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.
32 Dialog stops chaining when the return code from a dialog is
33 nonzero, 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
46 command-line is not treated as an option.
47 dialog --title -- --Not an option
48 When a common (e.g., non-widget) option is repeated, the last found is
50 the one that is used. Boolean options are handled specially so they
51 can be cancelled, by adding (or omitting) a “no” modifier after the
52 leading “--”. For instance, --no-shadow is documented here, but
53 --shadow also is accepted.
54 The “--args” option tells dialog to list the command-line parameters to
56 the standard error. This is useful when debugging complex scripts
57 using the “--” and “--file”, since the command-line may be rewritten as
58 these are expanded.
59 The “--file” option tells dialog to read parameters from the file named
61 as its value.
62 dialog --file parameterfile
63 Blanks not within double-quotes are discarded (use backslashes to quote
65 single characters). The result is inserted into the command-line,
66 replacing “--file” and its option value. Interpretation of the
67 command-line resumes from that point. If parameterfile begins with
68 “&”, dialog interprets the following text as a file descriptor number
69 rather than a filename.
70 Most widgets accept height and width parameters, which can be used to
72 automatically size the widget to accommodate multi-line message prompt
73 values:
74 • If the parameter is negative, dialog uses the screen's size.
76 • If the parameter is zero, dialog uses minimum size for the widget
78 to display the prompt and data.
79 • Otherwise, dialog uses the given size for the widget.
81 Common Options
83 Most of the common options are reset before processing each widget.
84 --ascii-lines
86 Rather than draw graphics lines around boxes, draw ASCII “+” and
87 “-” in the same place. See also “--no-lines”.
88 --aspect ratio
90 This gives you some control over the box dimensions when using
91 auto sizing (specifying 0 for height and width). It represents
92 width / height. The default is 9, which means 9 characters wide
93 to every 1 line high.
94 --backtitle backtitle
96 Specifies a backtitle string to be displayed on the backdrop, at
97 the top of the screen.
98 --begin y x
100 Specify the position of the upper left corner of a dialog box on
101 the screen.
102 --cancel-label string
104 Override the label used for “Cancel” buttons.
105 --clear
107 Clears the widget screen, keeping only the screen_color
108 background. Use this when you combine widgets with
109 “--and-widget” to erase the contents of a previous widget on the
110 screen, so it won't be seen under the contents of a following
111 widget. Understand this as the complement of “--keep-window”.
112 To compare the effects, use these:
113 All three widgets visible, staircase effect, ordered 1,2,3:
115 dialog \
117 --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
118 --and-widget --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
119 --and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
120 Only the last widget is left visible:
122 dialog \
124 --clear --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
125 --and-widget --clear --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
126 --and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
127 All three widgets visible, staircase effect, ordered 3,2,1:
129 dialog \
131 --keep-window --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
132 --and-widget --keep-window --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
133 --and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
134 First and third widget visible, staircase effect, ordered 3,1:
136 dialog \
138 --keep-window --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
139 --and-widget --clear --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
140 --and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
141 Note, if you want to restore original console colors and send
143 your cursor home after the dialog program has exited, use the
144 clear (1) command. Conversely, if you want to clear the screen
145 and send your cursor to the lower left after the dialog program
146 has exited, use the --erase-on-exit option.
147 --colors
149 Interpret embedded “\Z” sequences in the dialog text by the
150 following character, which tells dialog to set colors or video
151 attributes:
152 • 0 through 7 are the ANSI color numbers used in curses:
154 black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan and white
155 respectively.
156 • Bold is set by 'b', reset by 'B'.
158 • Reverse is set by 'r', reset by 'R'.
160 • Underline is set by 'u', reset by 'U'.
162 • The settings are cumulative, e.g., “\Zb\Z1” makes the
164 following text bold (perhaps bright) red.
165 • Restore normal settings with “\Zn”.
167 --column-separator string
169 Tell dialog to split data for radio/checkboxes and menus on the
170 occurrences of the given string, and to align the split data
171 into columns.
172 --cr-wrap
174 Interpret embedded newlines in the dialog text as a newline on
175 the screen. Otherwise, dialog will only wrap lines where needed
176 to fit inside the text box.
177 Even though you can control line breaks with this, Dialog will
179 still wrap any lines that are too long for the width of the box.
180 Without cr-wrap, the layout of your text may be formatted to
181 look nice in the source code of your script without affecting
182 the way it will look in the dialog.
183 The cr-wrap feature is implemented subject to these conditions:
185 • the string contains “\n” and the --no-nl-expand option is
187 not used, or
188 • the --trim option is used.
190 For more information, see Whitespace Options.
192 --create-rc file
194 When dialog supports run-time configuration, this can be used to
195 dump a sample configuration file to the file specified by file.
196 --cursor-off-label
198 Place the terminal cursor at the end of a button instead of on
199 the first character of the button label. This is useful to
200 reduce visual confusion when the cursor coloration interacts
201 poorly with the button-label text colors.
202 --date-format format
204 If the host provides strftime, this option allows you to specify
205 the format of the date printed for the --calendar widget. The
206 time of day (hour, minute, second) are the current local time.
207 --defaultno
209 Make the default value of the yes/no box a No. Likewise, treat
210 the default button of widgets that provide “OK” and “Cancel” as
211 a Cancel. If “--no-cancel” or “--visit-items” are given those
212 options overrides this, making the default button always “Yes”
213 (internally the same as “OK”).
214 --default-button string
216 Set the default (preselected) button in a widget. By
217 preselecting a button, a script makes it possible for the user
218 to simply press Enter to proceed through a dialog with minimum
219 interaction.
220 The option's value is the name of the button: ok, yes, cancel,
222 no, help or extra.
223 Normally the first button in each widget is the default. The
225 first button shown is determined by the widget together with the
226 “--no-ok” and “--no-cancel” options. If this option is not
227 given, there is no default button assigned.
228 --default-item string
230 Set the default item in a checklist, form or menu box. Normally
231 the first item in the box is the default.
232 --erase-on-exit
234 When dialog exits, remove the dialog widget, erasing the entire
235 screen to its native background color, and place the terminal
236 cursor at the lower left corner.
237 --exit-label string
239 Override the label used for “EXIT” buttons.
240 --extra-button
242 Show an extra button, between “OK” and “Cancel” buttons.
243 The extra button appears between “Yes” and “No” for the yesno
245 widget.
246 --extra-label string
248 Override the label used for “Extra” buttons. Note: for
249 inputmenu widgets, this defaults to “Rename”.
250 --help Prints the help message to the standard output and exits. The
252 help message is also printed if no options are given, or if an
253 unrecognized option is given.
254 --help-button
256 Show a help-button after “OK” and “Cancel” buttons in boxes
257 which have a list of tagged items (i.e., checklist, radiolist,
258 menu, and treeview boxes).
