I'm looking for Python packages that can help with text mode input,
i.e. for use with non-GUI programs that one runs from the command
prompt in a terminal window running a bash shell or some such.

What I'm specifically after is a way to provide a default value that
can be accepted or changed easily and also a way to provide a number
of different values to choose from.

I.e. for the default sort of input one might see:-

Colour? red

Hitting return would return 'red' to the program but you could also
backspace over the 'red' and enter something else. Maybe even better
would be that the 'red' disappears as soon as you hit any key other
than return.

For the select a value type of input I want something like the above
but hitting (say) arrow up and arrow down would change the value
displayed by the 'Colour?' prompt and hitting return would accept the
chosen value. In addition I want the ability to narrow down the list
by entering one or more initial characters, so if you enter 'b' at the
Colour? prompt the list of values presented would only include colours
starting with 'b' (beige, blue, black, etc.)

Are there any packages that offer this sort of thing? I'd prefer ones
from the Debian repositories but that's not absolutely necessary.

It might also be possible/useful to use the mouse for this.

--
Chris Green
·

Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote or quoted:
>Are there any packages that offer this sort of thing? I'd prefer ones
>from the Debian repositories but that's not absolutely necessary.

So, in my humble opinion, it's a no-brainer to split this into two
camps and draw a line between Linux and Windows.

On Linux, you're going to wanna roll with curses. See [1] below.

For Windows, whip up your own terminal using tkinter (Yeah,
tkinter's a GUI library, no doubt! But in this case, it's just
being used to mimic a terminal.) as your secret sauce. See [2].

If that's too tied to specific systems for your taste,
why not cook up a library that smooths out those wrinkles?

The following drafts still contain bugs, but might convey
the idea.

[1]

import curses

def main(stdscr):
# Clear screen and hide cursor
stdscr.clear()
curses.curs_set(1)

# Display prompt
stdscr.addstr(0, 0, "Color? ")

# Pre-fill with "red"
default_text = "red"
stdscr.addstr(0, 7, default_text)

curses.echo() # Enable echo of characters
curses.cbreak() # React to keys instantly without Enter key

# Initialize cursor position
cursor_x = 7 + len(default_text)
current_text = default_text

while True:
stdscr.move(0, cursor_x)
ch = stdscr.getch()

if ch == ord('\n'): # Enter key
break
elif ch in (curses.KEY_BACKSPACE, 127): # Backspace
if cursor_x > 7:
cursor_x -= 1
current_text = current_text[:cursor_x-7] + current_text[cursor_x-6:]
stdscr.delch(0, cursor_x)
elif ch == curses.KEY_LEFT:
if cursor_x > 7:
cursor_x -= 1
elif ch == curses.KEY_RIGHT:
if cursor_x < 7 + len(current_text):
cursor_x += 1
elif 32 <= ch <= 126: # Printable characters
current_text = current_text[:cursor_x-7] + chr(ch) + current_text[cursor_x-7:]
stdscr.insch(0, cursor_x, ch)
cursor_x += 1

stdscr.refresh()

# Clear screen
stdscr.clear()

# Display result
stdscr.addstr(0, 0, f"You entered: {current_text}")
stdscr.refresh()
stdscr.getch()

if __name__ == "__main__":
curses.wrapper(main)

[2]

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import simpledialog

class ColorQueryApp:
def __init__(self, master):
self.master = master
master.title("Color Query")

# Create the Text widget
self.text_field = tk.Text(master, height=10, width=40)
self.text_field.pack(padx=10, pady=10)

# Create a button to add new color queries
self.add_button = tk.Button(master, text="Add Color Query", command=self.add_color_query)
self.add_button.pack(pady=5)

# Bind the Return key event
self.text_field.bind('<Return>', self.show_color_dialog)

def add_color_query(self):
# Insert a new line if the Text widget is not empty
if self.text_field.index('end-1c') != '1.0':
self.text_field.insert('end', '\n')

# Insert the new color query line
query_line = "Color? red"
self.text_field.insert('end', query_line)

# Move the cursor to the end of the new line
self.text_field.mark_set('insert', f'{self.text_field.index("end-1c")}')

# Bind the key events
self.text_field.bind('<Key>', self.check_editing)

def check_editing(self, event):
# Allow all keystrokes if cursor is in editable area
if self.text_field.compare('insert', '>=', 'insert linestart+7c'):
return

# Prevent editing in the "Color? " area
if event.keysym in ['BackSpace', 'Delete'] or len(event.char) > 0:
return 'break'

def show_color_dialog(self, event):
# Get the current line
current_line = self.text_field.get("insert linestart", "insert lineend")

# Extract the color
color = current_line[7:].strip()

# Show a dialog with the entered color
simpledialog.messagebox.showinfo("Entered Color", f"You entered: {color}")

# Prevent the default newline behavior
return 'break'

root = tk.Tk()
app = ColorQueryApp(root)
root.mainloop()

ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote or quoted:
>If that's too tied to specific systems for your taste,
>why not cook up a library that smooths out those wrinkles?

