the last key which the user entered. This is
320 the curses key code rather than a symbol or literal character.
321 It can be used by scripts to distinguish between two keys which
322 are bound to the same action.
323 --max-input size
325 Limit input strings to the given size. If not specified, the
326 limit is 2048.
327 --no-cancel
329 --nocancel
331 Suppress the “Cancel” button in checklist, inputbox and menu box
332 modes. A script can still test if the user pressed the ESC key
333 to cancel to quit.
334 --no-collapse
336 Normally dialog converts tabs to spaces and reduces multiple
337 spaces to a single space for text which is displayed in a mes‐
338 sage boxes, etc. Use this option to disable that feature. Note
339 that dialog will still wrap text, subject to the "--cr-wrap" and
340 "--trim" options.
341 The no-collapse feature is implemented subject to these condi‐
343 tions:
344 · the string contains “\n” and the --no-nl-expand option is
346 not used, or
347 · the --trim option is not used.
349 For more information, see Whitespace Options.
351 --no-items
353 Some widgets (checklist, inputmenu, radiolist, menu) display a
354 list with two columns (a “tag” and “item”, i.e., “description”).
355 This option tells dialog to read shorter rows, omitting the
356 “item” part of the list. This is occasionally useful, e.g., if
357 the tags provide enough information.
358 See also --no-tags. If both options are given, this one is ig‐
360 nored.
361 --no-kill
363 Tells dialog to put the tailboxbg box in the background, print‐
364 ing its process id to dialog's output. SIGHUP is disabled for
365 the background process.
366 --no-label string
368 Override the label used for “No” buttons.
369 --no-lines
371 Rather than draw lines around boxes, draw spaces in the same
372 place. See also "--ascii-lines".
373 --no-mouse
375 Do not enable the mouse.
376 --no-nl-expand
378 Do not convert "\n" substrings of the message/prompt text into
379 literal newlines.
380 The no-nl-expand feature is used only if the string contains
382 “\n” so that there is something to convert.
383 For more information, see Whitespace Options.
385 --no-ok
387 --nook Suppress the “OK” button in checklist, inputbox and menu box
389 modes. A script can still test if the user pressed the “Enter”
390 key to accept the data.
391 --no-shadow
393 Suppress shadows that would be drawn to the right and bottom of
394 each dialog box.
395 --no-tags
397 Some widgets (checklist, inputmenu, radiolist, menu) display a
398 list with two columns (a “tag” and “description”). The tag is
399 useful for scripting, but may not help the user. The --no-tags
400 option (from Xdialog) may be used to suppress the column of tags
401 from the display. Unlike the --no-items option, this does not
402 affect the data which is read from the script.
403 Xdialog does not display the tag column for the analogous
405 buildlist and treeview widgets; dialog does the same.
406 Normally dialog allows you to quickly move to entries on the
408 displayed list, by matching a single character to the first
409 character of the tag. When the --no-tags option is given, dia‐
410 log matches against the first character of the description. In
411 either case, the matchable character is highlighted.
412 --ok-label string
414 Override the label used for “OK” buttons.
415 --output-fd fd
417 Direct output to the given file descriptor. Most dialog scripts
418 write to the standard error, but error messages may also be
419 written there, depending on your script.
420 --separator string
422 --output-separator string
424 Specify a string that will separate the output on dialog's out‐
425 put from checklists, rather than a newline (for --separate-out‐
426 put) or a space. This applies to other widgets such as forms
427 and editboxes which normally use a newline.
428 --print-maxsize
430 Print the maximum size of dialog boxes, i.e., the screen size,
431 to dialog's output. This may be used alone, without other op‐
432 tions.
433 --print-size
435 Prints the size of each dialog box to dialog's output when the
436 box is initialized.
437 --print-text-only string [ height [ width ] ]
439 Prints the string as it would be wrapped in a message box to di‐
440 alog's output.
441 Because the optional height and width default to zero, if they
443 are omitted, dialog autosizes according to the screen dimen‐
444 sions.
445 --print-text-size string [ height [ width ] ]
447 Prints the size of the string as it would be wrapped in a mes‐
448 sage box, to dialog's output, as
449 height width
451 Because the optional height and width parameters default to ze‐
453 ro, if they are omitted, dialog autosizes according to the
454 screen dimensions.
455 --print-version
457 Prints dialog's version to dialog's output. This may be used
458 alone, without other options. It does not cause dialog to exit
459 by itself.
460 --quoted
462 Normally dialog quotes the strings returned by checklist's as
463 well as the item-help text. Use this option to quote all string
464 results.
465 --reorder
467 By default, the buildlist widget uses the same order for the
468 output (right) list as for the input (left). Use this option to
469 tell dialog to use the order in which a user adds selections to
470 the output list.
471 --scrollbar
473 For widgets holding a scrollable set of data, draw a scrollbar
474 on its right-margin. This does not respond to the mouse.
475 --separate-output
477 For certain widgets (buildlist, checklist, treeview), output re‐
478 sult one line at a time, with no quoting. This facilitates
479 parsing by another program.
480 --separate-widget string
482 Specify a string that will separate the output on dialog's out‐
483 put from each widget. This is used to simplify parsing the re‐
484 sult of a dialog with several widgets. If this option is not
485 given, the default separator string is a tab character.