259 The help-button appears after “Yes” and “No” for the yesno
261 widget.
262 On exit, the return status indicates that the Help button was
264 pressed. Dialog also writes a message to its output after the
265 token “HELP”:
266 • If "--item-help" is also given, the item-help text is
268 written.
269 • Otherwise, the item's tag (the first field) is written.
271 You can use the --help-tags option and/or set the
273 DIALOG_ITEM_HELP environment variable to modify these messages
274 and exit-status.
275 This option can be applied to other widgets, which have an “OK”
277 button, whether or not the “Cancel” button is used. The return
278 status and output are not treated specially for the other
279 widgets; the help-button is just an extra button.
280 --help-label string
282 Override the label used for “Help” buttons.
283 --help-status
285 If the help-button is selected, writes the checklist, radiolist
286 or form information after the item-help “HELP” information.
287 This can be used to reconstruct the state of a checklist after
288 processing the help request.
289 --help-tags
291 Modify the messages written on exit for --help-button by making
292 them always just the item's tag. This does not affect the exit
293 status code.
294 --hfile filename
296 Display the given file using a textbox when the user presses F1.
297 --hline string
299 Display the given string centered at the bottom of the widget.
300 --ignore
302 Ignore options that dialog does not recognize. Some well-known
303 ones such as “--icon” are ignored anyway, but this is a better
304 choice for compatibility with other implementations.
305 --input-fd fd
307 Read keyboard input from the given file descriptor. Most dialog
308 scripts read from the standard input, but the gauge widget reads
309 a pipe (which is always standard input). Some configurations do
310 not work properly when dialog tries to reopen the terminal. Use
311 this option (with appropriate juggling of file-descriptors) if
312 your script must work in that type of environment.
313 --insecure
315 Makes the password widget friendlier but less secure, by echoing
316 asterisks for each character.
317 --iso-week
319 Set the starting point for the week-number shown in the
320 “--calendar” option according to ISO-8601, which starts
321 numbering with the first week which includes a Thursday in
322 January.
323 --item-help
325 Interpret the tags data for checklist, radiolist and menu boxes
326 adding a column which is displayed in the bottom line of the
327 screen, for the currently selected item.
328 --keep-tite
330 When built with ncurses, dialog normally checks to see if it is
331 running in an xterm, and in that case tries to suppress the
332 initialization strings that would make it switch to the
333 alternate screen. Switching between the normal and alternate
334 screens is visually distracting in a script which runs dialog
335 several times. Use this option to allow dialog to use those
336 initialization strings.
337 --keep-window
339 Normally when dialog performs several tailboxbg widgets
340 connected by “--and-widget”, it clears the old widget from the
341 screen by painting over it. Use this option to suppress that
342 repainting.
343 At exit, dialog repaints all of the widgets which have been
345 marked with “--keep-window”, even if they are not tailboxbg
346 widgets. That causes them to be repainted in reverse order.
347 See the discussion of the “--clear” option for examples.
348 --last-key
350 At exit, report the last key which the user entered. This is
351 the curses key code rather than a symbol or literal character,
352 and is only reported for keys which are bound to an action. It
353 can be used by scripts to distinguish between two keys which are
354 bound to the same action.
355 --max-input size
357 Limit input strings to the given size. If not specified, the
358 limit is 2048.
359 --no-cancel
361 Suppress the “Cancel” button in checklist, inputbox and menu box
362 modes. A script can still test if the user pressed the ESC key
363 to cancel to quit.
364 --no-collapse
366 Normally dialog converts tabs to spaces and reduces multiple
367 spaces to a single space for text which is displayed in a
368 message boxes, etc. Use this option to disable that feature.
369 Note that dialog will still wrap text, subject to the
370 “--cr-wrap” and “--trim” options.
371 The no-collapse feature is implemented subject to these
373 conditions:
374 • the string contains “\n” and the --no-nl-expand option is
376 not used, or
377 • the --trim option is not used.
379 For more information, see Whitespace Options.
381 --no-hot-list
383 Tells dialog to suppress the hotkey feature for lists, e.g., the
384 checkbox, menus.
385 Normally, the first uppercase character of a list entry will be
387 highlighted, and typing that character will move the focus to
388 that entry. This option suppresses both the highlighting and
389 the movement.
390 Hotkeys for buttons (“OK” , “Cancel”, etc.) are unaffected.
392 --no-items
394 Some widgets (checklist, inputmenu, radiolist, menu) display a
395 list with two columns (a “tag” and “item”, i.e., “description”).
396 This option tells dialog to read shorter rows, omitting the
397 “item” part of the list. This is occasionally useful, e.g., if
398 the tags provide enough information.
399 See also --no-tags. If both options are given, this one is
401 ignored.
402 --no-kill
404 Tells dialog to put the tailboxbg box in the background,
405 printing its process id to dialog's output. SIGHUP is disabled
406 for the background process.
407 --no-label string
409 Override the label used for “No” buttons.
410 --no-lines
412 Rather than draw lines around boxes, draw spaces in the same
413 place. See also “--ascii-lines”.
414 --no-mouse
416 Do not enable the mouse.
417 --no-nl-expand
419 Do not convert “\n” substrings of the message/prompt text into
420 literal newlines.
421 The no-nl-expand feature is used only if the string contains
423 “\n” so that there is something to convert.
424 For more information, see Whitespace Options.
426 --no-ok
428 Suppress the “OK” button, so that it is not displayed. A script
429 can still test if the user pressed the “Enter” key to accept the
430 data:
431 • The “Enter” key is always handled as the “OK” button when
433 the --no-ok option is used. That is, by default it is bound
434 to the LEAVE virtual key.
435 When --no-ok is not used, you can use the the Tab key to
437 move the cursor through the fields and buttons on the
438 widget. In that case, the “Enter” key activates the current
439 button if the cursor is positioned on a button.
440 • To provide for the case where you want to activate a button
442 when using --no-ok, there is another virtual key LEAVE,
443 which activates the current button. By default, ^D (EOF) is
444 bound to that key.
445 --no-shadow
447 Suppress shadows that would be drawn to the right and bottom of
448 each dialog box.
449 --no-tags
451 Some widgets (checklist, inputmenu, radiolist, menu) display a
452 list with two columns (a “tag” and “description”). The tag is
453 useful for scripting, but may not help the user. The --no-tags
454 option (from Xdialog) may be used to suppress the column of tags
455 from the display. Unlike the --no-items option, this does not
456 affect the data which is read from the script.
457 Xdialog does not display the tag column for the analogous
459 buildlist and treeview widgets; dialog does the same.
460 Normally dialog allows you to quickly move to entries on the
462 displayed list, by matching a single character to the first
463 character of the tag. When the --no-tags option is given,
464 dialog matches against the first character of the description.