Or, if you want to use a library instead of writing one, check out:

Textual – An async-powered terminal application framework for Python

Textual was built on top of

Rich - a terminal application renderer (not using async) and toolkit

There's also:

py_cui: library for creating CUI/TUI interfaces with pre-built widgets

PyTermGUI: terminal UI library

Python Prompt Toolkit: library for command line applications

Urwid: a console user interface library for Python

On 12/01/25 03:28, Chris Green via Python-list wrote:
> I'm looking for Python packages that can help with text mode input,
> i.e. for use with non-GUI programs that one runs from the command
> prompt in a terminal window running a bash shell or some such.
>
> What I'm specifically after is a way to provide a default value that
> can be accepted or changed easily and also a way to provide a number
> of different values to choose from.
>
> I.e. for the default sort of input one might see:-
>
> Colour? red
>
> Hitting return would return 'red' to the program but you could also
> backspace over the 'red' and enter something else. Maybe even better
> would be that the 'red' disappears as soon as you hit any key other
> than return.
>
>
> For the select a value type of input I want something like the above
> but hitting (say) arrow up and arrow down would change the value
> displayed by the 'Colour?' prompt and hitting return would accept the
> chosen value. In addition I want the ability to narrow down the list
> by entering one or more initial characters, so if you enter 'b' at the
> Colour? prompt the list of values presented would only include colours
> starting with 'b' (beige, blue, black, etc.)
>
>
> Are there any packages that offer this sort of thing? I'd prefer ones
> from the Debian repositories but that's not absolutely necessary.
>
>
> It might also be possible/useful to use the mouse for this.

There must be more choices/combinations of packages to do this. Maybe a
good place to start is the Python Prompt Toolkit
(https://python-prompt-toolkit.readthedocs.io/en/master/)

--
Regards,
=dn

This is what I was going to suggest. Rich is super easy to use.

rustbuckett@nope.com wrote:
>
> This is what I was going to suggest. Rich is super easy to use.

OK, thanks, Rich is on my shortlist then.

--
Chris Green
·

Op 11/01/2025 om 15:28 schreef Chris Green via Python-list:
> I'm looking for Python packages that can help with text mode input,
> i.e. for use with non-GUI programs that one runs from the command
> prompt in a terminal window running a bash shell or some such.
>
> What I'm specifically after is a way to provide a default value that
> can be accepted or changed easily and also a way to provide a number
> of different values to choose from.
>
> I.e. for the default sort of input one might see:-
>
> Colour? red
>
> Hitting return would return 'red' to the program but you could also
> backspace over the 'red' and enter something else. Maybe even better
> would be that the 'red' disappears as soon as you hit any key other
> than return.
>
>
> For the select a value type of input I want something like the above
> but hitting (say) arrow up and arrow down would change the value
> displayed by the 'Colour?' prompt and hitting return would accept the
> chosen value. In addition I want the ability to narrow down the list
> by entering one or more initial characters, so if you enter 'b' at the
> Colour? prompt the list of values presented would only include colours
> starting with 'b' (beige, blue, black, etc.)
>
>
> Are there any packages that offer this sort of thing? I'd prefer ones
> from the Debian repositories but that's not absolutely necessary.
Maybe pythondialog could be useful for this. I've never used it so I
can't really tell if it will fit your requirements, but at least it
seems worth a look. It looks like it supports text input with a default
value
(https://pythondialog.sourceforge.io/doc/widgets.html#single-line-input-fields).
The other thing you describe is, if I understand correctly, an input
with predefined values but also the ability to enter a custom value. At
first sight that doesn't seem to be provided.

PyPI page: https://pypi.org/project/pythondialog/
Home page: https://pythondialog.sourceforge.io/

--
"Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final"
-- Rainer Maria Rilke