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 to present a variety of questions
16 or display messages using dialog boxes from a shell script. These
17 types of dialog boxes are implemented (though not all are necessarily
18 compiled into dialog):
19 calendar, checklist, dselect, editbox, form, fselect, gauge,
21 infobox, inputbox, inputmenu, menu, mixedform, mixedgauge,
22 msgbox (message), passwordbox, passwordform, pause, progressbox,
23 radiolist, tailbox, tailboxbg, textbox, timebox, and yesno
24 (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
29 next 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 nonze‐
33 ro, 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
58 single characters). The result is inserted into the command-line, re‐
59 placing "--file" and its option value. Interpretation of the command-
60 line resumes from that point.
61 Common Options
63 --ascii-lines
64 Rather than draw graphics lines around boxes, draw ASCII "+" and
65 "-" in the same place. See also "--no-lines".
66 --aspect ratio
68 This gives you some control over the box dimensions when using
69 auto sizing (specifying 0 for height and width). It represents
70 width / height. The default is 9, which means 9 characters wide
71 to every 1 line high.
72 --backtitle backtitle
74 Specifies a backtitle string to be displayed on the backdrop, at
75 the top of the screen.
76 --begin y x
78 Specify the position of the upper left corner of a dialog box on
79 the screen.
80 --cancel-label string
82 Override the label used for "Cancel" buttons.
83 --clear
85 Clears the widget screen, keeping only the screen_color back‐
86 ground. Use this when you combine widgets with "--and-widget"
87 to erase the contents of a previous widget on the screen, so it
88 won't be seen under the contents of a following widget. Under‐
89 stand this as the complement of "--keep-window". To compare the
90 effects, use these:
91 All three widgets visible, staircase effect, ordered 1,2,3:
92 dialog --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
93 --and-widget --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
94 --and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
95 Only the last widget is left visible:
96 dialog --clear --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
97 --and-widget --clear --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
98 --and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
99 All three widgets visible, staircase effect, ordered 3,2,1:
100 dialog --keep-window --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
101 --and-widget --keep-window --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
102 --and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
103 First and third widget visible, staircase effect, ordered 3,1:
104 dialog --keep-window --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
105 --and-widget --clear --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
106 --and-widget --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
107 Note, if you want to
109 restore original console
110 colors and send your
111 cursor home after the
112 dialog program has
113 exited, use the
114 clear (1) command.
115 --colors
117 Interpret embedded "\Z"
118 sequences in the dialog
119 text by the following
120 character, which tells
121 dialog to set colors or
122 video attributes: 0
123 through 7 are the ANSI
124 used in curses: black,
125 red, green, yellow,
126 blue, magenta, cyan and
127 white respectively.
128 Bold is set by 'b',
129 reset by 'B'. Reverse
130 is set by 'r', reset by
131 'R'. Underline is set
132 by 'u', reset by 'U'.
133 The settings are cumula‐
134 tive, e.g., "\Zb\Z1"
135 makes the following text
136 bold (perhaps bright)
137 red. Restore normal
138 settings with "\Zn".
139 --cr-wrap
141 Interpret embedded new‐
142 lines in the dialog text
143 as a newline on the
144 screen. Otherwise, dia‐
145 log will only wrap lines
146 where needed to fit
147 inside the text box.
148 Even though you can con‐
149 trol line breaks with
150 this, dialog will still
151 wrap any lines that are
152 too long for the width
153 of the box. Without cr-
154 wrap, the layout of your
155 text may be formatted to
156 look nice in the source
157 code of your script
158 without affecting the
159 way it will look in the
160 dialog.
161 See also the "--no-col‐
163 lapse" and "--trim"
164 options.
165 --create-rc file
167 When dialog supports
168 run-time configuration,
169 this can be used to dump
170 a sample configuration
171 file to the file speci‐
172 fied by file.
173 --defaultno
175 Make the default value
176 of the yes/no box a No.
177 Likewise, make the
178 default button of wid‐
179 gets that provide "OK"
180 and "Cancel" a Cancel.
181 If "--nocancel" or
182 "--visit-items" are
183 given those options
184 overrides this, making
185 the default button
186 always "Yes" (internally
187 the same as "OK").
188 --default-item string
190 Set the default item in
191 a checklist, form or
192 menu box. Normally the
193 first item in the box is
194 the default.