465 In either case, the matchable character is highlighted.
466 --ok-label string
468 Override the label used for “OK” buttons.
469 --output-fd fd
471 Direct output to the given file descriptor. Most dialog scripts
472 write to the standard error, but error messages may also be
473 written there, depending on your script.
474 --separator string
476 --output-separator string
478 Specify a string that will separate the output on dialog's
479 output from checklists, rather than a newline (for
480 --separate-output) or a space. This applies to other widgets
481 such as forms and editboxes which normally use a newline.
482 --print-maxsize
484 Print the maximum size of dialog boxes, i.e., the screen size,
485 to dialog's output. This may be used alone, without other
486 options.
487 --print-size
489 Prints the size of each dialog box to dialog's output when the
490 box is initialized.
491 --print-text-only string [ height [ width ] ]
493 Prints the string as it would be wrapped in a message box to
494 dialog's output.
495 Because the optional height and width default to zero, if they
497 are omitted, dialog autosizes according to the screen
498 dimensions.
499 --print-text-size string [ height [ width ] ]
501 Prints the size of the string as it would be wrapped in a
502 message box, to dialog's output, as
503 height width
505 Because the optional height and width parameters default to
507 zero, if they are omitted, dialog autosizes according to the
508 screen dimensions.
509 --print-version
511 Prints dialog's version to dialog's output. This may be used
512 alone, without other options. It does not cause dialog to exit
513 by itself.
514 --quoted
516 Normally dialog quotes the strings returned by checklist's as
517 well as the item-help text. Use this option to quote all string
518 results as needed (i.e., if the string contains whitespace or a
519 single or double-quote character).
520 --reorder
522 By default, the buildlist widget uses the same order for the
523 output (right) list as for the input (left). Use this option to
524 tell dialog to use the order in which a user adds selections to
525 the output list.
526 --scrollbar
528 For widgets holding a scrollable set of data, draw a scrollbar
529 on its right-margin. This does not respond to the mouse.
530 --separate-output
532 For certain widgets (buildlist, checklist, treeview), output
533 result one line at a time, with no quoting. This facilitates
534 parsing by another program.
535 --separate-widget string
537 Specify a string that will separate the output on dialog's
538 output from each widget. This is used to simplify parsing the
539 result of a dialog with several widgets. If this option is not
540 given, the default separator string is a tab character.
541 --single-quoted
543 Use single-quoting as needed (and no quotes if unneeded) for the
544 output of checklist's as well as the item-help text.
545 If this option is not set, dialog may use double quotes around
547 each item. In either case, dialog adds backslashes to make the
548 output useful in shell scripts.
549 Single quotes would be needed if the string contains whitespace
551 or a single or double-quote character.
552 --size-err
554 Check the resulting size of a dialog box before trying to use
555 it, printing the resulting size if it is larger than the screen.
556 (This option is obsolete, since all new-window calls are
557 checked).
558 --sleep secs
560 Sleep (delay) for the given number of seconds after processing a
561 dialog box.
562 --stderr
564 Direct output to the standard error. This is the default, since
565 curses normally writes screen updates to the standard output.
566 --stdout
568 Direct output to the standard output. This option is provided
569 for compatibility with Xdialog, however using it in portable
570 scripts is not recommended, since curses normally writes its
571 screen updates to the standard output. If you use this option,
572 dialog attempts to reopen the terminal so it can write to the
573 display. Depending on the platform and your environment, that
574 may fail.
575 --tab-correct
577 Convert each tab character to one or more spaces (for the
578 textbox widget; otherwise to a single space). Otherwise, tabs
579 are rendered according to the curses library's interpretation.
580 The --no-collapse option disables tab expansion.
581 --tab-len n
583 Specify the number of spaces that a tab character occupies if
584 the “--tab-correct” option is given. The default is 8. This
585 option is only effective for the textbox widget.
586 --time-format format
588 If the host provides strftime, this option allows you to specify
589 the format of the time printed for the --timebox widget. The
590 day, month, year values in this case are for the current local
591 time.
592 --timeout secs
594 Timeout if no user response within the given number of seconds.
595 A timeout of zero seconds is ignored.
596 Normally a timeout causes an ESC character to be entered in the
598 current widget, cancelling it. Other widgets may still be on
599 the screen; these are not cancelled. Set the DIALOG_TIMEOUT
600 environment variable to tell dialog to directly exit instead,
601 i.e., cancelling all widgets on the screen.
602 This option is ignored by the “--pause” widget. It is also
604 overridden if the background “--tailboxbg” option is used to set
605 up multiple concurrent widgets.
606 --title title
608 Specifies a title string to be displayed at the top of the
609 dialog box.
610 --trace filename
612 logs the command-line parameters, keystrokes and other
613 information to the given file. If dialog reads a configure
614 file, it is logged as well. Piped input to the gauge widget is
615 logged. Use control/T to log a picture of the current dialog
616 window.
617 The dialog program handles some command-line parameters
619 specially, and removes them from the parameter list as they are
620 processed. For example, if the first option is --trace, then
621 that is processed (and removed) before dialog initializes the
622 display.
623 --week-start day
625 sets the starting day for the week, used in the “--calendar”
626 option. The day parameter can be
627 • a number (0 to 6, Sunday through Saturday using POSIX) or
629 • the special value “locale” (this works with systems using
631 glibc, providing an extension to the locale command, the
632 first_weekday value).
633 • a string matching one of the abbreviations for the day of
635 the week shown in the calendar widget, e.g., “Mo” for
636 “Monday”.
637 --trim eliminate leading blanks, trim literal newlines and repeated
639 blanks from message text.
640 The trim feature is implemented subject to these conditions:
642 • the string does not contain “\n” or
644 • the --no-nl-expand option is used.
646 For more information, see Whitespace Options.
648 See also the “--cr-wrap” and “--no-collapse” options.
650 --version
652 Prints dialog's version to the standard output, and exits. See
653 also “--print-version”.
654 --visit-items
656 Modify the tab-traversal of checklist, radiolist, menubox and
657 inputmenu to include the list of items as one of the states.
658 This is useful as a visual aid, i.e., the cursor position helps
659 some users.
660 When this option is given, the cursor is initially placed on the
662 list. Abbreviations (the first letter of the tag) apply to the
663 list items. If you tab to the button row, abbreviations apply
664 to the buttons.
665 --yes-label string
667 Override the label used for “Yes” buttons.
668 Box Options
670 All dialog boxes have at least three parameters:
671 text the caption or contents of the box.
673 height the height of the dialog box.
675 width the width of the dialog box.
677 Other parameters depend on the box type.
679 --buildlist text height width list-height [ tag item status ] ...
681 A buildlist dialog displays two lists, side-by-side. The list
682 on the left shows unselected items. The list on the right shows
683 selected items. As items are selected or unselected, they move
684 between the lists.