486 --shadow
488 Draw a shadow to the right and bottom of each dialog box.
489 --single-quoted
491 Use single-quoting as needed (and no quotes if unneeded) for the
492 output of checklist's as well as the item-help text. If this
493 option is not set, dialog uses double quotes around each item.
494 In either case, dialog adds backslashes to make the output use‐
495 ful in shell scripts.
496 --size-err
498 Check the resulting size of a dialog box before trying to use
499 it, printing the resulting size if it is larger than the screen.
500 (This option is obsolete, since all new-window calls are
501 checked).
502 --sleep secs
504 Sleep (delay) for the given number of seconds after processing a
505 dialog box.
506 --stderr
508 Direct output to the standard error. This is the default, since
509 curses normally writes screen updates to the standard output.
510 --stdout
512 Direct output to the standard output. This option is provided
513 for compatibility with Xdialog, however using it in portable
514 scripts is not recommended, since curses normally writes its
515 screen updates to the standard output. If you use this option,
516 dialog attempts to reopen the terminal so it can write to the
517 display. Depending on the platform and your environment, that
518 may fail.
519 --tab-correct
521 Convert each tab character to one or more spaces (for the
522 textbox widget; otherwise to a single space). Otherwise, tabs
523 are rendered according to the curses library's interpretation.
524 The --no-collapse option disables tab expansion.
525 --tab-len n
527 Specify the number of spaces that a tab character occupies if
528 the "--tab-correct" option is given. The default is 8. This
529 option is only effective for the textbox widget.
530 --time-format format
532 If the host provides strftime, this option allows you to specify
533 the format of the time printed for the --timebox widget. The
534 day, month, year values in this case are for the current local
535 time.
536 --timeout secs
538 Timeout (exit with error code) if no user response within the
539 given number of seconds. A timeout of zero seconds is ignored.
540 This option is ignored by the "--pause" widget. It is also
542 overridden if the background "--tailboxbg" option is used to set
543 up multiple concurrent widgets.
544 --title title
546 Specifies a title string to be displayed at the top of the dia‐
547 log box.
548 --trace filename
550 logs the command-line parameters, keystrokes and other informa‐
551 tion to the given file. If dialog reads a configure file, it is
552 logged as well. Piped input to the gauge widget is logged. Use
553 control/T to log a picture of the current dialog window.
554 The dialog program handles some command-line parameters special‐
556 ly, and removes them from the parameter list as they are pro‐
557 cessed. For example, if the first option is --trace, then that
558 is processed (and removed) before dialog initializes the dis‐
559 play.
560 --week-start day
562 sets the starting day for the week, used in the "--calendar" op‐
563 tion. The day parameter can be
564 · a number (0 to 6, Sunday through Saturday using POSIX) or
566 · the special value “locale” (this works with systems using
568 glibc, providing an extension to the locale command, the
569 first_weekday value).
570 · a string matching one of the abbreviations for the day of
572 the week shown in the calendar widget, e.g., “Mo” for “Mon‐
573 day”.
574 --trim eliminate leading blanks, trim literal newlines and repeated
576 blanks from message text.
577 The trim feature is implemented subject to these conditions:
579 · the string does not contain “\n” or
581 · the --no-nl-expand option is used.
583 For more information, see Whitespace Options.
585 See also the "--cr-wrap" and "--no-collapse" options.
587 --version
589 Prints dialog's version to the standard output, and exits. See
590 also "--print-version".
591 --visit-items
593 Modify the tab-traversal of checklist, radiolist, menubox and
594 inputmenu to include the list of items as one of the states.
595 This is useful as a visual aid, i.e., the cursor position helps
596 some users.
597 When this option is given, the cursor is initially placed on the
599 list. Abbreviations (the first letter of the tag) apply to the
600 list items. If you tab to the button row, abbreviations apply
601 to the buttons.
602 --yes-label string
604 Override the label used for “Yes” buttons.
605 Box Options
607 All dialog boxes have at least three parameters:
608 text the caption or contents of the box.
610 height the height of the dialog box.
612 width the width of the dialog box.
614 Other parameters depend on the box type.
616 --buildlist text height width list-height [ tag item status ] ...
618 A buildlist dialog displays two lists, side-by-side. The list
619 on the left shows unselected items. The list on the right shows
620 selected items. As items are selected or unselected, they move
621 between the lists.
622 Use a carriage return or the “OK” button to accept the current
624 value in the selected-window and exit. The results are written
625 using the order displayed in the selected-window.
626 The initial on/off state of each entry is specified by status.
628 The dialog behaves like a menu, using the --visit-items to con‐
630 trol whether the cursor is allowed to visit the lists directly.
631 · If --visit-items is not given, tab-traversal uses two states
633 (OK/Cancel).
634 · If --visit-items is given, tab-traversal uses four states
636 (Left/Right/OK/Cancel).
637 Whether or not --visit-items is given, it is possible to move
639 the highlight between the two lists using the default "^" (left-
640 column) and "$" (right-column) keys.
641 On exit, a list of the tag strings of those entries that are
643 turned on will be printed on dialog's output.
644 If the "--separate-output" option is not given, the strings will
646 be quoted as needed to make it simple for scripts to separate
647 them. By default, this uses double-quotes. See the "--single-
648 quoted" option, which modifies the quoting behavior.