195 --exit-label string
197 Override the label used
198 for "EXIT" buttons.
199 --extra-button
201 Show an extra button,
202 between "OK" and "Can‐
203 cel" buttons.
204 --extra-label string
206 Override the label used
207 for "Extra" buttons.
208 Note: for inputmenu wid‐
209 gets, this defaults to
210 "Rename".
211 --help Prints the help message
213 to dialog's output. The
214 help message is printed
215 if no options are given.
216 --help-button
218 Show a help-button after
219 "OK" and "Cancel" but‐
220 tons, i.e., in check‐
221 list, radiolist and menu
222 boxes. If "--item-help"
223 is also given, on exit
224 the return status will
225 be the same as for the
226 "OK" button, and the
227 item-help text will be
228 written to dialog's out‐
229 put after the token
230 "HELP". Otherwise, the
231 return status will indi‐
232 cate that the Help but‐
233 ton was pressed, and no
234 message printed.
235 --help-label string
237 Override the label used
238 for "Help" buttons.
239 --help-status
241 If the help-button is
242 selected, writes the
243 checklist, radiolist or
244 form information after
245 the item-help "HELP"
246 information. This can
247 be used to reconstruct
248 the state of a checklist
249 after processing the
250 help request.
251 --ignore
253 Ignore options that dia‐
254 log does not recognize.
255 Some well-known ones
256 such as "--icon" are
257 ignored anyway, but this
258 is a better choice for
259 compatibility with other
260 implementations.
261 --input-fd fd
263 Read keyboard input from
264 the given file descrip‐
265 tor. Most dialog
266 scripts read from the
267 standard input, but the
268 gauge widget reads a
269 pipe (which is always
270 standard input). Some
271 configurations do not
272 work properly when dia‐
273 log tries to reopen the
274 terminal. Use this
275 option (with appropriate
276 juggling of file-
277 descriptors) if your
278 script must work in that
279 type of environment.
280 --insecure
282 Makes the password wid‐
283 get friendlier but less
284 secure, by echoing
285 asterisks for each char‐
286 acter.
287 --item-help
289 Interpret the tags data
290 for checklist, radiolist
291 and menu boxes adding a
292 column which is dis‐
293 played in the bottom
294 line of the screen, for
295 the currently selected
296 item.
297 --keep-tite
299 Normally dialog checks
300 to see if it is running
301 in an xterm, and in that
302 case tries to suppress
303 the initialization
304 strings that would make
305 it switch to the alter‐
306 nate screen. Switching
307 between the normal and
308 alternate screens is
309 visually distracting in
310 a script which runs dia‐
311 log several times. Use
312 this option to allow
313 dialog to use those ini‐
314 tialization strings.
315 --keep-window
317 Normally when dialog
318 performs several tail‐
319 boxbg widgets connected
320 by "--and-widget", it
321 clears the old widget
322 from the screen by
323 painting over it. Use
324 this option to suppress
325 that repainting.
326 At exit, dialog repaints
328 all of the widgets which
329 have been marked with
330 "--keep-window", even if
331 they are not tailboxbg
332 widgets. That causes
333 them to be repainted in
334 reverse order. See the
335 discussion of the
336 "--clear" option for
337 examples.
338 --max-input size
340 Limit input strings to
341 the given size. If not
342 specified, the limit is
343 2048.
344 --no-cancel
346 --nocancel
348 Suppress the "Cancel"
349 button in checklist,
350 inputbox and menu box
351 modes. A script can
352 still test if the user
353 pressed the ESC key to
354 cancel to quit.
355 --no-collapse
357 Normally dialog converts
358 tabs to spaces and
359 reduces multiple spaces
360 to a single space for
361 text which is displayed
362 in a message boxes, etc.
363 Use this option to dis‐
364 able that feature. Note
365 that dialog will still
366 wrap text, subject to
367 the "--cr-wrap" and
368 "--trim" options.
369 --no-kill
371 Tells dialog to put the
372 tailboxbg box in the
373 background, printing its
374 process id to dialog's
375 output. SIGHUP is dis‐
376 abled for the background
377 process.
378 --no-label string
380 Override the label used
381 for "No" buttons.