685 Use a carriage return or the “OK” button to accept the current
687 value in the selected-window and exit. The results are written
688 using the order displayed in the selected-window.
689 The initial on/off state of each entry is specified by status.
691 The dialog behaves like a menu, using the --visit-items to
693 control whether the cursor is allowed to visit the lists
694 directly.
695 • If --visit-items is not given, tab-traversal uses two states
697 (OK/Cancel).
698 • If --visit-items is given, tab-traversal uses four states
700 (Left/Right/OK/Cancel).
701 Whether or not --visit-items is given, it is possible to move
703 the highlight between the two lists using the default “^” (left-
704 column) and “$” (right-column) keys.
705 On exit, a list of the tag strings of those entries that are
707 turned on will be printed on dialog's output.
708 If the "--separate-output" option is not given, the strings will
710 be quoted as needed to make it simple for scripts to separate
711 them. By default, this uses double-quotes, as needed. See the
712 “--single-quoted” option, which modifies the quoting behavior.
713 --calendar text height width day month year
715 A calendar box displays month, day and year in separately
716 adjustable windows. If the values for day, month or year are
717 missing or negative, the current date's corresponding values are
718 used. You can increment or decrement any of those using the
719 left-, up-, right-, and down-arrows. Use vi-style h, j, k and l
720 for moving around the array of days in a month. Use tab or
721 backtab to move between windows. If the year is given as zero,
722 the current date is used as an initial value.
723 On exit, the date is printed in the form day/month/year. The
725 format can be overridden using the --date-format option.
726 --checklist text height width list-height [ tag item status ] ...
728 A checklist box is similar to a menu box; there are multiple
729 entries presented in the form of a menu. Another difference is
730 that you can indicate which entry is currently selected, by
731 setting its status to on. Instead of choosing one entry among
732 the entries, each entry can be turned on or off by the user.
733 The initial on/off state of each entry is specified by status.
734 On exit, a list of the tag strings of those entries that are
736 turned on will be printed on dialog's output.
737 If the “--separate-output” option is not given, the strings will
739 be quoted as needed to make it simple for scripts to separate
740 them. By default, this uses double-quotes (as needed). See the
741 “--single-quoted” option, which modifies the quoting behavior.
742 --dselect filepath height width
744 The directory-selection dialog displays a text-entry window in
745 which you can type a directory, and above that a windows with
746 directory names.
747 Here filepath can be a filepath in which case the directory
749 window will display the contents of the path and the text-entry
750 window will contain the preselected directory.
751 Use tab or arrow keys to move between the windows. Within the
753 directory window, use the up/down arrow keys to scroll the
754 current selection. Use the space-bar to copy the current
755 selection into the text-entry window.
756 Typing any printable characters switches focus to the text-entry
758 window, entering that character as well as scrolling the
759 directory window to the closest match.
760 Use a carriage return or the “OK” button to accept the current
762 value in the text-entry window and exit.
763 On exit, the contents of the text-entry window are written to
765 dialog's output.
766 --editbox filepath height width
768 The edit-box dialog displays a copy of the file. You may edit
769 it using the backspace, delete and cursor keys to correct typing
770 errors. It also recognizes pageup/pagedown. Unlike the
771 --inputbox, you must tab to the “OK” or “Cancel” buttons to
772 close the dialog. Pressing the “Enter” key within the box will
773 split the corresponding line.
774 On exit, the contents of the edit window are written to dialog's
776 output.
777 --form text height width formheight [ label y x item y x flen ilen ] ...
779 The form dialog displays a form consisting of labels and fields,
780 which are positioned on a scrollable window by coordinates given
781 in the script. The field length flen and input-length ilen tell
782 how long the field can be. The former defines the length shown
783 for a selected field, while the latter defines the permissible
784 length of the data entered in the field.
785 • If flen is zero, the corresponding field cannot be altered.
787 and the contents of the field determine the displayed-
788 length.
789 • If flen is negative, the corresponding field cannot be
791 altered, and the negated value of flen is used as the
792 displayed-length.
793 • If ilen is zero, it is set to flen.
795 Use up/down arrows (or control/N, control/P) to move between
797 fields. Use tab to move between windows.
798 On exit, the contents of the form-fields are written to dialog's
800 output, each field separated by a newline. The text used to
801 fill non-editable fields (flen is zero or negative) is not
802 written out.
803 --fselect filepath height width
805 The fselect (file-selection) dialog displays a text-entry window
806 in which you can type a filename (or directory), and above that
807 two windows with directory names and filenames.
808 Here filepath can be a filepath in which case the file and
810 directory windows will display the contents of the path and the
811 text-entry window will contain the preselected filename.
812 Use tab or arrow keys to move between the windows. Within the
814 directory or filename windows, use the up/down arrow keys to
815 scroll the current selection. Use the space-bar to copy the
816 current selection into the text-entry window.
817 Typing any printable characters switches focus to the text-entry
819 window, entering that character as well as scrolling the
820 directory and filename windows to the closest match.
821 Typing the space character forces dialog to complete the current
823 name (up to the point where there may be a match against more
824 than one entry).
825 Use a carriage return or the “OK” button to accept the current
827 value in the text-entry window and exit.
828 On exit, the contents of the text-entry window are written to
830 dialog's output.
831 --gauge text height width [percent]
833 A gauge box displays a meter along the bottom of the box. The
834 meter indicates the percentage. New percentages are read from
835 standard input, one integer per line. The meter is updated to
836 reflect each new percentage. If the standard input reads the
837 string “XXX”, then the first line following is taken as an
838 integer percentage, then subsequent lines up to another “XXX”
839 are used for a new prompt. The gauge exits when EOF is reached
840 on the standard input.
841 The percent value denotes the initial percentage shown in the
843 meter. If not specified, it is zero.
844 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. The widget
846 accepts no input, so the exit status is always OK.
847 --infobox text height width
849 An info box is basically a message box. However, in this case,
850 dialog will exit immediately after displaying the message to the
851 user. The screen is not cleared when dialog exits, so that the
852 message will remain on the screen until the calling shell script
853 clears it later. This is useful when you want to inform the
854 user that some operations are carrying on that may require some
855 time to finish.
856 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. An OK exit
858 status is returned.
859 --inputbox text height width [init]
861 An input box is useful when you want to ask questions that
862 require the user to input a string as the answer. If init is
863 supplied it is used to initialize the input string. When
864 entering the string, the backspace, delete and cursor keys can
865 be used to correct typing errors. If the input string is longer
866 than can fit in the dialog box, the input field will be
867 scrolled.
868 On exit, the input string will be printed on dialog's output.
870 --inputmenu text height width menu-height [ tag item ] ...
