freebsd/contrib/dialog/dialog.1

'\" t
.\" $Id: dialog.1,v 1.133 2011/06/29 09:39:29 tom Exp $
.\" Copyright 2005-2010,2011  Thomas E. Dickey
.\"
.\" This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
.\" it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1
.\" as published by the Free Software Foundation.
.\"
.\" This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
.\" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
.\" MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
.\" Lesser General Public License for more details.
.\"
.\" You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
.\" License along with this program; if not, write to
.\"	Free Software Foundation, Inc.
.\"	51 Franklin St., Fifth Floor
.\"	Boston, MA 02110, USA.
.\"
.\" definitions for renaming
.ds p dialog
.ds l dialog
.ds L Dialog
.ds D DIALOG
.\"
.de ES
.ne 8
.IP
..
.de EX
.RS +10
.nf
..
.de EE
.fi
.RE
..
.
.TH \*D 1 "" "$Date: 2011/06/29 09:39:29 $"
.SH NAME
\*p \- display dialog boxes from shell scripts
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fB\*p --clear\fP
.br
.BI "\*p --create-rc " file
.br
\fB\*p --print-maxsize\fP
.br
\fB\*p\fP
\fIcommon-options\fP
\fIbox-options\fP
.SH DESCRIPTION
\fB\*L\fP
is a program that will let you to present a variety of questions or
display messages using dialog boxes from a shell script.
These types of dialog boxes are implemented
(though not all are necessarily compiled into \fB\*p\fR):
.RS
.LP
.nh
.na
.BR calendar ", "
.BR checklist ", "
.BR dselect ", "
.BR editbox ", "
.BR form ", "
.BR fselect ", "
.BR gauge ", "
.BR infobox ", "
.BR inputbox ", "
.BR inputmenu ", "
.BR menu ", "
.BR mixedform ", "
.BR mixedgauge ", "
.BR msgbox " (message), "
.BR passwordbox ", "
.BR passwordform ", "
.BR pause ", "
.BR prgbox ", "
.BR programbox ", "
.BR progressbox ", "
.BR radiolist ", "
.BR tailbox ", "
.BR tailboxbg ", "
.BR textbox ", "
.BR timebox ", and "
.BR yesno " (yes/no)."
.ad
.hy
.RE
.PP
You can put more than one dialog box into a script:
.TP 5
-
Use the "\fB--and-widget\fP" token to force \fB\*p\fP to proceed to the next
dialog unless you have pressed ESC to cancel, or
.TP 5
-
Simply add the tokens for the next dialog box, making a chain.
\*L stops chaining when the return code from a dialog is nonzero,
e.g., Cancel or No (see DIAGNOSTICS).
.PP
Some widgets, e.g., checklist, will write text to \fB\*p\fP's output.
Normally that is the standard error, but there are options for
changing this: "\fB--output-fd\fP", "\fB--stderr\fP" and "\fB--stdout\fP".
No text is written if the Cancel button (or ESC) is pressed;
\fB\*p\fP exits immediately in that case.
.
.\" ************************************************************************
.SH OPTIONS
All options begin with "\fB--\fP"
(two ASCII hyphens,
for the benefit of those using systems with deranged locale support).
.PP
A "\fB--\fP" by itself is used as an escape,
i.e., the next token on the command-line is not treated as an option.
.RS
.B \*p --title -- --Not an option
.RE
.PP
The "\fB--args\fP" option tells \fB\*p\fP to list the command-line
parameters to the standard error.
This is useful when debugging complex scripts using
the "\fB--\fP" and "\fB--file\fP",
since the command-line may be rewritten as these are expanded.
.PP
The "\fB--file\fP" option tells \fB\*p\fP to read parameters from
the file named as its value.
.RS
.B \*p --file \fIparameterfile
.RE
Blanks not within double-quotes are discarded
(use backslashes to quote single characters).
The result is inserted into the command-line,
replacing "\fB--file\fP" and its option value.
Interpretation of the command-line resumes from that point.
If \fIparameterfile\fP begins with "&", \fB\*p\fP
interprets the following text as a file descriptor number
rather than a filename.
.
.SS \fBCommon Options\fP
.
.IP "\fB--ascii-lines
Rather than draw graphics lines around boxes,
draw ASCII "+" and "-" in the same place.
See also "\fB--no-lines\fR".
.
.IP "\fB--aspect \fIratio"
This gives you some control over the box dimensions when using auto
sizing (specifying 0 for height and width).
It represents width / height.
The default is 9, which means 9 characters wide to every 1 line high.
.
.IP "\fB--backtitle \fIbacktitle"
Specifies a
\fIbacktitle\fP
string to be displayed on the backdrop, at the top of the screen.
.
.IP "\fB--begin \fIy x"
Specify the position of the upper left corner of a dialog box on the screen.
.
.IP "\fB--cancel-label \fIstring"
Override the label used for "Cancel" buttons.
.
.IP "\fB--clear"
Clears the widget screen, keeping only the screen_color background.
Use this when you combine widgets with "\fB--and-widget\fR" to erase the
contents of a previous widget on the screen, so it won't be seen
under the contents of a following widget.
Understand this as the complement of "\fB--keep-window\fR".
To compare the effects, use these:
.
.ES
All three widgets visible, staircase effect, ordered 1,2,3:
.EX
\*p \
                               --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \\
    --and-widget               --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \\
    --and-widget               --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
.EE
.
.ES
Only the last widget is left visible:
.EX
\*p \
                 --clear       --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \\
    --and-widget --clear       --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \\
    --and-widget               --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
.EE
.