382 --no-lines
384 Rather than draw lines
385 around boxes, draw spa‐
386 ces in the same place.
387 See also "--ascii-
388 lines".
389 --no-shadow
391 Suppress shadows that
392 would be drawn to the
393 right and bottom of each
394 dialog box.
395 --ok-label string
397 Override the label used
398 for "OK" buttons.
399 --output-fd fd
401 Direct output to the
402 given file descriptor.
403 Most dialog scripts
404 write to the standard
405 error, but error mes‐
406 sages may also be writ‐
407 ten there, depending on
408 your script.
409 --print-maxsize
411 Print the maximum size
412 of dialog boxes, i.e.,
413 the screen size, to dia‐
414 log's output. This may
415 be used alone, without
416 other options.
417 --print-size
419 Prints the size of each
420 dialog box to dialog's
421 output.
422 --print-version
424 Prints dialog's version
425 to dialog's output.
426 This may be used alone,
427 without other options.
428 --separate-output
430 For checklist widgets,
431 output result one line
432 at a time, with no quot‐
433 ing. This facilitates
434 parsing by another pro‐
435 gram.
436 --separator string
438 --separate-widget string
440 Specify a string that
441 will separate the output
442 on dialog's output from
443 each widget. This is
444 used to simplify parsing
445 the result of a dialog
446 with several widgets.
447 If this option is not
448 given, the default sepa‐
449 rator string is a tab
450 character.
451 --shadow
453 Draw a shadow to the
454 right and bottom of each
455 dialog box.
456 --single-quoted
458 Use single-quoting as
459 needed (and no quotes if
460 unneeded) for the output
461 of checklist's as well
462 as the item-help text.
463 If this option is not
464 set, dialog uses double
465 quotes around each item.
466 That requires occasional
467 use of backslashes to
468 make the output useful
469 in shell scripts.
470 --size-err
472 Check the resulting size
473 of a dialog box before
474 trying to use it, print‐
475 ing the resulting size
476 if it is larger than the
477 screen. (This option is
478 obsolete, since all new-
479 window calls are
480 checked).
481 --sleep secs
483 Sleep (delay) for the
484 given number of seconds
485 after processing a dia‐
486 log box.
487 --stderr
489 Direct output to the
490 standard error. This is
491 the default, since
492 curses normally writes
493 screen updates to the
494 standard output.
495 --stdout
497 Direct output to the
498 standard output. This
499 option is provided for
500 compatibility with Xdia‐
501 log, however using it in
502 portable scripts is not
503 recommended, since
504 curses normally writes
505 its screen updates to
506 the standard output. If
507 you use this option,
508 dialog attempts to
509 reopen the terminal so
510 it can write to the dis‐
511 play. Depending on the
512 platform and your envi‐
513 ronment, that may fail.
514 --tab-correct
516 Convert each tab charac‐
517 ter to one or more spa‐
518 ces (for the textbox
519 widget; otherwise to a
520 single space). Other‐
521 wise, tabs are rendered
522 according to the curses
523 library's interpreta‐
524 tion.
525 --tab-len n
527 Specify the number of
528 spaces that a tab char‐
529 acter occupies if the
530 "--tab-correct" option
531 is given. The default
532 is 8. This option is
533 only effective for the
534 textbox widget.
535 --timeout secs
537 Timeout (exit with error
538 code) if no user
539 response within the
540 given number of seconds.
541 This is overridden if
542 the background "--tail‐
543 boxbg is used. A time‐
544 out of zero seconds is
545 ignored.
546 --title title
548 Specifies a title string
549 to be displayed at the
550 top of the dialog box.
551 --trace filename
553 logs keystrokes to the
554 given file. Use con‐
555 trol/T to log a picture
556 of the current dialog
557 window.
558 --trim eliminate leading
560 blanks, trim literal
561 newlines and repeated
562 blanks from message
563 text.
564 See also the "--cr-wrap"
566 and "--no-collapse"
567 options.
568 --version
570 Same as "--print-ver‐
571 sion".
572 --visit-items
574 Modify the tab-traversal
575 of checklist, radiobox,
576 menubox and inputmenu to
577 include the list of
578 items as one of the
579 states. This is useful
580 as a visual aid, i.e.,
581 the cursor position
582 helps some users.