872 An inputmenu box is very similar to an ordinary menu box. There
873 are only a few differences between them:
874 1. The entries are not automatically centered but left
876 adjusted.
877 2. An extra button (called Rename) is implied to rename the
879 current item when it is pressed.
880 3. It is possible to rename the current entry by pressing the
882 Rename button. Then dialog will write the following on
883 dialog's output.
884 RENAMED <tag> <item>
886 --menu text height width menu-height [ tag item ] ...
888 As its name suggests, a menu box is a dialog box that can be
889 used to present a list of choices in the form of a menu for the
890 user to choose. Choices are displayed in the order given. Each
891 menu entry consists of a tag string and an item string. The tag
892 gives the entry a name to distinguish it from the other entries
893 in the menu. The item is a short description of the option that
894 the entry represents. The user can move between the menu
895 entries by pressing the cursor keys, the first letter of the tag
896 as a hot-key, or the number keys 1 through 9. There are menu-
897 height entries displayed in the menu at one time, but the menu
898 will be scrolled if there are more entries than that.
899 On exit the tag of the chosen menu entry will be printed on
901 dialog's output. If the “--help-button” option is given, the
902 corresponding help text will be printed if the user selects the
903 help button.
904 --mixedform text height width formheight [ label y x item y x flen ilen itype ] ...
906 The mixedform dialog displays a form consisting of labels and
907 fields, much like the --form dialog. It differs by adding a
908 field-type parameter to each field's description. Each bit in
909 the type denotes an attribute of the field:
910 1 hidden, e.g., a password field.
912 2 readonly, e.g., a label.
914 --mixedgauge text height width percent [ tag1 item1 ] ...
916 A mixedgauge box displays a meter along the bottom of the box.
917 The meter indicates the percentage.
918 It also displays a list of the tag- and item-values at the top
920 of the box. See dialog(3) for the tag values.
921 The text is shown as a caption between the list and meter. The
923 percent value denotes the initial percentage shown in the meter.
924 No provision is made for reading data from the standard input as
926 --gauge does.
927 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. The widget
929 accepts no input, so the exit status is always OK.
930 --msgbox text height width
932 A message box is very similar to a yes/no box. The only
933 difference between a message box and a yes/no box is that a
934 message box has only a single OK button. You can use this
935 dialog box to display any message you like. After reading the
936 message, the user can press the ENTER key so that dialog will
937 exit and the calling shell script can continue its operation.
938 If the message is too large for the space, dialog may allow you
940 to scroll it, provided that the underlying curses implementation
941 is capable enough. In this case, a percentage is shown in the
942 base of the widget.
943 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an “OK”
945 button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be
946 returned.
947 --pause text height width seconds
949 A pause box displays a meter along the bottom of the box. The
950 meter indicates how many seconds remain until the end of the
951 pause. The pause exits when timeout is reached or the user
952 presses the OK button (status OK) or the user presses the CANCEL
953 button or Esc key.
954 --passwordbox text height width [init]
956 A password box is similar to an input box, except that the text
957 the user enters is not displayed. This is useful when prompting
958 for passwords or other sensitive information. Be aware that if
959 anything is passed in “init”, it will be visible in the system's
960 process table to casual snoopers. Also, it is very confusing to
961 the user to provide them with a default password they cannot
962 see. For these reasons, using “init” is highly discouraged.
963 See “--insecure” if you do not care about your password.
964 On exit, the input string will be printed on dialog's output.
966 --passwordform text height width formheight [ label y x item y x flen ilen ] ...
968 This is identical to --form except that all text fields are
969 treated as password widgets rather than inputbox widgets.
970 --prgbox text command height width
972 --prgbox command height width
974 A prgbox is very similar to a programbox.
975 This dialog box is used to display the output of a command that
977 is specified as an argument to prgbox.
978 After the command completes, the user can press the ENTER key so
980 that dialog will exit and the calling shell script can continue
981 its operation.
982 If four parameters are given, it displays the text under the
984 title, delineated from the scrolling file's contents. If only
985 three parameters are given, this text is omitted.
986 --programbox text height width
988 --programbox height width
990 A programbox is very similar to a progressbox. The only
991 difference between a program box and a progress box is that a
992 program box displays an OK button (but only after the command
993 completes).
994 This dialog box is used to display the piped output of a
996 command. After the command completes, the user can press the
997 ENTER key so that dialog will exit and the calling shell script
998 can continue its operation.
999 If three parameters are given, it displays the text under the
1001 title, delineated from the scrolling file's contents. If only
1002 two parameters are given, this text is omitted.
1003 --progressbox text height width
1005 --progressbox height width
1007 A progressbox is similar to an tailbox, except that
1008 a) rather than displaying the contents of a file,
1010 it displays the piped output of a command and
1011 b) it will exit when it reaches the end of the file
1013 (there is no “OK” button).
1014 If three parameters are given, it displays the text under the
1016 title, delineated from the scrolling file's contents. If only
1017 two parameters are given, this text is omitted.
1018 --radiolist text height width list-height [ tag item status ] ...
1020 A radiolist box is similar to a menu box. The only difference
1021 is that you can indicate which entry is currently selected, by
1022 setting its status to on.
1023 On exit, the tag of the selected item is written to dialog's
1025 output.
1026 --rangebox text height width min-value max-value default-value
1028 Allow the user to select from a range of values, e.g., using a
1029 slider. The dialog shows the current value as a bar (like the
1030 gauge dialog). Tabs or arrow keys move the cursor between the
1031 buttons and the value. When the cursor is on the value, you can
1032 edit it by:
1033 left/right cursor movement to select a digit to modify
1035 +/- characters to increment/decrement the digit by one
1037 0 through 9
1039 to set the digit to the given value
1040 Some keys are also recognized in all cursor positions:
1042 home/end
1044 set the value to its maximum or minimum
1045 pageup/pagedown
1047 increment the value so that the slider moves by one column
1048 --tailbox file height width
1050 Display text from a file in a dialog box, as in a “tail -f”
1051 command. Scroll left/right using vi-style 'h' and 'l', or
1052 arrow-keys. A '0' resets the scrolling.
1053 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an “OK”
1055 button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be
1056 returned.
1057 --tailboxbg file height width
1059 Display text from a file in a dialog box as a background task,
1060 as in a “tail -f &” command. Scroll left/right using vi-style
1061 'h' and 'l', or arrow-keys. A '0' resets the scrolling.
1062 Dialog treats the background task specially if there are other
1064 widgets (--and-widget) on the screen concurrently. Until those
1065 widgets are closed (e.g., an “OK”), dialog will perform all of
1066 the tailboxbg widgets in the same process, polling for updates.
1067 You may use a tab to traverse between the widgets on the screen,
1068 and close them individually, e.g., by pressing ENTER. Once the
1069 non-tailboxbg widgets are closed, dialog forks a copy of itself
1070 into the background, and prints its process id if the
1071 “--no-kill” option is given.
