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dialog

DIALOG(1)                                                            DIALOG(1)



NAME
       dialog - display dialog boxes from shell scripts

SYNOPSIS
       dialog --clear
       dialog --create-rc file
       dialog --print-maxsize
       dialog common-options box-options

DESCRIPTION
       Dialog is a program that will let you 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 dialog):

              calendar, checklist, fselect, gauge,  infobox,  inputbox,  menu,
              msgbox   (message),  password,  radiolist,  tailbox,  tailboxbg,
              textbox, timebox, and yesno (yes/no).

       You can put more than one dialog box into a script:

       -    Use the --and-widget token to force Dialog to proceed to the  next
            dialog unless you have pressed ESC to cancel, or

       -    Simply  add  the  tokens  for the next dialog box, making a chain.
            Dialog stops chaining when  the  return  code  from  a  dialog  is
            nonzero, e.g., Cancel or No.

OPTIONS
       Common Options

       --aspect ratio
              This  gives  you some control over the box dimensions when using
              auto sizing (specifying 0 for height and width).  It  represents
              width / height.  The default is 9, which means 9 characters wide
              to every 1 line high.

       --backtitle backtitle
              Specifies a backtitle string to be displayed on the backdrop, at
              the top of the screen.

       --beep Sound the audible alarm each time the screen is refreshed.

       --beep-after
              Beep if input is interrupted, e.g., by a control/C.

       --begin y x
              Specify the position of the upper left corner of a dialog box on
              the screen.

       --cancel-label string
              Override the label used for "Cancel" buttons.

       --clear
              The screen will be cleared to  the  screen  attribute  on  exit.
              This may be used alone, without other options.

       --colors
              Interpret embedded "\Z" sequences in the dialog text by the fol-
              low character,  which  tells  dialog  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 bright red.
              Restore normal settings with "\Zn".


       --cr-wrap
              Interpret embedded newlines in the dialog text as a  newline  on
              the screen.  Otherwise, dialog will only wrap lines where needed
              to fit inside the text box.  Even though you  can  control  line
              breaks  with this, dialog will still wrap any lines that are too
              long for the width of the box.  Without cr-wrap, the  layout  of
              your  text  may  be formatted to look nice in the source code of
              your script without affecting the way it will look in  the  dia-
              log.

       --create-rc file
              When dialog supports run-time configuration, this can be used to
              dump a sample configuration file to the file specified by  file.

       --defaultno
              Make the default value of the yes/no box a No.

       --default-item string
              Set  the default item in a menu box.  Normally the first item in
              the box is the default.

       --exit-label string
              Override the label used for "EXIT" buttons.

       --extra-button
              Show an extra button, between ok/cancel and help buttons.

       --extra-label string
              Override the label used for "Extra" buttons.

       --help Prints the help message to standard error.  The help message  is
              printed if no options are given.

       --help-button
              Show  a help-button after ok/cancel buttons, i.e., in checklist,
              radiolist and menu boxes.  If --item-help 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 standard error  after  the
              token  "HELP".   Otherwise, the return status will indicate that
              the Help button was pressed, and no message printed.

       --help-label string
              Override the label used for "Help" buttons.

       --ignore
              Ignore options that dialog does not recognize.  Some  well-known
              ones  such  as "--icon" are ignored anyway, but this is a better
              choice for compatibility with other implementations.

       --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.

       --max-input size
              Limit input strings to the given size.  If  not  specified,  the
              limit is 2000.

       --no-cancel

       --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.

       --no-collapse
              Normally  dialog  converts  tabs  to spaces and reduces multiple
              spaces to a single space for text which is displayed in  a  mes-
              sage boxes, etc.  Use this option to disable that feature.  Note
              that dialog will still  wrap  text,  subject  to  the  --cr-wrap
              option.

       --no-kill
              Tells  dialog to put the tailboxbg box in the background, print-
              ing its process id to standard error.  SIGHUP  is  disabled  for
              the background process.

       --no-shadow
              Suppress  shadows that would be drawn to the right and bottom of
              each dialog box.

       --ok-label string
              Override the label used for "OK" buttons.

       --output-fd fd
              Direct output to the given file descriptor.  Most dialog scripts
              write  to  the  standard  error,  but error messages may also be
              written there, depending on your script.

       --print-maxsize
              Print the maximum size of dialog boxes, i.e., the  screen  size,
              to  the  standard  error.  This may be used alone, without other
              options.

       --print-size
              Prints the size of each dialog box to standard error.

       --print-version
              Prints dialog's version to standard error.   This  may  be  used
              alone, without other options.

       --separate-output
              For checklist widgets, output result one line at a time, with no
              quoting.  This facilitates parsing by another program.

       --separate-widget string
              Specify a string that will separate the output on standard error
              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.

       --shadow
              Draw a shadow to the right and bottom of each dialog box.

       --size-err
              Check  the  resulting  size of a dialog box before trying to use
              it, printing the resulting size if it is larger than the screen.
              (This  option  is  obsolete,  since  all  new-window  calls  are
              checked).

       --sleep secs
              Sleep (delay) for the given number of seconds after processing a
              dialog box.