583 When this option is
585 given, the cursor is
586 initially placed on the
587 list. Abbreviations
588 (the first letter of the
589 tag) apply to the list
590 items. If you tab to
591 the button row, abbrevi‐
592 ations apply to the but‐
593 tons.
594 --yes-label string
596 Override the label used
597 for "Yes" buttons.
598 Box Options
600 All dialog boxes have at least three parameters:
601 text the caption or contents of the box.
603 height
605 the height of the dialog box.
606 width
608 the width of the dialog box.
609 Other parameters depend on the box type.
611 --calendar text height width day month year
613 A calendar box displays month, day and year in separately
614 adjustable windows. If the values for day, month or year are
615 missing or negative, the current date's corresponding values are
616 used. You can increment or decrement any of those using the
617 left-, up-, right- and down-arrows. Use vi-style h, j, k and l
618 for moving around the array of days in a month. Use tab or
619 backtab to move between windows. If the year is given as zero,
620 the current date is used as an initial value.
621 On exit, the date is printed in the form day/month/year.
623 --checklist text height width list-height [ tag item status ] ...
625 A checklist box is similar to a menu box; there are multiple
626 entries presented in the form of a menu. Instead of choosing
627 one entry among the entries, each entry can be turned on or off
628 by the user. The initial on/off state of each entry is speci‐
629 fied by status.
630 On exit, a list of the tag strings of those entries that are
632 turned on will be printed on dialog's output. If the "--sepa‐
633 rate-output" option is not given, the strings will be quoted to
634 make it simple for scripts to separate them. See the "--single-
635 quoted" option, which modifies the quoting behavior.
636 --dselect filepath height width
638 The directory-selection dialog displays a text-entry window in
639 which you can type a directory, and above that a windows with
640 directory names.
641 Here filepath can be a filepath in which case the directory win‐
643 dow will display the contents of the path and the text-entry
644 window will contain the preselected directory.
645 Use tab or arrow keys to move between the windows. Within the
647 directory window, use the up/down arrow keys to scroll the cur‐
648 rent selection. Use the space-bar to copy the current selection
649 into the text-entry window.
650 Typing any printable characters switches focus to the text-entry
652 window, entering that character as well as scrolling the direc‐
653 tory window to the closest match.
654 Use a carriage return or the "OK" button to accept the current
656 value in the text-entry window and exit.
657 On exit, the contents of the text-entry window are written to
659 dialog's output.
660 --editbox filepath height width
662 The edit-box dialog displays a copy of the file. You may edit
663 it using the backspace, delete and cursor keys to correct typing
664 errors. It also recognizes pageup/pagedown. Unlike the
665 --inputbox, you must tab to the "OK" or "Cancel" buttons to
666 close the dialog. Pressing the "Enter" key within the box will
667 split the corresponding line.
668 On exit, the contents of the edit window are written to dialog's
670 output.
671 --form text height width formheight [ label y x item y x flen ilen ] ...
673 The form dialog displays a form consisting of labels and fields,
674 which are positioned on a scrollable window by coordinates given
675 in the script. The field length flen and input-length ilen tell
676 how long the field can be. The former defines the length shown
677 for a selected field, while the latter defines the permissible
678 length of the data entered in the field.
679 - If flen is zero, the corresponding field cannot be altered.
681 and the contents of the field determine the displayed-length.
682 - If flen is negative, the corresponding field cannot be
684 altered, and the negated value of flen is used as the dis‐
685 played-length.
686 - If ilen is zero, it is set to flen.
688 Use up/down arrows (or control/N, control/P) to move between
690 fields. Use tab to move between windows.
691 On exit, the contents of the form-fields are written to dialog's
693 output, each field separated by a newline. The text used to
694 fill non-editable fields (flen is zero or negative) is not writ‐
695 ten out.
696 --fselect filepath height width
698 The fselect (file-selection) dialog displays a text-entry window
699 in which you can type a filename (or directory), and above that
700 two windows with directory names and filenames.
701 Here filepath can be a filepath in which case the file and
703 directory windows will display the contents of the path and the
704 text-entry window will contain the preselected filename.
705 Use tab or arrow keys to move between the windows. Within the
707 directory or filename windows, use the up/down arrow keys to
708 scroll the current selection. Use the space-bar to copy the
709 current selection into the text-entry window.