1072 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an “EXIT”
1074 button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be
1075 returned.
1076 NOTE: Older versions of dialog forked immediately and attempted
1078 to update the screen individually. Besides being bad for
1079 performance, it was unworkable. Some older scripts may not work
1080 properly with the polled scheme.
1081 --textbox file height width
1083 A text box lets you display the contents of a text file in a
1084 dialog box. It is like a simple text file viewer. The user can
1085 move through the file by using the cursor, page-up, page-down
1086 and HOME/END keys available on most keyboards. If the lines are
1087 too long to be displayed in the box, the LEFT/RIGHT keys can be
1088 used to scroll the text region horizontally. You may also use
1089 vi-style keys h, j, k, and l in place of the cursor keys, and B
1090 or N in place of the page-up and page-down keys. Scroll up/down
1091 using vi-style 'k' and 'j', or arrow-keys. Scroll left/right
1092 using vi-style 'h' and 'l', or arrow-keys. A '0' resets the
1093 left/right scrolling. For more convenience, vi-style forward
1094 and backward searching functions are also provided.
1095 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an “EXIT”
1097 button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be
1098 returned.
1099 --timebox text height [width hour minute second]
1101 A dialog is displayed which allows you to select hour, minute
1102 and second. If the values for hour, minute or second are
1103 missing or negative, the current date's corresponding values are
1104 used. You can increment or decrement any of those using the
1105 left-, up-, right- and down-arrows. Use tab or backtab to move
1106 between windows.
1107 On exit, the result is printed in the form hour:minute:second.
1109 The format can be overridden using the --time-format option.
1110 --treeview text height width list-height [ tag item status depth ] ...
1112 Display data organized as a tree. Each group of data contains a
1113 tag, the text to display for the item, its status (“on” or
1114 “off”) and the depth of the item in the tree.
1115 Only one item can be selected (like the radiolist). The tag is
1117 not displayed.
1118 On exit, the tag of the selected item is written to dialog's
1120 output.
1121 --yesno text height width
1123 A yes/no dialog box of size height rows by width columns will be
1124 displayed. The string specified by text is displayed inside the
1125 dialog box. If this string is too long to fit in one line, it
1126 will be automatically divided into multiple lines at appropriate
1127 places. The text string can also contain the sub-string "\n" or
1128 newline characters `\n' to control line breaking explicitly.
1129 This dialog box is useful for asking questions that require the
1130 user to answer either yes or no. The dialog box has a Yes
1131 button and a No button, in which the user can switch between by
1132 pressing the TAB key.
1133 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. In addition to
1135 the “Yes” and “No” exit codes (see DIAGNOSTICS) an ESC exit
1136 status may be returned.
1137 The codes used for “Yes” and “No” match those used for “OK” and
1139 “Cancel”, internally no distinction is made.
1140 Obsolete Options
1142 --beep This was used to tell the original cdialog that it should make a
1143 beep when the separate processes of the tailboxbg widget would
1144 repaint the screen.
1145 --beep-after
1147 Beep after a user has completed a widget by pressing one of the
1148 buttons.
1149 Whitespace Options
1151 These options can be used to transform whitespace (space, tab, newline)
1152 as dialog reads the script:
1153 --cr-wrap, --no-collapse, --no-nl-expand, and --trim
1154 The options are not independent:
1156 • Dialog checks if the script contains at least one “\n” and (unless
1158 --no-nl-expand is set) will ignore the --no-collapse and --trim
1159 options.
1160 • After checking for “\n” and the --no-nl-expand option, dialog
1162 handles the --trim option.
1163 If the --trim option takes effect, then dialog ignores
1165 --no-collapse. It changes sequences of tabs, spaces (and newlines
1166 unless -cr-wrap is set) to a single space.
1167 • If neither the “\n” or --trim cases apply, dialog checks
1169 --no-collapse to decide whether to reduce sequences of tabs and
1170 spaces to a single space.
1171 In this case, dialog ignores --cr-wrap and does not modify
1173 newlines.
1174 Taking those dependencies into account, here is a table summarizing the
1176 behavior for the various combinations of options. The table assumes
1177 that the script contains at least one “\n” when the --no-nl-expand
1178 option is not set.
1179 cr- no- no- trim Result
1181 wrap collapse nl-expand
1182 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1184 no no no no Convert tab to space.
1185 Convert newline to space.
1186 Convert “\n” to newline.
1187 no no no yes Convert tab to space.
1188 Convert newline to space.
1189 Convert “\n” to newline.
1190 no no yes no Convert tab to space. Do not
1191 convert newline to space.
1192 Convert multiple-space to
1193 single. Show “\n” literally.
1194 no no yes yes Convert tab to space.
1195 Convert multiple-space to
1196 single. Convert newline to
1197 space. Show “\n” literally.
1198 no yes no no Convert newline to space.
1199 Convert “\n” to newline.
1200 no yes no yes Convert newline to space.
1201 Convert “\n” to newline.
1202 no yes yes no Do not convert newline to
1203 space. Do not reduce
1204 multiple blanks. Show “\n”
1205 literally.
1206 no yes yes yes Convert multiple-space to
1207 single. Convert newline to
1208 space. Show “\n” literally.
1209 yes no no no Convert tab to space. Wrap
1210 on newline. Convert “\n” to
1211 newline.
1212 yes no no yes Convert tab to space. Wrap
1213 on newline. Convert “\n” to
1214 newline.
1215 yes no yes no Convert tab to space. Do not
1216 convert newline to space.
1217 Convert multiple-space to
1218 single. Show “\n” literally.
1219 yes no yes yes Convert tab to space.
1220 Convert multiple-space to
1221 single. Wrap on newline.
1222 Show “\n” literally.
1223 yes yes no no Wrap on newline. Convert
1224 “\n” to newline.
1225 yes yes no yes Wrap on newline. Convert
1226 “\n” to newline.
1227 yes yes yes no Do not convert newline to
1228 space. Do not reduce
1229 multiple blanks. Show “\n”
1230 literally.
1231 yes yes yes yes Convert multiple-space to
1232 single. Wrap on newline.
1233 Show “\n” literally.
1234
1236 1. Create a sample configuration file by typing:
1237 dialog --create-rc file
1239 2. At start, dialog determines the settings to use as follows:
1241 a) if environment variable DIALOGRC is set, its value determines
1243 the name of the configuration file.
1244 b) if the file in (a) is not found, use the file $HOME/.dialogrc
1246 as the configuration file.
1247 c) if the file in (b) is not found, try using the GLOBALRC file
1249 determined at compile-time, i.e., /etc/dialogrc.
1250 d) if the file in (c) is not found, use compiled in defaults.