.ES
All three widgets visible, staircase effect, ordered 3,2,1:
.EX
\*p \
                 --keep-window --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \\
    --and-widget --keep-window --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \\
    --and-widget               --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
.EE
.
.ES
First and third widget visible, staircase effect, ordered 3,1:
.EX
\*p \
                 --keep-window --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \\
    --and-widget --clear       --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \\
    --and-widget               --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0
.EE
.IP
Note, if you want to restore original console colors and send your
cursor home after the dialog program has exited, use the \fBclear\fR\ (1)
command.
.
.IP "\fB--colors"
Interpret embedded "\\Z" sequences in the dialog text
by the following character,
which tells \fB\*p\fP to set colors or video attributes:
0 through 7 are the ANSI used in curses:
black,
red,
green,
yellow,
blue,
magenta,
cyan and
white respectively.
Bold is set by 'b', reset by 'B'.
Reverse is set by 'r', reset by 'R'.
Underline is set by 'u', reset by 'U'.
The settings are cumulative, e.g., "\\Zb\\Z1" makes the following text
bold (perhaps bright) red.
Restore normal settings with "\\Zn".
.
.IP "\fB--column-separator \fIstring"
Tell \fB\*p\fP to split data for radio/checkboxes and menus on the
occurrences of the given string, and to align the split data into columns.
.
.IP "\fB--cr-wrap"
Interpret embedded newlines in the dialog text as a newline on the screen.
Otherwise, \fB\*p\fR will only wrap lines where needed to fit inside the text box.
Even though you can control line breaks with this,
\fB\*L\fR will still wrap any lines that are too long for the width of the box.
Without cr-wrap, the layout of your text may be formatted to look nice
in the source code of your script without affecting the way it will
look in the dialog.
.IP
See also the "\fB--no-collapse\fP" and "\fB--trim\fP" options.
.
.IP "\fB--create-rc \fIfile"
When
\fB\*p\fP
supports run-time configuration,
this can be used to dump a sample configuration file to the file specified
by
.IR file "."
.
.IP "\fB--date-format \fIformat"
If the host provides \fBstrftime\fP,
this option allows you to specify the format of the date printed for
the \fB--calendar\fP widget.
The time of day (hour, minute, second) are the current local time.
.
.IP "\fB--defaultno"
Make the default value of the
\fByes/no\fP
box a
.BR No .
Likewise, make the default button of widgets that provide "OK" and "Cancel"
a \fBCancel\fP.
If "\fB--nocancel\fP" or "\fB--visit-items\fP" are given
those options overrides this,
making the default button always "Yes" (internally the same as "OK").
.
.IP "\fB--default-item \fIstring"
Set the default item in a checklist, form or menu box.
Normally the first item in the box is the default.
.
.IP "\fB--exit-label \fIstring"
Override the label used for "EXIT" buttons.
.
.IP "\fB--extra-button"
Show an extra button, between "OK" and "Cancel" buttons.
.
.IP "\fB--extra-label \fIstring"
Override the label used for "Extra" buttons.
Note: for inputmenu widgets, this defaults to "Rename".
.
.IP "\fB--help"
Prints the help message to the standard output and exits.
The help message is also printed if no options are given,
or if an unrecognized option is given.
.
.IP "\fB--help-button"
Show a help-button after "OK" and "Cancel" buttons,
i.e., in checklist, radiolist and menu boxes.
If "\fB--item-help\fR" is also given, on exit
the return status will be the same as for the "OK" button,
and the item-help text will be written to \fB\*p\fP's output after the token "HELP".
Otherwise, the return status will indicate that the Help button was pressed,
and no message printed.
.
.IP "\fB--help-label \fIstring"
Override the label used for "Help" buttons.
.
.IP "\fB--help-status"
If the help-button is selected,
writes the checklist, radiolist or form information
after the item-help "HELP" information.
This can be used to reconstruct the state of a checklist after processing
the help request.
.
.IP "\fB--hfile \fIfilename"
Display the given file using a textbox when the user presses F1.
.
.IP "\fB--hline \fIstring"
Display the given string centered at the bottom of the widget.
.
.IP "\fB--ignore"
Ignore options that \fB\*p\fP does not recognize.
Some well-known ones such as "\fB--icon\fP" are ignored anyway,
but this is a better choice for compatibility with other implementations.
.
.IP "\fB--input-fd \fIfd"
Read keyboard input from the given file descriptor.
Most \fB\*p\fR scripts read from the standard input,
but the gauge widget reads a pipe (which is always standard input).
Some configurations do not work properly when
\fB\*p\fP tries to reopen the terminal.
Use this option (with appropriate juggling of file-descriptors)
if your script must work in that type of environment.
.
.IP "\fB--insecure"
Makes the password widget friendlier but less secure,
by echoing asterisks for each character.
.
.IP "\fB--item-help"
Interpret the tags data for checklist, radiolist and menu boxes
adding a column which is displayed in the bottom line of the
screen, for the currently selected item.
.
.IP "\fB--keep-tite"
Normally \fB\*p\fP checks to see if it is running in an \fBxterm\fP,
and in that case tries to suppress the initialization strings that
would make it switch to the alternate screen.
Switching between the normal and alternate screens
is visually distracting in a script which runs \fB\*p\fP
several times.
Use this option to allow \fB\*p\fP to use those initialization strings. 
.
.IP "\fB--keep-window"
Normally when \fB\*p\fR performs several \fBtailboxbg\fR widgets
connected by "\fB--and-widget\fR",
it clears the old widget from the screen by painting over it.
Use this option to suppress that repainting.
.IP
At exit, \fB\*p\fR repaints all of the widgets which have been
marked with "\fB--keep-window\fR", even if they are not \fBtailboxbg\fR widgets.