710 Typing any printable characters switches focus to the text-entry
712 window, entering that character as well as scrolling the direc‐
713 tory and filename windows to the closest match.
714 Typing the space character forces dialog to complete the current
716 name (up to the point where there may be a match against more
717 than one entry).
718 Use a carriage return or the "OK" button to accept the current
720 value in the text-entry window and exit.
721 On exit, the contents of the text-entry window are written to
723 dialog's output.
724 --gauge text height width [percent]
726 A gauge box displays a meter along the bottom of the box. The
727 meter indicates the percentage. New percentages are read from
728 standard input, one integer per line. The meter is updated to
729 reflect each new percentage. If the standard input reads the
730 string "XXX", then subsequent lines up to another "XXX" are used
731 for a new prompt. The gauge exits when EOF is reached on the
732 standard input.
733 The percent value denotes the initial percentage shown in the
735 meter. If not specified, it is zero.
736 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. The widget
738 accepts no input, so the exit status is always OK.
739 --infobox text height width
741 An info box is basically a message box. However, in this case,
742 dialog will exit immediately after displaying the message to the
743 user. The screen is not cleared when dialog exits, so that the
744 message will remain on the screen until the calling shell script
745 clears it later. This is useful when you want to inform the
746 user that some operations are carrying on that may require some
747 time to finish.
748 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an "OK"
750 button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be
751 returned.
752 --inputbox text height width [init]
754 An input box is useful when you want to ask questions that
755 require the user to input a string as the answer. If init is
756 supplied it is used to initialize the input string. When enter‐
757 ing the string, the backspace, delete and cursor keys can be
758 used to correct typing errors. If the input string is longer
759 than can fit in the dialog box, the input field will be
760 scrolled.
761 On exit, the input string will be printed on dialog's output.
763 --inputmenu text height width menu-height [ tag item ] ...
765 An inputmenu box is very similar to an ordinary menu box. There
766 are only a few differences between them:
767 1. The entries are not automatically centered but left
769 adjusted.
770 2. An extra button (called Rename) is implied to rename the
772 current item when it is pressed.
773 3. It is possible to rename the current entry by pressing the
775 Rename button. Then dialog will write the following on dia‐
776 log's output.
777 RENAMED <tag> <item>
779 --menu text height width menu-height [ tag item ] ...
781 As its name suggests, a menu box is a dialog box that can be
782 used to present a list of choices in the form of a menu for the
783 user to choose. Choices are displayed in the order given. Each
784 menu entry consists of a tag string and an item string. The tag
785 gives the entry a name to distinguish it from the other entries
786 in the menu. The item is a short description of the option that
787 the entry represents. The user can move between the menu
788 entries by pressing the cursor keys, the first letter of the tag
789 as a hot-key, or the number keys 1-9. There are menu-height
790 entries displayed in the menu at one time, but the menu will be
791 scrolled if there are more entries than that.
792 On exit the tag of the chosen menu entry will be printed on dia‐
794 log's output. If the "--help-button" option is given, the cor‐
795 responding help text will be printed if the user selects the
796 help button.
797 --mixedform text height width formheight [ label y x item y x flen ilen itype ] ...
799 The mixedform dialog displays a form consisting of labels and
800 fields, much like the --form dialog. It differs by adding a
801 field-type parameter to each field's description. Each bit in
802 the type denotes an attribute of the field:
803 1 hidden, e.g., a password field.
805 2 readonly, e.g., a label.
807 --mixedgauge text height width percent [ tag1 item1 ] ...
809 A mixedgauge box displays a meter along the bottom of the box.
810 The meter indicates the percentage.
811 It also displays a list of the tag- and item-values at the top
813 of the box. See dialog(3) for the tag values.
814 The text is shown as a caption between the list and meter. The
816 percent value denotes the initial percentage shown in the meter.
817 No provision is made for reading data from the standard input as
819 --gauge does.
820 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. The widget
822 accepts no input, so the exit status is always OK.
823 --msgbox text height width
825 A message box is very similar to a yes/no box. The only differ‐
826 ence between a message box and a yes/no box is that a message
827 box has only a single OK button. You can use this dialog box to
828 display any message you like. After reading the message, the
829 user can press the ENTER key so that dialog will exit and the
830 calling shell script can continue its operation.