1252 3. Edit the sample configuration file and copy it to some place that
1254 dialog can find, as stated in step 2 above.
1255
1257 You can override or add to key bindings in dialog by adding to the
1258 configuration file. Dialog's bindkey command maps single keys to its
1259 internal coding.
1260 bindkey widget curses_key dialog_key
1262 The widget name can be “*” (all widgets), or specific widgets such as
1264 textbox. Specific widget bindings override the “*” bindings. User-
1265 defined bindings override the built-in bindings.
1266 The curses_key can be expressed in different forms:
1268 • It may be any of the names derived from curses.h, e.g., “HELP” from
1270 “KEY_HELP”.
1271 • Dialog also recognizes ANSI control characters such as “^A”, “^?”,
1273 as well as C1-controls such as “~A” and “~?”.
1274 • Finally, dialog allows backslash escapes as in C. Those can be
1276 octal character values such as “\033” (the ASCII escape character),
1277 or the characters listed in this table:
1278 Escaped Actual
1280 ───────────────────────────────
1281 \b backspace
1282 \f form feed
1283 \n new line (line feed)
1284 \r carriage return
1285 \s space
1286 \t tab
1287 \^ “^” (caret)
1288 \? “?” (question mark)
1289 \\ “\” (backslash)
1290 ───────────────────────────────
1291 Dialog's internal keycode names correspond to the DLG_KEYS_ENUM type in
1293 dlg_keys.h, e.g., “HELP” from “DLGK_HELP”.
1294 Widget Names
1296 Some widgets (such as the formbox) have an area where fields can be
1297 edited. Those are managed in a subwindow of the widget, and may have
1298 separate keybindings from the main widget because the subwindows are
1299 registered using a different name.
1300 Widget Window name Subwindow Name
1302 ───────────────────────────────────────────
1303 calendar calendar
1304 checklist checklist
1305 editbox editbox editbox2
1306 form formbox formfield
1307 fselect fselect fselect2
1308 inputbox inputbox inputbox2
1309 menu menubox menu
1310 msgbox msgbox
1311 pause pause
1312 progressbox progressbox
1313 radiolist radiolist
1314 tailbox tailbox
1315 textbox textbox searchbox
1316 timebox timebox
1317 yesno yesno
1318 ───────────────────────────────────────────
1319 Some widgets are actually other widgets, using internal settings to
1321 modify the behavior. Those use the same widget name as the actual
1322 widget:
1323 Widget Actual Widget
1325 ─────────────────────────────
1326 dselect fselect
1327 infobox msgbox
1328 inputmenu menu
1329 mixedform form
1330 passwordbox inputbox
1331 passwordform form
1332 prgbox progressbox
1333 programbox progressbox
1334 tailboxbg tailbox
1335 ─────────────────────────────
1336 Built-in Bindings
1338 This manual page does not list the key bindings for each widget,
1339 because that detailed information can be obtained by running dialog.
1340 If you have set the --trace option, dialog writes the key-binding
1341 information for each widget as it is registered.
1342 A few bindings are built-in, independent of particular widgets:
1344 Key Purpose
1346 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1347 Control-I forward tab-traversal, e.g., with --tailboxbg.
1348 Control-L repaints the screen.
1350 Control-T writes a screen dump to the --trace file.
1351 Control-V suppresses special-keys for the next input byte.
1352 DLGK_FIELD_NEXT forward tab-traversal, like Control-I.
1353 DLGK_FIELD_PREV backward tab-traversal, like back-tab.
1354 DLGK_HELPFILE displays the help-file specified with --hfile.
1355 KEY_BTAB backward tab-traversal, e.g., with --tailboxbg.
1356 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1357 Example
1360 Normally dialog uses different keys for navigating between the buttons
1361 and editing part of a dialog versus navigating within the editing part.
1362 That is, tab (and back-tab) traverse buttons (or between buttons and
1363 the editing part), while arrow keys traverse fields within the editing
1364 part. Tabs are also recognized as a special case for traversing
1365 between widgets, e.g., when using multiple tailboxbg widgets.
1366 Some users may wish to use the same key for traversing within the
1368 editing part as for traversing between buttons. The form widget is
1369 written to support this sort of redefinition of the keys, by adding a
1370 special group in dlgk_keys.h for “form” (left/right/next/prev). Here
1371 is an example binding demonstrating how to do this:
1372 bindkey formfield TAB form_NEXT
1374 bindkey formbox TAB form_NEXT
1375 bindkey formfield BTAB form_prev
1376 bindkey formbox BTAB form_prev
1377 That type of redefinition would not be useful in other widgets, e.g.,
1379 calendar, due to the potentially large number of fields to traverse.
1380
1382 DIALOGOPTS Define this variable to apply any of the common options
1383 to each widget. Most of the common options are reset
1384 before processing each widget. If you set the options
1385 in this environment variable, they are applied to
1386 dialog's state after the reset. As in the “--file”
1387 option, double-quotes and backslashes are interpreted.
1388 The “--file” option is not considered a common option
1390 (so you cannot embed it within this environment
1391 variable).
1392 DIALOGRC Define this variable if you want to specify the name of
1394 the configuration file to use.
1395 DIALOG_CANCEL
1397 DIALOG_ERROR
1399 DIALOG_ESC
1401 DIALOG_EXTRA
1403 DIALOG_HELP
1405 DIALOG_ITEM_HELP
1407 DIALOG_TIMEOUT
1409 DIALOG_OK Define any of these variables to change the exit code on
1411 • Cancel (1),
1413 • error (-1),
1415 • ESC (255),
1417 • Extra (3),
1419 • Help (2),
1421 • Help with --item-help (2),
1423 • Timeout (5), or
1425 • OK (0).
1427 Normally shell scripts cannot distinguish between -1 and
1429 255.
1430 DIALOG_TTY Set this variable to “1” to provide compatibility with
1432 older versions of dialog which assumed that if the
1433 script redirects the standard output, that the
1434 “--stdout” option was given.
1435
1437 $HOME/.dialogrc default configuration file
1438
1440 The dialog sources contain several samples of how to use the different
1441 box options and how they look. Just take a look into the directory
1442 samples/ of the source.
1443
1445 Exit status is subject to being overridden by environment variables.
1446 The default values and corresponding environment variables that can
1447 override them are:
1448 0 if the YES or OK button is pressed (DIALOG_OK).
1450 1 if the No or Cancel button is pressed (DIALOG_CANCEL).
1452 2 if the Help button is pressed (DIALOG_HELP),
1454 except as noted below about DIALOG_ITEM_HELP.
1455 3 if the Extra button is pressed (DIALOG_EXTRA).
1457 4 if the Help button is pressed,
1459 and the --item-help option is set
1460 and the DIALOG_ITEM_HELP environment variable is set to 4.