       --stderr
              Direct output to the standard error.  This is the default, since
              curses normally writes screen updates to the standard output.

       --stdout
              Direct output to the standard output.

       --tab-correct
              Convert each tab character to one or  more  spaces.   Otherwise,
              tabs   are   rendered   according   to   the   curses  library's
              interpretation.

       --tab-len n
              Specify the number of spaces that a tab  character  occupies  if
              the "--tab-correct" option is given.  The default is 8.

       --timeout secs
              Timeout  (exit  with  error code) if no user response within the
              given number of seconds.

       --title title
              Specifies a title string to be displayed at the top of the  dia-
              log box.

       --trim eliminate  leading  blanks,  trim  literal newlines and repeated
              blanks from message text.

       --version
              Same as "--print-version".

       Box Options
              All dialog boxes have at least three parameters:

              text the caption or contents of the box.

              height
                   the height of the dialog box.

              width
                   the width of the dialog box.

              Other parameters depend on the box type.

       --calendar text height width day month year
              A calendar box  displays  month,  day  and  year  in  separately
              adjustable  windows.   If  the values for day, month or year are
              missing or negative, the current date's corresponding values are
              used.   You  can  increment  or decrement any of those using the
              left-, up-, right- and down-arrows.  Use vi-style h, j, k and  l
              for  moving  around  the  array  of days in a month.  Use tab or
              backtab to move between windows.  If the year is given as  zero,
              the current date is used as an initial value.  On exit, the date
              is printed in the form day/month/year.

       --checklist text height width list-height [ tag item status ] ...
              A checklist box is similar to a menu  box;  there  are  multiple
              entries  presented  in  the form of a menu.  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 speci-
              fied by status.  On exit, a list of the  tag  strings  of  those
              entries that are turned on will be printed on stderr.

       --fselect  filepath height width
              The  file-selection dialog displays a text-entry window in which
              you can type a filename (or directory), and above that two  win-
              dows with directory names and filenames.

              Here  filepath  can  be  a  filepath  in which case the file and
              directory windows will display the contents of the path and  the
              text-entry window will contain the preselected filename.

              Use  tab  or arrow keys to move between the windows.  Within the
              directory or filename windows, use the  up/down  arrow  keys  to
              scroll  the  current  selection.   Use the space-bar to copy the
              current selection into the text-entry window.

              Typing any printable characters switches focus to the text-entry
              window,  entering that character as well as scrolling the direc-
              tory and filename windows to the closest match.

              Use a carriage return or the "OK" button to accept  the  current
              value  in  the text-entry window, or the "Cancel" button to can-
              cel.


       --gauge text height width [percent]
              A gauge box displays a meter along the bottom of the  box.   The
              meter  indicates  the percentage.  New percentages are read from
              standard input, one integer per line.  The meter is  updated  to
              reflect  each  new percentage.  If stdin is XXX, then subsequent
              lines up to another XXX are used for a new  prompt.   The  gauge
              exits when EOF is reached on stdin.

              The  percent  value  denotes the initial percentage shown in the
              meter.  If not specified, it is zero.

       --infobox text height width
              An info box is basically a message box.  However, in this  case,
              dialog will exit immediately after displaying the message to the
              user.  The screen is not cleared when dialog exits, so that  the
              message will remain on the screen until the calling shell script
              clears it later.  This is useful when you  want  to  inform  the
              user  that some operations are carrying on that may require some
              time to finish.

       --inputbox text height width [init]
              An input box is useful when  you  want  to  ask  questions  that
              require  the  user  to input a string as the answer.  If init is
              supplied it is used to initialize the input string.  When enter-
              ing  the string, the BACKSPACE key can be used to correct typing
              errors.  If the input string is longer than can fit in the  dia-
              log  box,  the input field will be scrolled.  On exit, the input
              string will be printed on stderr.

       --menu text height width menu-height [ tag item ] ...
              As its name suggests, a menu box is a dialog  box  that  can  be
              used  to present a list of choices in the form of a menu for the
              user to choose.  Choices are displayed in the order given.  Each
              menu entry consists of a tag string and an item string.  The tag
              gives the entry a name to distinguish it from the other  entries
              in the menu.  The item is a short description of the option that
              the entry represents.   The  user  can  move  between  the  menu
              entries  by  pressing  the UP/DOWN keys, the first letter of the
              tag as a hot-key, or the number keys 1-9. There are  menu-height
              entries  displayed in the menu at one time, but the menu will be
              scrolled if there are  more  entries  than  that.   When  dialog
              exits,  the  tag  of  the  chosen  menu entry will be printed on
              stderr.  If the --help-button option is given, the corresponding
              help text will be printed if the user selects the help button.

       --msgbox text height width
              A message box is very similar to a yes/no box.  The only differ-
              ence between a message box and a yes/no box is  that  a  message
              box has only a single OK button.  You can use this dialog box to
              display any message you like.  After reading  the  message,  the
              user  can  press  the ENTER key so that dialog will exit and the
              calling shell script can continue its operation.