831 If the message is too large for the space, dialog may allow you
833 to scroll it, provided that the underlying curses implementation
834 is capable enough. In this case, a percentage is shown in the
835 base of the widget.
836 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an "OK"
838 button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be
839 returned.
840 --pause text height width seconds
842 A pause box displays a meter along the bottom of the box. The
843 meter indicates how many seconds remain until the end of the
844 pause. The pause exits when timeout is reached (status OK) or
845 the user presses the Exit button (status CANCEL).
846 --passwordbox text height width [init]
848 A password box is similar to an input box, except that the text
849 the user enters is not displayed. This is useful when prompting
850 for passwords or other sensitive information. Be aware that if
851 anything is passed in "init", it will be visible in the system's
852 process table to casual snoopers. Also, it is very confusing to
853 the user to provide them with a default password they cannot
854 see. For these reasons, using "init" is highly discouraged.
855 See "--insecure" if you do not care about your password.
856 On exit, the input string will be printed on dialog's output.
858 --passwordform text height width formheight [ label y x item y x flen ilen ] ...
860 This is identical to --form except that all text fields are
861 treated as password widgets rather than inputbox widgets.
862 --progressbox text height width
864 --progressbox height width
866 A progressbox is similar to an tailbox, except that it will exit
867 when it reaches the end of the file. If three parameters are
868 given, it displays the text under the title, delineated from the
869 scrolling file's contents. If only two parameters are given,
870 this text is omitted.
871 --radiolist text height width list-height [ tag item status ] ...
873 A radiolist box is similar to a menu box. The only difference
874 is that you can indicate which entry is currently selected, by
875 setting its status to on.
876 On exit, the name of the selected item is written to dialog's
878 output.
879 --tailbox file height width
881 Display text from a file in a dialog box, as in a "tail -f" com‐
882 mand. Scroll left/right using vi-style 'h' and 'l', or arrow-
883 keys. A '0' resets the scrolling.
884 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an "OK"
886 button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be
887 returned.
888 --tailboxbg file height width
890 Display text from a file in a dialog box as a background task,
891 as in a "tail -f &" command. Scroll left/right using vi-style
892 'h' and 'l', or arrow-keys. A '0' resets the scrolling.
893 Dialog treats the background task specially if there are other
895 widgets (--and-widget) on the screen concurrently. Until those
896 widgets are closed (e.g., an "OK"), dialog will perform all of
897 the tailboxbg widgets in the same process, polling for updates.
898 You may use a tab to traverse between the widgets on the screen,
899 and close them individually, e.g., by pressing ENTER. Once the
900 non-tailboxbg widgets are closed, dialog forks a copy of itself
901 into the background, and prints its process id if the "--no-
902 kill" option is given.
903 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an "EXIT"
905 button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be
906 returned.
907 NOTE: Older versions of dialog forked immediately and attempted
909 to update the screen individually. Besides being bad for per‐
910 formance, it was unworkable. Some older scripts may not work
911 properly with the polled scheme.
912 --textbox file height width
914 A text box lets you display the contents of a text file in a
915 dialog box. It is like a simple text file viewer. The user can
916 move through the file by using the cursor, page-up, page-down
917 and HOME/END keys available on most keyboards. If the lines are
918 too long to be displayed in the box, the LEFT/RIGHT keys can be
919 used to scroll the text region horizontally. You may also use
920 vi-style keys h, j, k, l in place of the cursor keys, and B or N
921 in place of the page-up and page-down keys. Scroll up/down
922 using vi-style 'k' and 'j', or arrow-keys. Scroll left/right
923 using vi-style 'h' and 'l', or arrow-keys. A '0' resets the
924 left/right scrolling. For more convenience, vi-style forward
925 and backward searching functions are also provided.
926 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. Only an "EXIT"
928 button is provided for input, but an ESC exit status may be
929 returned.
930 --timebox text height [width hour minute second]
932 A dialog is displayed which allows you to select hour, minute
933 and second. If the values for hour, minute or second are miss‐
934 ing or negative, the current date's corresponding values are
935 used. You can increment or decrement any of those using the
936 left-, up-, right- and down-arrows. Use tab or backtab to move
937 between windows.