649 --calendar text height width day month year
651 A calendar box displays month, day and year in separately ad‐
652 justable windows. If the values for day, month or year are
653 missing or negative, the current date's corresponding values are
654 used. You can increment or decrement any of those using the
655 left-, up-, right-, and down-arrows. Use vi-style h, j, k and l
656 for moving around the array of days in a month. Use tab or
657 backtab to move between windows. If the year is given as zero,
658 the current date is used as an initial value.
659 On exit, the date is printed in the form day/month/year. The
661 format can be overridden using the --date-format option.
662 --checklist text height width list-height [ tag item status ] ...
664 A checklist box is similar to a menu box; there are multiple en‐
665 tries presented in the form of a menu. Another difference is
666 that you can indicate which entry is currently selected, by set‐
667 ting its status to on. Instead of choosing one entry among the
668 entries, each entry can be turned on or off by the user. The
669 initial on/off state of each entry is specified by status.
670 On exit, a list of the tag strings of those entries that are
672 turned on will be printed on dialog's output.
673 If the "--separate-output" option is not given, the strings will
675 be quoted as needed to make it simple for scripts to separate
676 them. By default, this uses double-quotes. See the "--single-
677 quoted" option, which modifies the quoting behavior.
678 --dselect filepath height width
680 The directory-selection dialog displays a text-entry window in
681 which you can type a directory, and above that a windows with
682 directory names.
683 Here filepath can be a filepath in which case the directory win‐
685 dow will display the contents of the path and the text-entry
686 window will contain the preselected directory.
687 Use tab or arrow keys to move between the windows. Within the
689 directory window, use the up/down arrow keys to scroll the cur‐
690 rent selection. Use the space-bar to copy the current selection
691 into the text-entry window.
692 Typing any printable characters switches focus to the text-entry
694 window, entering that character as well as scrolling the direc‐
695 tory window to the closest match.
696 Use a carriage return or the “OK” button to accept the current
698 value in the text-entry window and exit.
699 On exit, the contents of the text-entry window are written to
701 dialog's output.
702 --editbox filepath height width
704 The edit-box dialog displays a copy of the file. You may edit
705 it using the backspace, delete and cursor keys to correct typing
706 errors. It also recognizes pageup/pagedown. Unlike the --in‐
707 putbox, you must tab to the “OK” or “Cancel” buttons to close
708 the dialog. Pressing the “Enter” key within the box will split
709 the corresponding line.
710 On exit, the contents of the edit window are written to dialog's
712 output.
713 --form text height width formheight [ label y x item y x flen ilen ] ...
715 The form dialog displays a form consisting of labels and fields,
716 which are positioned on a scrollable window by coordinates given
717 in the script. The field length flen and input-length ilen tell
718 how long the field can be. The former defines the length shown
719 for a selected field, while the latter defines the permissible
720 length of the data entered in the field.
721 · If flen is zero, the corresponding field cannot be altered.
723 and the contents of the field determine the displayed-
724 length.
725 · If flen is negative, the corresponding field cannot be al‐
727 tered, and the negated value of flen is used as the dis‐
728 played-length.
729 · If ilen is zero, it is set to flen.
731 Use up/down arrows (or control/N, control/P) to move between
733 fields. Use tab to move between windows.
734 On exit, the contents of the form-fields are written to dialog's
736 output, each field separated by a newline. The text used to
737 fill non-editable fields (flen is zero or negative) is not writ‐
738 ten out.
739 --fselect filepath height width
741 The fselect (file-selection) dialog displays a text-entry window
742 in which you can type a filename (or directory), and above that
743 two windows with directory names and filenames.
744 Here filepath can be a filepath in which case the file and di‐
746 rectory windows will display the contents of the path and the
747 text-entry window will contain the preselected filename.
748 Use tab or arrow keys to move between the windows. Within the
750 directory or filename windows, use the up/down arrow keys to
751 scroll the current selection. Use the space-bar to copy the
752 current selection into the text-entry window.
753 Typing any printable characters switches focus to the text-entry
755 window, entering that character as well as scrolling the direc‐
756 tory and filename windows to the closest match.
757 Typing the space character forces dialog to complete the current
759 name (up to the point where there may be a match against more
760 than one entry).
761 Use a carriage return or the “OK” button to accept the current
763 value in the text-entry window and exit.
764 On exit, the contents of the text-entry window are written to
766 dialog's output.
767 --gauge text height width [percent]
769 A gauge box displays a meter along the bottom of the box. The
770 meter indicates the percentage. New percentages are read from
771 standard input, one integer per line. The meter is updated to
772 reflect each new percentage. If the standard input reads the
773 string “XXX”, then the first line following is taken as an inte‐
774 ger percentage, then subsequent lines up to another “XXX” are
775 used for a new prompt. The gauge exits when EOF is reached on
776 the standard input.
777 The percent value denotes the initial percentage shown in the
779 meter. If not specified, it is zero.
780 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. The widget ac‐
782 cepts no input, so the exit status is always OK.
783 --infobox text height width
785 An info box is basically a message box. However, in this case,
786 dialog will exit immediately after displaying the message to the
787 user. The screen is not cleared when dialog exits, so that the
788 message will remain on the screen until the calling shell script
789 clears it later. This is useful when you want to inform the us‐
790 er that some operations are carrying on that may require some
791 time to finish.
792 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. An OK exit sta‐
794 tus is returned.