That causes them to be repainted in reverse order.
See the discussion of the "\fB--clear\fR" option for examples.
.
.IP "\fB--max-input \fIsize"
Limit input strings to the given size.
If not specified, the limit is 2048.
.
.IP "\fB--no-cancel"
.IP "\fB--nocancel"
Suppress the "Cancel" button in checklist, inputbox and menu box modes.
A script can still test if the user pressed the ESC key to cancel to quit.
.
.IP "\fB--no-collapse"
Normally \fB\*p\fR converts tabs to spaces and reduces multiple
spaces to a single space for text which is displayed in a message boxes, etc.
Use this option to disable that feature.
Note that \fB\*p\fR will still wrap text,
subject to the "\fB--cr-wrap\fR" and "\fB--trim\fR" options.
.
.IP "\fB--no-kill"
Tells
\fB\*p\fP
to put the
\fBtailboxbg\fP
box in the background,
printing its process id to \fB\*p\fP's output.
SIGHUP is disabled for the background process.
.
.IP "\fB--no-label \fIstring"
Override the label used for "No" buttons.
.
.IP "\fB--no-lines
Rather than draw lines around boxes, draw spaces in the same place.
See also "\fB--ascii-lines\fR".
.
.IP "\fB--no-mouse
Do not enable the mouse.
.
.IP "\fB--no-nl-expand
Do not convert "\\n" substrings of the message/prompt text into
literal newlines.
.
.IP "\fB--no-ok"
.IP "\fB--nook"
Suppress the "OK" button in checklist, inputbox and menu box modes.
A script can still test if the user pressed the "Enter" key to accept the data.
.
.
.IP "\fB--no-shadow"
Suppress shadows that would be drawn to the right and bottom of each dialog box.
.
.IP "\fB--ok-label \fIstring"
Override the label used for "OK" buttons.
.
.IP "\fB--output-fd \fIfd"
Direct output to the given file descriptor.
Most \fB\*p\fR scripts write to the standard error,
but error messages may also be written there, depending on your script.
.
.IP "\fB--separator \fIstring"
.IP "\fB--output-separator\fIstring"
Specify a string that will separate the output on \fB\*p\fP's output from
checklists, rather than a newline (for --separate-output) or a space.
This applies to other widgets such as forms and editboxes which normally
use a newline.
.
.IP "\fB--print-maxsize"
Print the maximum size of dialog boxes, i.e., the screen size,
to \fB\*p\fP's output.
This may be used alone, without other options.
.
.IP "\fB--print-size"
Prints the size of each dialog box to \fB\*p\fP's output.
.
.IP "\fB--print-version"
Prints \fB\*p\fR's version to \fB\*p\fP's output.
This may be used alone, without other options.
It does not cause \fBdialog\fP to exit by itself.
.
.IP "\fB--scrollbar"
For widgets holding a scrollable set of data,
draw a scrollbar on its right-margin.
This does not respond to the mouse.
.
.IP "\fB--separate-output"
For checklist widgets, output result one line at a time, with no quoting.
This facilitates parsing by another program.
.
.IP "\fB--separate-widget \fIstring"
Specify a string that will separate the output on \fB\*p\fP's output from
each widget.
This is used to simplify parsing the result of a dialog with several widgets.
If this option is not given,
the default separator string is a tab character.
.
.IP "\fB--shadow"
Draw a shadow to the right and bottom of each dialog box.
.
.IP "\fB--single-quoted"
Use single-quoting as needed (and no quotes if unneeded) for the
output of checklist's as well as the item-help text.
If this option is not set, \fB\*p\fP uses double quotes around each item.
That requires occasional use of backslashes to make the output useful in
shell scripts.
.
.IP "\fB--size-err"
Check the resulting size of a dialog box before trying to use it,
printing the resulting size if it is larger than the screen.
(This option is obsolete, since all new-window calls are checked).
.
.IP "\fB--sleep \fIsecs"
Sleep (delay) for the given number of seconds after processing a dialog box.
.
.IP "\fB--stderr"
Direct output to the standard error.
This is the default, since curses normally writes screen updates to
the standard output.
.
.IP "\fB--stdout"
Direct output to the standard output.
This option is provided for compatibility with Xdialog,
however using it in portable scripts is not recommended,
since curses normally writes its screen updates to the standard output.
If you use this option, \fB\*p\fR attempts to reopen the terminal
so it can write to the display.
Depending on the platform and your environment, that may fail.
.
.IP "\fB--tab-correct"
Convert each tab character to one or more spaces
(for the \fBtextbox\fP widget; otherwise to a single space).
Otherwise, tabs are rendered according to the curses library's interpretation.
.
.IP "\fB--tab-len \fIn"
Specify the number of spaces that a tab character occupies if the
"\fB--tab-correct\fP" option is given.
The default is 8.
This option is only effective for the \fBtextbox\fP widget.
.
.IP "\fB--time-format \fIformat"
If the host provides \fBstrftime\fP,
this option allows you to specify the format of the time printed for
the \fB--timebox\fP widget.
The day, month, year values in this case are for the current local time.
.
.IP "\fB--timeout \fIsecs"
Timeout (exit with error code)
if no user response within the given number of seconds.
This is overridden if the background "\fB--tailboxbg\fP is used.
A timeout of zero seconds is ignored.
.
.IP "\fB--title \fItitle"
Specifies a
\fItitle\fP
string to be displayed at the top of the dialog box.
.
.IP "\fB--trace \fIfilename"
logs the command-line parameters and
keystrokes to the given file.
If \fBdialog\fP reads a configure file, it is logged as well.
Piped input to the \fIgauge\fP widget is logged.
Use control/T to log a picture of the current dialog window.