938 On exit, the result is printed in the form hour:minute:second.
940 --yesno text height width
942 A yes/no dialog box of size height rows by width columns will be
943 displayed. The string specified by text is displayed inside the
944 dialog box. If this string is too long to fit in one line, it
945 will be automatically divided into multiple lines at appropriate
946 places. The text string can also contain the sub-string "\n" or
947 newline characters `\n' to control line breaking explicitly.
948 This dialog box is useful for asking questions that require the
949 user to answer either yes or no. The dialog box has a Yes but‐
950 ton and a No button, in which the user can switch between by
951 pressing the TAB key.
952 On exit, no text is written to dialog's output. In addition to
954 the "Yes" and "No" exit codes (see DIAGNOSTICS) an ESC exit sta‐
955 tus may be returned.
956 The codes used for "Yes" and "No" match those used for "OK" and
958 "Cancel", internally no distinction is made.
959 Obsolete Options
961 --beep This was used to tell the original cdialog that it should make a
962 beep when the separate processes of the tailboxbg widget would
963 repaint the screen.
964 --beep-after
966 Beep after a user has completed a widget by pressing one of the
967 buttons.
968
970 1. Create a sample configuration file by typing:
971 "dialog --create-rc <file>"
973 2. At start, dialog determines the settings to use as follows:
975 a) if environment variable DIALOGRC is set, its value determines
977 the name of the configuration file.
978 b) if the file in (a) is not found, use the file $HOME/.dialogrc
980 as the configuration file.
981 c) if the file in (b) is not found, try using the GLOBALRC file
983 determined at compile-time, i.e., /etc/dialogrc.
984 d) if the file in (c) is not found, use compiled in defaults.
986 3. Edit the sample configuration file and copy it to some place that
988 dialog can find, as stated in step 2 above.
989
991 You can override or add to key bindings in dialog by adding to the con‐
992 figuration file. Dialog's bindkey command maps single keys to its
993 internal coding.
994 bindkey widget curses_key dialog_key
995 The widget name can be "*" (all widgets), or specific widgets
996 such as textbox. Specific widget bindings override the "*"
997 bindings. User-defined bindings override the built-in bind‐
998 ings.
999 The curses_key can be any of the names derived from curses.h,
1001 e.g., "HELP" from "KEY_HELP". Dialog also recognizes ANSI
1002 control characters such as "^A", "^?", as well as C1-controls
1003 such as "~A" and "~?". Finally, it allows any single charac‐
1004 ter to be escaped with a backslash.
1005 Dialog's internal keycode names correspond to the
1007 DLG_KEYS_ENUM type in dlg_keys.h, e.g., "HELP" from
1008 "DLGK_HELP".
1009
1011 DIALOGOPTS Define this variable to apply any of the common options
1012 to each widget. Most of the common options are reset
1013 before processing each widget. If you set the options
1014 in this environment variable, they are applied to dia‐
1015 log's state after the reset. As in the "--file" option,
1016 double-quotes and backslashes are interpreted.
1017 The "--file" option is not considered a common option
1019 (so you cannot embed it within this environment vari‐
1020 able).
1021 DIALOGRC Define this variable if you want to specify the name of
1023 the configuration file to use.
1024 DIALOG_CANCEL
1026 DIALOG_ERROR
1028 DIALOG_ESC
1030 DIALOG_EXTRA
1032 DIALOG_HELP
1034 DIALOG_ITEM_HELP
1036 DIALOG_OK Define any of these variables to change the exit code on
1038 Cancel (1), error (-1), ESC (255), Extra (3), Help (2),
1039 Help with --item-help (2), or OK (0). Normally shell
1040 scripts cannot distinguish between -1 and 255.
1041 DIALOG_TTY Set this variable to "1" to provide compatibility with
1043 older versions of dialog which assumed that if the
1044 script redirects the standard output, that the "--std‐
1045 out" option was given.
1046
1048 $HOME/.dialogrc default configuration file
1049
1051 The dialog sources contain several samples of how to use the different
1052 box options and how they look. Just take a look into the directory
1053 samples/ of the source.
1054
1056 Exit status is subject to being overridden by environment variables.
1057 Normally they are:
1058 0 if dialog is exited by pressing the Yes or OK button.
1060 1 if the No or Cancel button is pressed.