1461 While any of the exit-codes can be overridden using environment
1463 variables, this special case was introduced in 2004 to simplify
1464 compatibility. Dialog uses DIALOG_ITEM_HELP(4) internally, but
1465 unless the environment variable is also set, it changes that to
1466 DIALOG_HELP(2) on exit.
1467 5 if a timeout expires and the DIALOG_TIMEOUT variable is set to 5.
1469 -1 if errors occur inside dialog (DIALOG_ERROR) or dialog exits
1471 because the ESC key (DIALOG_ESC) was pressed.
1472
1474 Dialog works with X/Open curses. However, some implementations have
1475 deficiencies:
1476 • HPUX curses (and perhaps others) do not open the terminal
1478 properly for the newterm function. This interferes with
1479 dialog's --input-fd option, by preventing cursor-keys and
1480 similar escape sequences from being recognized.
1481 • NetBSD 5.1 curses has incomplete support for wide-characters.
1483 dialog will build, but not all examples display properly.
1484
1486 You may want to write scripts which run with other dialog “clones”.
1487 Original Dialog
1489 First, there is the “original” dialog program to consider (versions 0.3
1490 to 0.9). It had some misspelled (or inconsistent) options. The dialog
1491 program maps those deprecated options to the preferred ones. They
1492 include:
1493 Option Treatment
1495 ─────────────────────────────────
1496 --beep-after ignored
1497 --guage mapped to --gauge
1498 ─────────────────────────────────
1499 Xdialog
1501 This is an X application, rather than a terminal program. With some
1502 care, it is possible to write useful scripts that work with both
1503 Xdialog and dialog.
1504 The dialog program ignores these options which are recognized by
1506 Xdialog:
1507 Option Treatment
1509 ───────────────────────────────────────────────
1510 --allow-close ignored
1511 --auto-placement ignored
1512 --fixed-font ignored
1513 --icon ignored
1514 --keep-colors ignored
1515 --no-close ignored
1516 --no-cr-wrap ignored
1518 --screen-center ignored
1519 --separator mapped to --separate-output
1520 --smooth ignored
1521 --under-mouse ignored
1522 --wmclass ignored
1523 ───────────────────────────────────────────────
1524 Xdialog's manpage has a section discussing its compatibility with
1526 dialog. There are some differences not shown in the manpage. For
1527 example, the html documentation states
1528 Note: former Xdialog releases used the “\n” (line feed) as a
1530 results separator for the checklist widget; this has been
1531 changed to “/” in Xdialog v1.5.0 to make it compatible with
1532 (c)dialog. In your old scripts using the Xdialog checklist, you
1533 will then have to add the --separate-output option before the
1534 --checklist one.
1535 Dialog has not used a different separator; the difference was likely
1537 due to confusion regarding some script.
1538 Whiptail
1540 Then there is whiptail. For practical purposes, it is maintained by
1541 Debian (very little work is done by its upstream developers). Its
1542 documentation (README.whiptail) claims
1543 whiptail(1) is a lightweight replacement for dialog(1),
1545 to provide dialog boxes for shell scripts.
1546 It is built on the
1547 newt windowing library rather than the ncurses library, allowing
1548 it to be smaller in embedded environments such as installers,
1549 rescue disks, etc.
1550 whiptail is designed to be drop-in compatible with dialog, but
1552 has less features: some dialog boxes are not implemented, such
1553 as tailbox, timebox, calendarbox, etc.
1554 Comparing actual sizes (Debian testing, 2007/1/10): The total of sizes
1556 for whiptail, the newt, popt and slang libraries is 757 KB. The
1557 comparable number for dialog (counting ncurses) is 520 KB. Disregard
1558 the first paragraph.
1559 The second paragraph is misleading, since whiptail also does not work
1561 for common options of dialog, such as the gauge box. whiptail is less
1562 compatible with dialog than the original mid-1990s dialog 0.4 program.
1563 whiptail's manpage borrows features from dialog, e.g., but oddly cites
1565 only dialog versions up to 0.4 (1994) as a source. That is, its
1566 manpage refers to features which were borrowed from more recent
1567 versions of dialog, e.g.,
1568 • --gauge (from 0.5)
1570 • --passwordbox (from Debian changes in 1999),
1572 • --default-item (from dialog 2000/02/22),
1574 • --output-fd (from dialog 2002/08/14).
1576 Somewhat humorously, one may note that the popt feature (undocumented
1578 in its manpage) of using a “--” as an escape was documented in dialog's
1579 manpage about a year before it was mentioned in whiptail's manpage.
1580 whiptail's manpage incorrectly attributes that to getopt (and is
1581 inaccurate anyway).
1582 Debian uses whiptail for the official dialog variation.
1584 The dialog program ignores or maps these options which are recognized
1586 by whiptail:
1587 Option Treatment
1589 ───────────────────────────────────────────
1590 --cancel-button mapped to --cancel-label
1591 --fb ignored
1592 --fullbutton ignored
1593 --no-button mapped to --no-label
1594 --nocancel mapped to --no-cancel
1595 --noitem mapped to --no-items
1596 --notags mapped to --no-tags
1597 --ok-button mapped to --ok-label
1598 --scrolltext mapped to --scrollbar
1599 --topleft mapped to --begin 0 0
1600 --yes-button mapped to --yes-label
1602 ───────────────────────────────────────────
1603 There are visual differences which are not addressed by command-line
1605 options:
1606 • dialog centers lists within the window. whiptail typically puts
1608 lists against the left margin.
1609 • whiptail uses angle brackets (“<” and “>”) for marking buttons.
1611 dialog uses square brackets.
1612 • whiptail marks the limits of subtitles with vertical bars. dialog
1614 does not mark the limits.
1615 • whiptail attempts to mark the top/bottom cells of a scrollbar with
1617 up/down arrows. When it cannot do this, it fills those cells with
1618 the background color of the scrollbar and confusing the user.
1619 dialog uses the entire scrollbar space, thereby getting better
1620 resolution.
1621
1623 Perhaps.
1624
1626 Thomas E. Dickey (updates for 0.9b and beyond)
1627
1629 Kiran Cherupally – the mixed form and mixed gauge widgets.
1630 Tobias C. Rittweiler
1632 Valery Reznic – the form and progressbox widgets.
1634 Yura Kalinichenko adapted the gauge widget as “pause”.
1636 This is a rewrite (except as needed to provide compatibility) of the
1638 earlier version of dialog 0.9a, which lists as authors:
1639 • Savio Lam – version 0.3, “dialog”
1641 • Stuart Herbert – patch for version 0.4
1643 • Marc Ewing – the gauge widget.
1645 • Pasquale De Marco “Pako” – version 0.9a, “cdialog”
1647$Date: 2022/05/26 23:45:08 $ DIALOG(1)