795 --inputbox text height width [init]
797 An input box is useful when you want to ask questions that re‐
798 quire the user to input a string as the answer. If init is sup‐
799 plied it is used to initialize the input string. When entering
800 the string, the backspace, delete and cursor keys can be used to
801 correct typing errors. If the input string is longer than can
802 fit in the dialog box, the input field will be scrolled.
803 On exit, the input string will be printed on dialog's output.
805 --inputmenu text height width menu-height [ tag item ] ...
807 An inputmenu box is very similar to an ordinary menu box. There
808 are only a few differences between them:
809 1. The entries are not automatically centered but left adjust‐
811 ed.
812 2. An extra button (called Rename) is implied to rename the
814 current item when it is pressed.
815 3. It is possible to rename the current entry by pressing the
817 Rename button. Then dialog will write the following on dia‐
818 log's output.
819 RENAMED <tag> <item>
821 --menu text height width menu-height [ tag item ] ...
823 As its name suggests, a menu box is a dialog box that can be
824 used to present a list of choices in the form of a menu for the
825 user to choose. Choices are displayed in the order given. Each
826 menu entry consists of a tag string and an item string. The tag
827 gives the entry a name to distinguish it from the other entries
828 in the menu. The item is a short description of the option that
829 the entry represents. The user can move between the menu en‐
830 tries by pressing the cursor keys, the first letter of the tag
831 as a hot-key, or the number keys 1 through 9. There are menu-
832 height entries displayed in the menu at one time, but the menu
833 will be scrolled if there are more entries than that.
834 On exit the tag of the chosen menu entry will be printed on dia‐
836 log's output. If the "--help-button" option is given, the cor‐
837 responding help text will be printed if the user selects the
838 help button.
839 --mixedform text height width formheight [ label y x item y x flen ilen itype ] ...
841 The mixedform dialog displays a form consisting of labels and
842 fields, much like the --form dialog. It differs by adding a
843 field-type parameter to each field's description. Each bit in
844 the type denotes an attribute of the field:
845 1 hidden, e.g., a password field.
847 2 readonly, e.g., a label.
849 --mixedgauge text height width percent [ tag1 item1 ] ...
851 A mixedgauge box displays a meter along the bottom of the box.
852 The meter indicates the percentage.
853 It also displays a list of the tag- and item-values at the top
855 of the box. See dialog(3) for the tag values.
856 The text is shown as a caption between the list and meter. The
858 percent value denotes the initial percentage shown in the meter.
859 No provision is made for reading data from the standard input as
861 --gauge does.
862 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. The widget ac‐
864 cepts no input, so the exit status is always OK.
865 --msgbox text height width
867 A message box is very similar to a yes/no box. The only differ‐
868 ence between a message box and a yes/no box is that a message
869 box has only a single OK button. You can use this dialog box to
870 display any message you like. After reading the message, the
871 user can press the ENTER key so that dialog will exit and the
872 calling shell script can continue its operation.
873 If the message is too large for the space, dialog may allow you
875 to scroll it, provided that the underlying curses implementation
876 is capable enough. In this case, a percentage is shown in the
877 base of the widget.
878 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an “OK”
880 button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be re‐
881 turned.
882 --pause text height width seconds
884 A pause box displays a meter along the bottom of the box. The
885 meter indicates how many seconds remain until the end of the
886 pause. The pause exits when timeout is reached or the user
887 presses the OK button (status OK) or the user presses the CANCEL
888 button or Esc key.
889 --passwordbox text height width [init]
891 A password box is similar to an input box, except that the text
892 the user enters is not displayed. This is useful when prompting
893 for passwords or other sensitive information. Be aware that if
894 anything is passed in “init”, it will be visible in the system's
895 process table to casual snoopers. Also, it is very confusing to
896 the user to provide them with a default password they cannot
897 see. For these reasons, using “init” is highly discouraged.
898 See "--insecure" if you do not care about your password.
899 On exit, the input string will be printed on dialog's output.
901 --passwordform text height width formheight [ label y x item y x flen ilen ] ...
903 This is identical to --form except that all text fields are
904 treated as password widgets rather than inputbox widgets.
905 --prgbox text command height width
907 --prgbox command height width
909 A prgbox is very similar to a programbox.
910 This dialog box is used to display the output of a command that
912 is specified as an argument to prgbox.
913 After the command completes, the user can press the ENTER key so
915 that dialog will exit and the calling shell script can continue
916 its operation.
917 If three parameters are given, it displays the text under the
919 title, delineated from the scrolling file's contents. If only
920 two parameters are given, this text is omitted.
921 --programbox text height width
923 --programbox height width
925 A programbox is very similar to a progressbox. The only differ‐
926 ence between a program box and a progress box is that a program
927 box displays an OK button (but only after the command com‐
928 pletes).
929 This dialog box is used to display the piped output of a com‐
931 mand. After the command completes, the user can press the ENTER
932 key so that dialog will exit and the calling shell script can
933 continue its operation.
934 If three parameters are given, it displays the text under the
936 title, delineated from the scrolling file's contents. If only
937 two parameters are given, this text is omitted.
938 --progressbox text height width
940 --progressbox height width
942 A progressbox is similar to an tailbox, except that
943 a) rather than displaying the contents of a file,
945 it displays the piped output of a command and
946 b) it will exit when it reaches the end of the file
948 (there is no “OK” button).