.
.IP "\fB--trim"
eliminate leading blanks,
trim literal newlines and repeated blanks from message text.
.
.IP
See also the "\fB--cr-wrap\fR" and "\fB--no-collapse\fR" options.
.
.IP "\fB--version"
Prints \fB\*p\fR's version to the standard output, and exits.
See also "\fB--print-version\fP".
.
.IP "\fB--visit-items"
Modify the tab-traversal of checklist, radiobox, menubox and inputmenu
to include the list of items as one of the states.
This is useful as a visual aid,
i.e., the cursor position helps some users.
.IP
When this option is given, the cursor is initially placed on the list.
Abbreviations (the first letter of the tag) apply to the list items.
If you tab to the button row, abbreviations apply to the buttons.
.
.IP "\fB--yes-label \fIstring"
Override the label used for "Yes" buttons.
.
.\" ************************************************************************
.SS Box Options
All dialog boxes have at least three parameters:
.TP 5
\fItext\fP
the caption or contents of the box.
.TP 5
\fIheight\fP
the height of the dialog box.
.TP 5
\fIwidth\fP
the width of the dialog box.
.PP
Other parameters depend on the box type.
.
.
.IP "\fB--calendar \fItext height width day month year"
A \fBcalendar\fP box displays
month, day and year in separately adjustable windows.
If the values for day, month or year are missing or negative,
the current date's corresponding values are used.
You can increment or decrement any of those using the
left-, up-, right- and down-arrows.
Use vi-style h, j, k and l for moving around the array of days in a month.
Use tab or backtab to move between windows.
If the year is given as zero, the current date is used as an initial value.
.IP
On exit, the date is printed in the form day/month/year.
The format can be overridden using the \fB--date-format\fP option.
.
.
.IP "\fB--checklist \fItext height width list-height \fR[ \fItag item status \fR] \fI..."
A
\fBchecklist\fP
box is similar to a
\fBmenu\fP
box; there are
multiple entries presented in the form of a menu.
Another difference is
that you can indicate which entry is currently selected, by setting its
.IR status " to " on "."
Instead of choosing
one entry among the entries, each entry can be turned on or off by the user.
The initial on/off state of each entry is specified by
.IR status "."
.IP
On exit, a list of the \fItag\fP
strings of those entries that are turned on
will be printed on \fB\*p\fP's output.
If the "\fB--separate-output\fP" option is not given,
the strings will be quoted to make it simple for scripts to separate them.
See the "\fB--single-quoted\fP" option, which modifies the quoting behavior.
.
.
.IP "\fB--dselect \fIfilepath height width\fR"
The directory-selection dialog displays a text-entry window in which you can type
a directory, and above that a windows with directory names.
.IP
Here
\fBfilepath\fP
can be a filepath in which case the directory window
will display the contents of the path and the text-entry window will contain
the preselected directory.
.IP
Use tab or arrow keys to move between the windows.
Within the directory window, use the up/down arrow keys
to scroll the current selection.
Use the space-bar to copy the current selection into the text-entry
window.
.IP
Typing any printable characters switches focus to the text-entry window,
entering that character as well as scrolling the directory
window to the closest match.
.IP
Use a carriage return or the "OK" button to accept the current value
in the text-entry window and exit.
.IP
On exit, the contents of the text-entry window are written to \fB\*p\fP's output.
.
.IP "\fB--editbox \fIfilepath height width\fR"
The edit-box dialog displays a copy of the file.
You may edit it using 
the \fIbackspace\fP, \fIdelete\fP and cursor keys
to correct typing errors.
It also recognizes pageup/pagedown.
Unlike the \fB--inputbox\fP,
you must tab to the "OK" or "Cancel" buttons to close the dialog.
Pressing the "Enter" key within the box will split the corresponding line.
.IP
On exit, the contents of the edit window are written to \fB\*p\fP's output.
.
.nf
.IP "\fB--form \fItext height width formheight \fR[ \fIlabel y x item y x flen ilen \fR] \fI..."
.fi
The \fBform\fP dialog displays a form consisting of labels and fields,
which are positioned on a scrollable window by coordinates given in the script.
The field length \fIflen\fR and input-length \fIilen\fR tell how long
the field can be.
The former defines the length shown for a selected field,
while the latter defines the permissible length of the data entered in the
field.
.RS
.TP 3
-
If \fIflen\fR is zero, the corresponding field cannot be altered.
and the contents of the field determine the displayed-length.
.TP 3
-
If \fIflen\fR is negative, the corresponding field cannot be altered,
and the negated value of \fIflen\fR is used as the displayed-length.
.TP 3
-
If \fIilen\fR is zero, it is set to \fIflen\fR.
.RE
.IP
Use up/down arrows (or control/N, control/P) to move between fields.
Use tab to move between windows.
.IP
On exit, the contents of the form-fields are written to \fB\*p\fP's output,
each field separated by a newline.
The text used to fill non-editable fields
(\fIflen\fR is zero or negative)
is not written out.
.
.
.IP "\fB--fselect \fIfilepath height width\fR"
The \fBfselect\fP (file-selection) dialog displays a text-entry window in which you can type
a filename (or directory), and above that two windows with directory
names and filenames.
.IP
Here
\fBfilepath\fP
can be a filepath in which case the file and directory windows
will display the contents of the path and the text-entry window will contain
the preselected filename.
.IP
Use tab or arrow keys to move between the windows.
Within the directory or filename windows, use the up/down arrow keys
to scroll the current selection.
Use the space-bar to copy the current selection into the text-entry
window.
.IP
Typing any printable characters switches focus to the text-entry window,
entering that character as well as scrolling the directory and filename
windows to the closest match.