1062 2 if the Help button is pressed.
1064 3 if the Extra button is pressed.
1066 -1 if errors occur inside dialog or dialog is exited by pressing the
1068 ESC key.
1069
1071 You may want to write scripts which run with other dialog "clones".
1072 ORIGINAL DIALOG
1074 First, there is the "original" dialog program to consider (versions 0.3
1075 to 0.9). It had some misspelled (or inconsistent) options. The dialog
1076 program maps those deprecated options to the preferred ones. They
1077 include:
1078 Option Treatment
1080 ─────────────────────────────────
1081 --beep-after ignored
1082 --guage mapped to --gauge
1083 XDIALOG
1085 Technically, "Xdialog", this is an X application. With some care, it
1086 is possible to write useful scripts that work with both Xdialog and
1087 dialog.
1088 The dialog program ignores these options which are recognized by Xdia‐
1090 log:
1091 Option Treatment
1093 ───────────────────────────────────────────────
1094 --allow-close ignored
1095 --auto-placement ignored
1096 --fixed-font ignored
1097 --icon ignored
1098 --keep-colors ignored
1099 --no-close ignored
1100 --no-cr-wrap ignored
1101 --screen-center ignored
1102 --separator mapped to --separate-output
1104 --smooth ignored
1105 --under-mouse ignored
1106 --wmclass ignored
1107 Xdialog's manpage has a section discussing its compatibility with dia‐
1109 log.
1110 WHIPTAIL
1112 Then there is whiptail. For practical purposes, it is maintained by
1113 Debian. Its documentation claims
1114 whiptail(1) is a lightweight replacement for dialog(1),
1116 to provide dialog boxes for shell scripts. It is built on the
1117 newt windowing library rather than the ncurses library, allowing
1118 it to be smaller in embedded enviroments such as installers,
1119 rescue disks, etc.
1120 whiptail is designed to be drop-in compatible with dialog, but
1122 has less features: some dialog boxes are not implemented, such
1123 as tailbox, timebox, calendarbox, etc.
1124 Comparing actual sizes (Debian testing, 2007/1/10): The total of sizes
1126 for whiptail, the newt, popt and slang libraries is 757kb. The compa‐
1127 rable number for dialog (counting ncurses) is 520kb. Disregard the
1128 first paragraph.
1129 The second paragraph is misleading, since whiptail also does not work
1131 for common options of dialog, such as the gauge box. whiptail is less
1132 compatible with dialog than the decade-old original dialog 0.4 program.
1133 whiptail's manpage borrows features from dialog, e.g., --default-item,
1135 --output-fd, but oddly cites only dialog versions up to 0.4 as a
1136 source. That is, its manpage refers to features which were borrowed
1137 from more recent versions of dialog, e.g., the --gauge and --password
1138 boxes, as well as options such as -separate-output. Somewhat humor‐
1139 ously, one may note that the popt feature (undocumented in its manpage)
1140 of using a "--" as an escape was documented in dialog's manpage about a
1141 year before it was mentioned in whiptail's manpage. whiptail's manpage
1142 incorrectly attributes that to getopt (and is inaccurate anyway).
1143 Debian uses whiptail for the official dialog variation.
1145 The dialog program ignores or maps these options which are recognized
1147 by whiptail:
1148 Option Treatment
1150 ─────────────────────────────────────
1151 --fb ignored
1152 --fullbutton ignored
1153 --nocancel mapped to --no-cancel
1154 --noitem ignored
1155
1157 Perhaps.
1158
1160 Thomas E. Dickey (updates for 0.9b and beyond)
1161
1163 Kiran Cherupally - the mixed form and mixed gauge widgets.
1164 Tobias C. Rittweiler
1166 Valery Reznic - the form and progressbox widgets.
1168 Yura Kalinichenko adapted the gauge widget as "pause".
1170 This is a rewrite (except as needed to provide compatibility) of the
1172 earlier version of dialog 0.9a, which lists as authors:
1173 Savio Lam - version 0.3, "dialog"
1175 Stuart Herbert - patch for version 0.4
1177 Marc Ewing - the gauge widget.
1179 Pasquale De Marco "Pako" - version 0.9a, "cdialog"
1181$Date: 2007/02/22 21:02:54 $ DIALOG(1)