949 If three parameters are given, it displays the text under the
951 title, delineated from the scrolling file's contents. If only
952 two parameters are given, this text is omitted.
953 --radiolist text height width list-height [ tag item status ] ...
955 A radiolist box is similar to a menu box. The only difference
956 is that you can indicate which entry is currently selected, by
957 setting its status to on.
958 On exit, the tag of the selected item is written to dialog's
960 output.
961 --tailbox file height width
963 Display text from a file in a dialog box, as in a "tail -f" com‐
964 mand. Scroll left/right using vi-style 'h' and 'l', or arrow-
965 keys. A '0' resets the scrolling.
966 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an “OK”
968 button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be re‐
969 turned.
970 --rangebox text height width min-value max-value default-value
972 Allow the user to select from a range of values, e.g., using a
973 slider. The dialog shows the current value as a bar (like the
974 gauge dialog). Tabs or arrow keys move the cursor between the
975 buttons and the value. When the cursor is on the value, you can
976 edit it by:
977 left/right cursor movement to select a digit to modify
979 +/- characters to increment/decrement the digit by one
981 0 through 9
983 to set the digit to the given value
984 Some keys are also recognized in all cursor positions:
986 home/end
988 set the value to its maximum or minimum
989 pageup/pagedown
991 increment the value so that the slider moves by one column
992 --tailboxbg file height width
994 Display text from a file in a dialog box as a background task,
995 as in a "tail -f &" command. Scroll left/right using vi-style
996 'h' and 'l', or arrow-keys. A '0' resets the scrolling.
997 Dialog treats the background task specially if there are other
999 widgets (--and-widget) on the screen concurrently. Until those
1000 widgets are closed (e.g., an “OK”), dialog will perform all of
1001 the tailboxbg widgets in the same process, polling for updates.
1002 You may use a tab to traverse between the widgets on the screen,
1003 and close them individually, e.g., by pressing ENTER. Once the
1004 non-tailboxbg widgets are closed, dialog forks a copy of itself
1005 into the background, and prints its process id if the "--no-
1006 kill" option is given.
1007 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an “EXIT”
1009 button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be re‐
1010 turned.
1011 NOTE: Older versions of dialog forked immediately and attempted
1013 to update the screen individually. Besides being bad for per‐
1014 formance, it was unworkable. Some older scripts may not work
1015 properly with the polled scheme.
1016 --textbox file height width
1018 A text box lets you display the contents of a text file in a di‐
1019 alog box. It is like a simple text file viewer. The user can
1020 move through the file by using the cursor, page-up, page-down
1021 and HOME/END keys available on most keyboards. If the lines are
1022 too long to be displayed in the box, the LEFT/RIGHT keys can be
1023 used to scroll the text region horizontally. You may also use
1024 vi-style keys h, j, k, and l in place of the cursor keys, and B
1025 or N in place of the page-up and page-down keys. Scroll up/down
1026 using vi-style 'k' and 'j', or arrow-keys. Scroll left/right
1027 using vi-style 'h' and 'l', or arrow-keys. A '0' resets the
1028 left/right scrolling. For more convenience, vi-style forward
1029 and backward searching functions are also provided.
1030 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an “EXIT”
1032 button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be re‐
1033 turned.
1034 --timebox text height [width hour minute second]
1036 A dialog is displayed which allows you to select hour, minute
1037 and second. If the values for hour, minute or second are miss‐
1038 ing or negative, the current date's corresponding values are
1039 used. You can increment or decrement any of those using the
1040 left-, up-, right- and down-arrows. Use tab or backtab to move
1041 between windows.
1042 On exit, the result is printed in the form hour:minute:second.
1044 The format can be overridden using the --time-format option.
1045 --treeview text height width list-height [ tag item status depth ] ...
1047 Display data organized as a tree. Each group of data contains a
1048 tag, the text to display for the item, its status (“on” or
1049 “off”) and the depth of the item in the tree.
1050 Only one item can be selected (like the radiolist). The tag is
1052 not displayed.
1053 On exit, the tag of the selected item is written to dialog's
1055 output.
1056 --yesno text height width
1058 A yes/no dialog box of size height rows by width columns will be
1059 displayed. The string specified by text is displayed inside the
1060 dialog box. If this string is too long to fit in one line, it
1061 will be automatically divided into multiple lines at appropriate
1062 places. The text string can also contain the sub-string "\n" or
1063 newline characters `\n' to control line breaking explicitly.
1064 This dialog box is useful for asking questions that require the
1065 user to answer either yes or no. The dialog box has a Yes but‐
1066 ton and a No button, in which the user can switch between by
1067 pressing the TAB key.
1068 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. In addition to
1070 the “Yes” and “No” exit codes (see DIAGNOSTICS) an ESC exit sta‐
1071 tus may be returned.
1072 The codes used for “Yes” and “No” match those used for “OK” and
1074 “Cancel”, internally no distinction is made.
1075 Obsolete Options
1077 --beep This was used to tell the original cdialog that it should make a
1078 beep when the separate processes of the tailboxbg widget would
1079 repaint the screen.
1080 --beep-after
1082 Beep after a user has completed a widget by pressing one of the
1083 buttons.