.IP
Typing the space character forces \fB\*p\fP to complete the current
name (up to the point where there may be a match against more than one
entry).
.IP
Use a carriage return or the "OK" button to accept the current value
in the text-entry window and exit.
.IP
On exit, the contents of the text-entry window are written to \fB\*p\fP's output.
.
.
.IP "\fB--gauge \fItext height width [percent]\fR"
A
\fBgauge\fP
box displays a meter along the bottom of the box.
The meter indicates the percentage.
New percentages are read from
standard input, one integer per line.
The meter is updated
to reflect each new percentage.
If the standard input reads the string "XXX",
then the first line following is taken as an integer percentage,
then subsequent lines up to another "XXX" are used for a new prompt.
The gauge exits when EOF is reached on the standard input.
.IP
The \fIpercent\fR value denotes the initial percentage shown in the meter.
If not specified, it is zero.
.IP
On exit, no text is written to \fB\*p\fP's output.
The widget accepts no input, so the exit status is always OK.
.
.
.IP "\fB--infobox \fItext height width"
An \fBinfo\fP box is basically a \fBmessage\fP box.
However, in this case, \fB\*p\fP
will exit immediately after displaying the message to the user.
The screen is not cleared when \fB\*p\fP
exits, so that the message will remain on the screen until the calling
shell script clears it later.
This is useful when you want to inform
the user that some operations are carrying on that may require some
time to finish.
.IP
On exit, no text is written to \fB\*p\fP's output.
Only an "OK" button is provided for input,
but an ESC exit status may be returned.
.
.
.IP "\fB--inputbox \fItext height width [init]"
An
\fBinput\fP
box is useful when you want to ask questions that
require the user to input a string as the answer.
If init is supplied
it is used to initialize the input string.
When entering the string,
the \fIbackspace\fP, \fIdelete\fP and cursor keys
can be used to correct typing errors.
If the input string is longer than
can fit in the dialog box, the input field will be scrolled.
.IP
On exit, the input string will be printed on \fB\*p\fP's output.
.
.
.IP "\fB--inputmenu \fItext height width menu-height \fR[ \fItag item \fR] \fI..."
An \fBinputmenu\fP box is very similar to an ordinary \fBmenu\fP box.
There are only a few differences between them:
.RS
.TP 4
1.
The entries are not automatically centered but left adjusted.
.TP
2.
An extra button (called \fIRename\fP) is implied to rename
the current item when it is pressed.
.TP
3.
It is possible to rename the current entry by pressing the
\fIRename\fP
button.
Then \fB\*p\fP will write the following on \fB\*p\fP's output.
.IP
RENAMED <tag> <item>
.RE
.
.
.IP "\fB--menu \fItext height width menu-height \fR[ \fItag item \fR] \fI..."
As its name suggests, a
\fBmenu\fP
box is a dialog box that can be used to present a list of choices in
the form of a menu for the user to choose.
Choices are displayed in the order given.
Each menu entry consists of a \fItag\fP string and an \fIitem\fP string.
The \fItag\fP
gives the entry a name to distinguish it from the other entries in the
menu.
The \fIitem\fP is a short description of the option that the entry represents.
The user can move between the menu entries by pressing the
cursor keys, the first letter of the \fItag\fP
as a hot-key, or the number keys
.IR 1-9 ". There are"
\fImenu-height\fP
entries displayed in the menu at one time, but the menu will be
scrolled if there are more entries than that.
.IP
On exit the \fItag\fP
of the chosen menu entry will be printed on \fB\*p\fP's output.
If the "\fB--help-button\fR" option is given, the corresponding help
text will be printed if the user selects the help button.
.
.nf
.IP "\fB--mixedform \fItext height width formheight \fR[ \fIlabel y x item y x flen ilen itype \fR] \fI..."
.fi
The \fBmixedform\fP dialog displays a form consisting of labels and fields,
much like the \fB--form\fP dialog.
It differs by adding a field-type parameter to each field's description.
Each bit in the type denotes an attribute of the field:
.RS
.TP 5
1
hidden, e.g., a password field.
.TP 5
2
readonly, e.g., a label.
.RE
.
.IP "\fB--mixedgauge \fItext height width percent \fR[ \fItag1 item1 \fR] \fI..."
A
\fBmixedgauge\fP
box displays a meter along the bottom of the box.
The meter indicates the percentage.
.IP
It also displays a list of the \fItag\fP- and \fIitem\fP-values at the
top of the box.
See \*l(3) for the tag values.
.IP
The \fItext\fP is shown as a caption between the list and meter.
The \fIpercent\fR value denotes the initial percentage shown in the meter.
.IP
No provision is made for reading data from the standard input as \fB--gauge\fP
does.
.IP
On exit, no text is written to \fB\*p\fP's output.
The widget accepts no input, so the exit status is always OK.
.
.IP "\fB--msgbox \fItext height width"
A \fBmessage\fP box is very similar to a \fByes/no\fP box.
The only difference between a \fBmessage\fP box and a \fByes/no\fP
box is that a \fBmessage\fP box has only a single \fBOK\fP button.
You can use this dialog box to display any message you like.
After reading the message, the user can press the \fIENTER\fP key so that
\fB\*p\fP will exit and the calling shell script can continue its operation.
.IP
If the message is too large for the space,
\fB\*p\fP may allow you to scroll it,
provided that the underlying curses implementation is capable enough.
In this case, a percentage is shown in the base of the widget.
.IP
On exit, no text is written to \fB\*p\fP's output.
Only an "OK" button is provided for input,
but an ESC exit status may be returned.
.
.IP "\fB\-\-pause \fItext height width seconds\fR"
A
\fBpause\fP
box displays a meter along the bottom of the box.