       --passwordbox text height width [init]
              A password box is similar to an input box, except that the  text
              the user enters is not displayed.  This is useful when prompting
              for passwords or other sensitive information.  Be aware that  if
              anything is passed in "init", it will be visible in the system's
              process table to casual snoopers.  Also, it is very confusing to
              the  user  to  provide  them with a default password they cannot
              see.  For these reasons, using "init" is highly discouraged.

       --radiolist text height width list-height  [ tag item status ] ...
              A radiolist box is similar to a menu box.  The  only  difference
              is  that  you can indicate which entry is currently selected, by
              setting its status to on.

       --tailbox file height width
              Display text from a file in a dialog box, as in a "tail -f" com-
              mand.

       --tailboxbg file height width
              Display  text  from a file in a dialog box as a background task,
              as in a "tail -f &" command.

              Dialog treats the background task specially if there  are  other
              widgets  (--and-widget) on the screen concurrently.  Until those
              widgets are closed (e.g., an "OK"), dialog will perform  all  of
              the  tailboxbg widgets in the same process, polling for updates.
              You may use a tab to traverse between the widgets on the screen,
              and  close them individually, e.g., by pressing ENTER.  Once the
              non-tailboxbg widgets are closed, dialog forks a copy of  itself
              into  the background, and prints its process id if the --no-kill
              option is given.

              NOTE: Older versions of dialog forked immediately and  attempted
              to  update  the screen individually.  Besides being bad for per-
              formance, it was unworkable.  Some older scripts  may  not  work
              properly with the polled scheme.

       --textbox file height width
              A  text  box  lets  you display the contents of a text file in a
              dialog box.  It is like a simple text file viewer.  The user can
              move  through  the  file  by  using  the  UP/DOWN, PGUP/PGDN and
              HOME/END keys available on most keyboards.  If the lines are too
              long to be displayed in the box, the LEFT/RIGHT keys can be used
              to scroll the text region horizontally.  You may  also  use  vi-
              style keys h, j, k, l in place of the cursor keys, and B or N in
              place of the pageup/pagedown keys.  For  more  convenience,  vi-
              style  forward  and  backward  searching functions are also pro-
              vided.

       --timebox text height [width hour minute second]
              A dialog is displayed which allows you to  select  hour,  minute
              and  second.  If the values for hour, minute or second are miss-
              ing or negative, the current  date's  corresponding  values  are
              used.   You  can  increment  or decrement any of those using the
              left-, up-, right- and down-arrows.  Use tab or backtab to  move
              between  windows.   On  exit,  the result is printed in the form
              hour:minute:second.

       --yesno text height width
              A yes/no dialog box of size height rows by width columns will be
              displayed.  The string specified by text is displayed inside the
              dialog box.  If this string is too long to fit in one  line,  it
              will be automatically divided into multiple lines at appropriate
              places.  The text string can also contain the sub-string "\n" or
              newline  characters  `\n'  to  control line breaking explicitly.
              This dialog box is useful for asking questions that require  the
              user  to answer either yes or no.  The dialog box has a Yes but-
              ton and a No button, in which the user  can  switch  between  by
              pressing the TAB key.

RUN-TIME CONFIGURATION
       1.  Create a sample configuration file by typing:

                 "dialog --create-rc <file>"

       2.  At start, dialog determines the settings to use as follows:

           a)  if  environment  variable DIALOGRC is set, its value determines
               the name of the configuration file.

           b)  if the file in (a) is not found, use the  file  $HOME/.dialogrc
               as the configuration file.

           c)  if  the  file  in (b) is not found, try using the GLOBALRC file
               determined at compile-time, i.e., /etc/dialogrc.

           d)  if the file in (c) is not found, use compiled in defaults.

       3.  Edit the sample configuration file and copy it to some  place  that
           dialog can find, as stated in step 2 above.

ENVIRONMENT
       DIALOGRC       Define  this variable if you want to specify the name of
                      the configuration file to use.

       DIALOG_CANCEL

       DIALOG_ERROR

       DIALOG_ESC

       DIALOG_EXTRA

       DIALOG_HELP

       DIALOG_OK      Define any of these variables to change the exit code on
                      Cancel  (1), error (-1), ESC (255), Extra (3), Help (2),
                      or Ok (0).  Normally shell  scripts  cannot  distinguish
                      between -1 and 255.

FILES
       $HOME/.dialogrc     default configuration file

DIAGNOSTICS
       Exit  status  is  subject to being overridden by environment variables.
       Normally they are:

       0    if dialog is exited by pressing the Yes or OK button.

       1    if the No or Cancel button is pressed.

       -1   if errors occur inside dialog or dialog is exited by pressing  the
            ESC key.

BUGS
       Perhaps.

AUTHOR
       Savio Lam (lam836@cs.cuhk.hk) - version 0.3, "dialog"

       Stuart Herbert (S.Herbert@sheffield.ac.uk) - patch for version 0.4

       Pako (demarco_p@abramo.it) - version 0.9a, "cdialog",

       Thomas Dickey (updates for 0.9b)



$Date: 2002/08/13 23:28:58 $                                         DIALOG(1)