1084 Whitespace Options
1086 These options can be used to transform whitespace (space, tab, newline)
1087 as dialog reads the script:
1088 --cr-wrap, --no-collapse, --no-nl-expand, and --trim
1089 The options are not independent:
1091 · Dialog checks if the script contains at least one “\n” and (unless
1093 --no-nl-expand is set) will ignore the --no-collapse and --trim op‐
1094 tions.
1095 · After checking for “\n” and the --no-nl-expand option, dialog han‐
1097 dles the --trim option.
1098 If the --trim option takes effect, then dialog ignores --no-col‐
1100 lapse. It changes sequences of tabs, spaces (and newlines unless
1101 -cr-wrap is set) to a single space.
1102 · If neither the “\n” or --trim cases apply, dialog checks --no-col‐
1104 lapse to decide whether to reduce sequences of tabs and spaces to a
1105 single space.
1106 In this case, dialog ignores -cr-wrap and does not modify newlines.
1108 Taking those dependencies into account, here is a table summarizing the
1110 behavior for the various combinations of options. The table assumes
1111 that the script contains at least one “\n” when the --no-nl-expand op‐
1112 tion is not set.
1113 cr- no- no- trim Result
1115 wrap collapse nl-expand
1116 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1117 no no no no Convert tab to space. Convert
1118 newline to space. Convert
1119 “\n” to newline.
1120 no no no yes Convert tab to space. Convert
1121 newline to space. Convert
1122 “\n” to newline.
1123 no no yes no Convert tab to space. Do not
1124 convert newline to space.
1125 Convert multiple-space to sin‐
1126 gle. Show “\n” literally.
1127 no no yes yes Convert tab to space. Convert
1128 multiple-space to single.
1129 Convert newline to space.
1130 Show “\n” literally.
1131 no yes no no Convert newline to space.
1132 Convert “\n” to newline.
1133 no yes no yes Convert newline to space.
1134 Convert “\n” to newline.
1135 no yes yes no Do not convert newline to
1136 space. Do not reduce multiple
1137 blanks. Show “\n” literally.
1138 no yes yes yes Convert multiple-space to sin‐
1139 gle. Convert newline to
1140 space. Show “\n” literally.
1141 yes no no no Convert tab to space. Wrap on
1142 newline. Convert “\n” to new‐
1143 line.
1144 yes no no yes Convert tab to space. Wrap on
1145 newline. Convert “\n” to new‐
1146 line.
1147 yes no yes no Convert tab to space. Do not
1148 convert newline to space.
1149 Convert multiple-space to sin‐
1150 gle. Show “\n” literally.
1151 yes no yes yes Convert tab to space. Convert
1152 multiple-space to single.
1153 Wrap on newline. Show “\n”
1154 literally.
1155 yes yes no no Wrap on newline. Convert “\n”
1156 to newline.
1157 yes yes no yes Wrap on newline. Convert “\n”
1158 to newline.
1159 yes yes yes no Do not convert newline to
1160 space. Do not reduce multiple
1161 blanks. Show “\n” literally.
1162 yes yes yes yes Convert multiple-space to sin‐
1163 gle. Wrap on newline. Show
1164 “\n” literally.
1165
1167 1. Create a sample configuration file by typing:
1168 dialog --create-rc file
1170 2. At start, dialog determines the settings to use as follows:
1172 a) if environment variable DIALOGRC is set, its value determines
1174 the name of the configuration file.
1175 b) if the file in (a) is not found, use the file $HOME/.dialogrc
1177 as the configuration file.
1178 c) if the file in (b) is not found, try using the GLOBALRC file
1180 determined at compile-time, i.e., /etc/dialogrc.
1181 d) if the file in (c) is not found, use compiled in defaults.
1183 3. Edit the sample configuration file and copy it to some place that
1185 dialog can find, as stated in step 2 above.
1186
1188 You can override or add to key bindings in dialog by adding to the con‐
1189 figuration file. Dialog's bindkey command maps single keys to its in‐
1190 ternal coding.
1191 bindkey widget curses_key dialog_key
1193 The widget name can be "*" (all widgets), or specific widgets such as
1195 textbox. Specific widget bindings override the "*" bindings. User-de‐
1196 fined bindings override the built-in bindings.
1197 The curses_key can be any of the names derived from curses.h, e.g.,
1199 “HELP” from “KEY_HELP”. Dialog also recognizes ANSI control characters
1200 such as "^A", "^?", as well as C1-controls such as "~A" and "~?". Fi‐
1201 nally, it allows any single character to be escaped with a backslash.
1202 Dialog's internal keycode names correspond to the DLG_KEYS_ENUM type in
1204 dlg_keys.h, e.g., “HELP” from “DLGK_HELP”.
1205 Widget Names
1207 Some widgets (such as the formbox) have an area where fields can be
1208 edited. Those are managed in a subwindow of the widget, and may have
1209 separate keybindings from the main widget because the subwindows are
1210 registered using a different name.