The meter indicates how many seconds remain until the end of the pause.
The pause exits when timeout is reached
or the user presses the OK button
(status OK)
or the user presses the CANCEL button
or Esc key.
.IP "\fB--passwordbox \fItext height width [init]"
A \fBpassword\fP box is similar to an input box,
except that the text the user enters is not displayed.
This is useful when prompting for passwords or other
sensitive information.
Be aware that if anything is passed in "init", it
will be visible in the system's process table to casual snoopers.
Also, it
is very confusing to the user to provide them with a default password they
cannot see.
For these reasons, using "init" is highly discouraged.
See "\fB--insecure\fP" if you do not care about your password.
.IP
On exit, the input string will be printed on \fB\*p\fP's output.
.
.
.nf
.IP "\fB--passwordform \fItext height width formheight \fR[ \fIlabel y x item y x flen ilen \fR] \fI..."
.fi
This is identical to \fB--form\fP except that all text fields are
treated as \fBpassword\fP widgets rather than \fBinputbox\fP widgets.
.
.
.IP "\fB--prgbox \fItext command height width"
.IP "\fB--prgbox \fIcommand height width"
A \fBprgbox\fP is very similar to a \fBprogrambox\fP.
.IP
This dialog box is used to display the output of a command that is
specified as an argument to \fBprgbox\fP.
.IP
After the command completes, the user can press the \fIENTER\fP key so that
\fBdialog\fP will exit and the calling shell script can continue its operation.
.IP
If three parameters are given, it displays the text under the title,
delineated from the scrolling file's contents.
If only two parameters are given, this text is omitted.
.
.
.IP "\fB--programbox \fItext height width"
.IP "\fB--programbox \fIheight width"
A \fBprogrambox\fP is very similar to a \fBprogressbox\fP.
The only difference between a \fBprogram\fP box and a \fBprogress\fP
box is that a \fBprogram\fP box displays an \fBOK\fP button.
.IP
This dialog box is used to display the piped output of a command.
After the command completes, the user can press the \fIENTER\fP key so that
\fBdialog\fP will exit and the calling shell script can continue its operation.
.IP
If three parameters are given, it displays the text under the title,
delineated from the scrolling file's contents.
If only two parameters are given, this text is omitted.
.
.
.IP "\fB--progressbox \fItext height width"
.IP "\fB--progressbox \fIheight width"
A \fBprogressbox\fP is similar to an \fBtailbox\fP,
except that it will exit when it reaches the end of the file.
If three parameters are given, it displays the text under the title,
delineated from the scrolling file's contents.
If only two parameters are given, this text is omitted.
.
.
.IP "\fB--radiolist \fItext height width list-height \fR [ \fItag item status \fR] \fI..."
A
\fBradiolist\fP
box is similar to a
\fBmenu\fP
box.
The only difference is
that you can indicate which entry is currently selected, by setting its
.IR status " to " on "."
.IP
On exit, the name of the selected item is written to \fB\*p\fP's output.
.
.
.IP "\fB--tailbox \fIfile height width"
Display text from a file in a dialog box, as in a "tail -f" command.
Scroll left/right using vi-style 'h' and 'l', or arrow-keys.
A '0' resets the scrolling.
.IP
On exit, no text is written to \fB\*p\fP's output.
Only an "OK" button is provided for input,
but an ESC exit status may be returned.
.
.
.IP "\fB--tailboxbg \fIfile height width"
Display text from a file in a dialog box as a background task,
as in a "tail -f &" command.
Scroll left/right using vi-style 'h' and 'l', or arrow-keys.
A '0' resets the scrolling.
.IP
\*L treats the background task specially if there are other
widgets (\fB--and-widget\fP) on the screen concurrently.
Until those widgets are closed (e.g., an "OK"),
\fB\*p\fP will perform all of the tailboxbg widgets in the same process,
polling for updates.
You may use a tab to traverse between the widgets on the screen,
and close them individually, e.g., by pressing \fIENTER\fP.
Once the non-tailboxbg widgets are closed, \fB\*p\fP forks a copy of itself
into the background, and prints its process id if the "\fB--no-kill\fP" option
is given.
.IP
On exit, no text is written to \fB\*p\fP's output.
Only an "EXIT" button is provided for input,
but an ESC exit status may be returned.
.IP
NOTE:
Older versions of \fB\*p\fP forked immediately and attempted to
update the screen individually.
Besides being bad for performance,
it was unworkable.
Some older scripts may not work properly with the polled scheme.
.
.
.IP "\fB--textbox \fIfile height width"
A
\fBtext\fP
box lets you display the contents of a text file in a dialog box.
It is like a simple text file viewer.
The user can move through the file by using the
cursor, page-up, page-down
and \fIHOME/END\fR keys available on most keyboards.
If the lines are too long to be displayed in the box,
the \fILEFT/RIGHT\fP
keys can be used to scroll the text region horizontally.
You may also use vi-style keys h, j, k, l in place of the cursor keys,
and B or N in place of the page-up and page-down keys.
Scroll up/down using vi-style 'k' and 'j', or arrow-keys.
Scroll left/right using vi-style 'h' and 'l', or arrow-keys.
A '0' resets the left/right scrolling.
For more convenience,
vi-style forward and backward searching functions are also provided.
.IP
On exit, no text is written to \fB\*p\fP's output.
Only an "EXIT" button is provided for input,
but an ESC exit status may be returned.
.
.
.IP "\fB--timebox \fItext height [width hour minute second]"
A dialog is displayed which allows you to select hour, minute and second.
If the values for hour, minute or second are missing or negative,
the current date's corresponding values are used.