1211 Widget Window name Subwindow Name
1213 ───────────────────────────────────────────
1214 calendar calendar
1215 checklist checklist
1216 editbox editbox editbox2
1217 form formbox formfield
1218 fselect fselect fselect2
1219 inputbox inputbox inputbox2
1220 menu menubox menu
1221 msgbox msgbox
1222 pause pause
1223 progressbox progressbox
1224 radiolist radiolist
1225 tailbox tailbox
1226 textbox textbox searchbox
1227 timebox timebox
1228 yesno yesno
1229 ───────────────────────────────────────────
1230 Some widgets are actually other widgets, using internal settings to
1232 modify the behavior. Those use the same widget name as the actual wid‐
1233 get:
1234 Widget Actual Widget
1236 ─────────────────────────────
1237 dselect fselect
1238 infobox msgbox
1239 inputmenu menu
1240 mixedform form
1241 passwordbox inputbox
1242 passwordform form
1243 prgbox progressbox
1244 programbox progressbox
1245 tailboxbg tailbox
1246 ─────────────────────────────
1247 Built-in Bindings
1249 This manual page does not list the key bindings for each widget, be‐
1250 cause that detailed information can be obtained by running dialog. If
1251 you have set the --trace option, dialog writes the key-binding informa‐
1252 tion for each widget as it is registered.
1253 Example
1255 Normally dialog uses different keys for navigating between the buttons
1256 and editing part of a dialog versus navigating within the editing part.
1257 That is, tab (and back-tab) traverse buttons (or between buttons and
1258 the editing part), while arrow keys traverse fields within the editing
1259 part. Tabs are also recognized as a special case for traversing be‐
1260 tween widgets, e.g., when using multiple tailboxbg widgets.
1261 Some users may wish to use the same key for traversing within the edit‐
1263 ing part as for traversing between buttons. The form widget is written
1264 to support this sort of redefinition of the keys, by adding a special
1265 group in dlgk_keys.h for “form” (left/right/next/prev). Here is an ex‐
1266 ample binding demonstrating how to do this:
1267 bindkey formfield TAB form_NEXT
1269 bindkey formbox TAB form_NEXT
1270 bindkey formfield BTAB form_prev
1271 bindkey formbox BTAB form_prev
1272 That type of redefinition would not be useful in other widgets, e.g.,
1274 calendar, due to the potentially large number of fields to traverse.
1275
1277 DIALOGOPTS Define this variable to apply any of the common options
1278 to each widget. Most of the common options are reset
1279 before processing each widget. If you set the options
1280 in this environment variable, they are applied to dia‐
1281 log's state after the reset. As in the "--file" option,
1282 double-quotes and backslashes are interpreted.
1283 The "--file" option is not considered a common option
1285 (so you cannot embed it within this environment vari‐
1286 able).
1287 DIALOGRC Define this variable if you want to specify the name of
1289 the configuration file to use.
1290 DIALOG_CANCEL
1292 DIALOG_ERROR
1294 DIALOG_ESC
1296 DIALOG_EXTRA
1298 DIALOG_HELP
1300 DIALOG_ITEM_HELP
1302 DIALOG_OK Define any of these variables to change the exit code on
1304 Cancel (1), error (-1), ESC (255), Extra (3), Help (2),
1305 Help with --item-help (2), or OK (0). Normally shell
1306 scripts cannot distinguish between -1 and 255.
1307 DIALOG_TTY Set this variable to “1” to provide compatibility with
1309 older versions of dialog which assumed that if the
1310 script redirects the standard output, that the "--std‐
1311 out" option was given.
1312
1314 $HOME/.dialogrc default configuration file
1315
1317 The dialog sources contain several samples of how to use the different
1318 box options and how they look. Just take a look into the directory
1319 samples/ of the source.
1320
1322 Exit status is subject to being overridden by environment variables.
1323 The default values and corresponding environment variables that can
1324 override them are:
1325 0 if the YES or OK button is pressed (DIALOG_OK).
1327 1 if the No or Cancel button is pressed (DIALOG_CANCEL).
1329 2 if the Help button is pressed (DIALOG_HELP),
1331 except as noted below about DIALOG_ITEM_HELP.
1332 3 if the Extra button is pressed (DIALOG_EXTRA).
1334 4 if the Help button is pressed,
1336 and the --item-help option is set
1337 and the DIALOG_ITEM_HELP environment variable is set to 4.
1338 While any of the exit-codes can be overridden using environment
1340 variables, this special case was introduced in 2004 to simplify
1341 compatibility. Dialog uses DIALOG_ITEM_HELP(4) internally, but
1342 unless the environment variable is also set, it changes that to
1343 DIALOG_HELP(2) on exit.
1344 -1 if errors occur inside dialog (DIALOG_ERROR) or dialog exits be‐
1346 cause the ESC key (DIALOG_ESC) was pressed.
1347
1349 Dialog works with X/Open curses. However, some implementations have
1350 deficiencies:
1351 · HPUX curses (and perhaps others) do not open the terminal prop‐
1353 erly for the newterm function. This interferes with dialog's
1354 --input-fd option, by preventing cursor-keys and similar escape
1355 sequences from being recognized.
1356 · NetBSD 5.1 curses has incomplete support for wide-characters.
1358 dialog will build, but not all examples display properly.
1359
1361 You may want to write scripts which run with other dialog “clones”.
1362 Original Dialog
1364 First, there is the “original” dialog program to consider (versions 0.3
1365 to 0.9). It had some misspelled (or inconsistent) options. The dialog
1366 program maps those deprecated options to the preferred ones. They in‐
1367 clude:
1368 Option Treatment
1370 ─────────────────────────────────
1371 --beep-after ignored
1372 --guage mapped to --gauge
1373 ─────────────────────────────────
1374 Xdialog
1376 This is an X application, rather than a terminal program. With some
1377 care, it is possible to write useful scripts that work with both Xdia‐
1378 log and dialog.