You can increment or decrement any of those using the
left-, up-, right- and down-arrows.
Use tab or backtab to move between windows.
.IP
On exit, the result is printed in the form hour:minute:second.
The format can be overridden using the \fB--time-format\fP option.
.
.
.IP "\fB--yesno \fItext height width"
A \fByes/no\fP dialog box of
size \fIheight\fP rows by \fIwidth\fP columns will be displayed.
The string specified by
\fItext\fP
is displayed inside the dialog box.
If this string is too long to fit
in one line, it will be automatically divided into multiple lines at
appropriate places.
The
\fItext\fP
string can also contain the sub-string
.I
"\en"
or newline characters
\fI`\en'\fP
to control line breaking explicitly.
This dialog box is useful for
asking questions that require the user to answer either yes or no.
The dialog box has a
\fBYes\fP
button and a
\fBNo\fP
button, in which the user can switch between by pressing the
.IR TAB " key."
.IP
On exit, no text is written to \fB\*p\fP's output.
In addition to the "Yes" and "No" exit codes (see DIAGNOSTICS)
an ESC exit status may be returned.
.IP
The codes used for "Yes" and "No" match those used for "OK" and "Cancel",
internally no distinction is made.
.
.\" ************************************************************************
.SS "Obsolete Options"
.\" from cdialog 0.9a (Pako)
.IP "\fB--beep"
This was used to tell the original cdialog that it should make a beep
when the separate processes of the tailboxbg widget would repaint the screen.
.
.\" from cdialog 0.9a (Pako)
.IP "\fB--beep-after"
Beep after a user has completed a widget by pressing one of the buttons.
.
.\" ************************************************************************
.SH "RUN-TIME CONFIGURATION"
.TP 4
1.
Create a sample configuration file by typing:
.LP
.in +1i
"\*p --create-rc <file>"
.TP 4
2.
At start,
\fB\*p\fP
determines the settings to use as follows:
.RS
.TP 4
a)
if environment variable
\fBDIALOGRC\fP
is set, its value determines the name of the configuration file.
.TP 4
b)
if the file in (a) is not found, use the file
\fI$HOME/.dialogrc\fP
as the configuration file.
.TP 4
c)
if the file in (b) is not found, try using the GLOBALRC file determined at
compile-time, i.e., \fI/etc/dialogrc\fP.
.TP 4
d)
if the file in (c) is not found, use compiled in defaults.
.RE
.TP 4
3.
Edit the sample configuration file and copy it to some place that
\fB\*p\fP
can find, as stated in step 2 above.
.
.\" ************************************************************************
.SH "KEY BINDINGS"
You can override or add to key bindings in \fB\*p\fP
by adding to the configuration file.
\fB\*L\fP's \fBbindkey\fP command maps single keys to its internal coding.
.EX
bindkey \fIwidget\fP \fIcurses_key\fP \fIdialog_key\fP
.EE
The \fIwidget\fP name can be "*" (all widgets), or
specific widgets such as \fBtextbox\fP.
Specific widget bindings override the "*" bindings.
User-defined bindings override the built-in bindings.
.PP
The \fIcurses_key\fP can be any of the names derived from
\fBcurses.h\fP, e.g., "HELP" from "KEY_HELP".
\fB\*L\fP also recognizes ANSI control characters such as "^A", "^?",
as well as C1-controls such as "~A" and "~?".
Finally, it allows any single character to be escaped with a backslash.
.PP
\fB\*L\fP's internal keycode names correspond to the
\fBDLG_KEYS_ENUM\fP type in
\fBdlg_keys.h\fP, e.g., "HELP" from "DLGK_HELP".
.
.\" ************************************************************************
.SH ENVIRONMENT
.TP 15
\fBDIALOGOPTS\fP
Define this variable to apply any of the common options to each widget.
Most of the common options are reset before processing each widget.
If you set the options in this environment variable,
they are applied to \fB\*p\fP's state after the reset.
As in the "\fB--file\fP" option,
double-quotes and backslashes are interpreted.
.IP
The "\fB--file\fP" option is not considered a common option
(so you cannot embed it within this environment variable).
.TP 15
\fBDIALOGRC\fP
Define this variable if you want to specify the name of the configuration file
to use.
.TP 15
\fBDIALOG_CANCEL\fP
.TP 15
\fBDIALOG_ERROR\fP
.TP 15
\fBDIALOG_ESC\fP
.TP 15
\fBDIALOG_EXTRA\fP
.TP 15
\fBDIALOG_HELP\fP
.TP 15
\fBDIALOG_ITEM_HELP\fP
.TP 15
\fBDIALOG_OK\fP
Define any of these variables to change the exit code on
Cancel (1),
error (-1),
ESC (255),
Extra (3),
Help (2),
Help with --item-help (2),
or OK (0).
Normally shell scripts cannot distinguish between -1 and 255.
.TP 15
\fBDIALOG_TTY\fP
Set this variable to "1" to provide compatibility with older versions
of \fB\*p\fP which assumed that if the script redirects the standard output,
that the "\fB--stdout\fP" option was given.
.SH FILES
.TP 20
\fI$HOME/.dialogrc\fP
default configuration file
.SH EXAMPLES
The \fB\*p\fP sources contain several samples
of how to use the different box options and how they look.
Just take a look into the directory \fBsamples/\fP of the source.
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
Exit status is subject to being overridden by environment variables.
Normally they are:
.TP 5
0
if
.BR \*p " is exited by pressing the " Yes " or " OK
button.
.TP 5
1
if the
.BR No " or " Cancel
button is pressed.
.TP 5
2
if the
.BR Help
button is pressed.
.TP 5
3
if the
.BR Extra
button is pressed.