1379 The dialog program ignores these options which are recognized by Xdia‐
1381 log:
1382 Option Treatment
1384 ───────────────────────────────────────────────
1385 --allow-close ignored
1386 --auto-placement ignored
1387 --fixed-font ignored
1388 --icon ignored
1389 --keep-colors ignored
1390 --no-close ignored
1391 --no-cr-wrap ignored
1392 --screen-center ignored
1393 --separator mapped to --separate-output
1394 --smooth ignored
1395 --under-mouse ignored
1396 --wmclass ignored
1397 ───────────────────────────────────────────────
1398 Xdialog's manpage has a section discussing its compatibility with dia‐
1400 log. There are some differences not shown in the manpage. For exam‐
1401 ple, the html documentation states
1402 Note: former Xdialog releases used the "\n" (line feed) as a re‐
1404 sults separator for the checklist widget; this has been changed
1405 to "/" in Xdialog v1.5.0 to make it compatible with (c)dialog.
1406 In your old scripts using the Xdialog checklist, you will then
1407 have to add the --separate-output option before the --checklist
1408 one.
1409 Dialog has not used a different separator; the difference was likely
1411 due to confusion regarding some script.
1412 Whiptail
1414 Then there is whiptail. For practical purposes, it is maintained by
1415 Debian (very little work is done by its upstream developers). Its doc‐
1416 umentation (README.whiptail) claims
1417 whiptail(1) is a lightweight replacement for dialog(1),
1419 to provide dialog boxes for shell scripts.
1420 It is built on the
1421 newt windowing library rather than the ncurses library, allowing
1422 it to be smaller in embedded environments such as installers,
1423 rescue disks, etc.
1424 whiptail is designed to be drop-in compatible with dialog, but
1426 has less features: some dialog boxes are not implemented, such
1427 as tailbox, timebox, calendarbox, etc.
1428 Comparing actual sizes (Debian testing, 2007/1/10): The total of sizes
1430 for whiptail, the newt, popt and slang libraries is 757 KB. The compa‐
1431 rable number for dialog (counting ncurses) is 520 KB. Disregard the
1432 first paragraph.
1433 The second paragraph is misleading, since whiptail also does not work
1435 for common options of dialog, such as the gauge box. whiptail is less
1436 compatible with dialog than the original mid-1990s dialog 0.4 program.
1437 whiptail's manpage borrows features from dialog, e.g., but oddly cites
1439 only dialog versions up to 0.4 (1994) as a source. That is, its man‐
1440 page refers to features which were borrowed from more recent versions
1441 of dialog, e.g.,
1442 · --gauge (from 0.5)
1444 · --passwordbox (from Debian changes in 1999),
1446 · --default-item (from dialog 2000/02/22),
1448 · --output-fd (from dialog 2002/08/14).
1450 Somewhat humorously, one may note that the popt feature (undocumented
1452 in its manpage) of using a "--" as an escape was documented in dialog's
1453 manpage about a year before it was mentioned in whiptail's manpage.
1454 whiptail's manpage incorrectly attributes that to getopt (and is inac‐
1455 curate anyway).
1456 Debian uses whiptail for the official dialog variation.
1458 The dialog program ignores or maps these options which are recognized
1460 by whiptail:
1461 Option Treatment
1463 ───────────────────────────────────────────
1464 --cancel-button mapped to --cancel-label
1465 --fb ignored
1466 --fullbutton ignored
1467 --no-button mapped to --no-label
1468 --nocancel mapped to --no-cancel
1469 --noitem mapped to --no-items
1470 --notags mapped to --no-tags
1471 --ok-button mapped to --ok-label
1472 --scrolltext mapped to --scrollbar
1473 --topleft mapped to --begin 0 0
1474 --yes-button mapped to --yes-label
1475 ───────────────────────────────────────────
1476 There are visual differences which are not addressed by command-line
1478 options:
1479 · dialog centers lists within the window. whiptail typically puts
1481 lists against the left margin.
1482 · whiptail uses angle brackets ("<" and ">") for marking buttons.
1484 dialog uses square brackets.
1485 · whiptail marks the limits of subtitles with vertical bars. dialog
1487 does not mark the limits.
1488 · whiptail attempts to mark the top/bottom cells of a scrollbar with
1490 up/down arrows. When it cannot do this, it fills those cells with
1491 the background color of the scrollbar and confusing the user. dia‐
1492 log uses the entire scrollbar space, thereby getting better resolu‐
1493 tion.
1494
1496 Perhaps.
1497
1499 Thomas E. Dickey (updates for 0.9b and beyond)
1500
1502 Kiran Cherupally – the mixed form and mixed gauge widgets.
1503 Tobias C. Rittweiler
1505 Valery Reznic – the form and progressbox widgets.
1507 Yura Kalinichenko adapted the gauge widget as “pause”.
1509 This is a rewrite (except as needed to provide compatibility) of the
1511 earlier version of dialog 0.9a, which lists as authors:
1512 · Savio Lam – version 0.3, “dialog”
1514 · Stuart Herbert – patch for version 0.4
1516 · Marc Ewing – the gauge widget.
1518 · Pasquale De Marco “Pako” – version 0.9a, “cdialog”
1520$Date: 2018/06/19 00:26:13 $ DIALOG(1)