4
if the
.BR Item Help
button is pressed.
.TP 5
-1
if errors occur inside \fB\*p\fP
or \fB\*p\fP is exited by pressing the \fIESC\fP key.
.
.\" ************************************************************************
.SH PORTABILITY
\fB\*L\fP works with X/Open curses.
However, some implementations have deficiencies:
.RS 3
.TP 3
-
HPUX curses (and perhaps others) do not open the terminal properly for
the \fInewterm\fP function.
This interferes with \fB\*p\fP's \fB--input-fd\fP option,
by preventing cursor-keys and similar escape sequences from being recognized.
.TP 3
-
NetBSD 5.1 curses has incomplete support for wide-characters.
\fB\*p\fP will build, but not all examples display properly.
.RE
.\" ************************************************************************
.SH COMPATIBILITY
You may want to write scripts which run with other \fBdialog\fP "clones".
.SS ORIGINAL DIALOG
First, there is the "original" \fBdialog\fP program to consider (versions
0.3 to 0.9).
It had some misspelled (or inconsistent) options.
The \fB\*p\fP program maps those deprecated options to the preferred ones.
They include:
.RS
.TS
l l
_ _
l l.
\fIOption\fR	\fITreatment\fR
\fB--beep-after\fP	ignored
\fB--guage\fP	mapped to \fB--gauge\fP
.TE
.RE
.SS XDIALOG
Technically, "\fBXdialog\fP",
this is an X application.
With some care, it is possible to write useful scripts that work
with both \fBXdialog\fP and \fBdialog\fP.
.PP
The \fB\*p\fP program ignores these options which are recognized
by \fBXdialog\fP:
.RS
.TS
l l
_ _
l l.
\fIOption\fR	\fITreatment\fR
\fB--allow-close\fP	ignored
\fB--auto-placement\fP	ignored
\fB--fixed-font\fP	ignored
\fB--icon\fP	ignored
\fB--keep-colors\fP	ignored
\fB--no-close\fP	ignored
\fB--no-cr-wrap\fP	ignored
\fB--screen-center\fP	ignored
\fB--separator\fP	mapped to \fB--separate-output\fP
\fB--smooth\fP	ignored
\fB--under-mouse\fP	ignored
\fB--wmclass\fP	ignored
.TE
.RE
.PP
\fBXdialog\fP's manpage has a section discussing its compatibility with \fB\*p\fP.
.SS WHIPTAIL
Then there is \fBwhiptail\fP.
For practical purposes, it is maintained by Debian.
Its documentation claims
.RS
.sp
.nf
whiptail(1) is a lightweight replacement for \*p(1),
to provide dialog boxes for shell scripts. It is built on the 
newt windowing library rather than the ncurses library, allowing
it to be smaller in embedded enviroments such as installers,
rescue disks, etc.
.sp
whiptail is designed to be drop-in compatible with \*p, but
has less features: some dialog boxes are not implemented, such
as tailbox, timebox, calendarbox, etc.
.fi
.RE
.PP
Comparing actual sizes (Debian testing, 2007/1/10):
The total of sizes for \fBwhiptail\fP, the newt, popt and slang libraries is 757kb.
The comparable number for \fB\*p\fP (counting ncurses) is 520kb.
Disregard the first paragraph.
.PP
The second paragraph is misleading, since \fBwhiptail\fP
also does not work for common options of \*p, such as the gauge box.
\fBwhiptail\fP is less compatible with \fB\*p\fP than the decade-old
original dialog 0.4 program.
.PP
\fBwhiptail\fP's manpage borrows features from \fB\*p\fP, e.g.,
\fB--default-item\fP (2000),
\fB--output-fd\fP (2002),
but oddly cites only \fB\*p\fP versions up to 0.4 (1996) as a source.
That is, its manpage refers to features which
were borrowed from more recent versions of \fB\*p\fP, e.g.,
the \fB--gauge\fP and \fB--password\fP boxes,
as well as options such as \fB-separate-output\fP (2008).
Somewhat humorously, one may note that the \fBpopt\fP feature
(undocumented in its manpage)
of using a "--" as an escape was documented in \fB\*p\fP's manpage about
a year before it was mentioned in \fBwhiptail\fP's manpage.
\fBwhiptail\fP's manpage incorrectly attributes that to \fBgetopt\fP
(and is inaccurate anyway).
.PP
Debian uses \fBwhiptail\fP for the official \fB\*p\fP variation.
.PP
The \fB\*p\fP program ignores or maps these options which are recognized
by \fBwhiptail\fP:
.RS
.TS
l l
_ _
l l.
\fIOption\fR	\fITreatment\fR
\fB--fb\fP	ignored
\fB--fullbutton\fP	ignored
\fB--nocancel\fP	mapped to \fB--no-cancel\fP
\fB--noitem\fP	ignored
.TE
.RE
.\" ************************************************************************
.SH BUGS
Perhaps.
.SH AUTHOR
.LP
Thomas E. Dickey (updates for 0.9b and beyond)
.SH CONTRIBUTORS
Kiran Cherupally - the mixed form and mixed gauge widgets.
.LP
Tobias C. Rittweiler
.LP
Valery Reznic - the form and progressbox widgets.
.LP
Yura Kalinichenko adapted the gauge widget as "pause".
.PP
This is a rewrite (except as needed to provide compatibility)
of the earlier version of \fB\*p 0.9a\fP,
which lists as authors:
.RS
.LP
Savio Lam - version 0.3, "dialog"
.LP
Stuart Herbert - patch for version 0.4
.LP
Marc Ewing - the gauge widget.
.LP
Pasquale De Marco "Pako" - version 0.9a, "cdialog"
.RE