A beautiful and powerful interactive command line prompt.

TTY::Prompt provides independent prompt component for TTY toolkit.

• Number of prompt types for gathering user input
• A robust API for validating complex inputs
• User friendly error feedback
• Intuitive DSL for creating complex menus
• Ability to page long menus
• Support for Linux, OS X, FreeBSD and Windows systems

tty-prompt works across all Unix and Windows systems in the "best possible" way. On Windows, it uses Win32 API in place of terminal device to provide matching functionality.

Since Unix terminals provide richer set of features than Windows PowerShell consoles, expect to have a better experience on Unix-like platform.

Some features like select or multi_select menus may not work on Windows when run from Git Bash. See GitHub suggested fixes.

For Windows, consider installing ConEmu, cmder or PowerCmd.

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem "tty-prompt"

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install tty-prompt

• 1. Usage
• 2. Interface
  • 2.1 ask
    • 2.1.1 :convert
    • 2.1.2 :default
    • 2.1.3 :value
    • 2.1.4 :echo
    • 2.1.5 error messages
    • 2.1.6 :in
    • 2.1.7 :modify
    • 2.1.8 :required
    • 2.1.9 :validate
  • 2.2 keypress
    • 2.2.1 :timeout
  • 2.3 multiline
  • 2.4 mask
  • 2.5 yes?/no?
  • 2.6 menu
    • 2.6.1 choices
    • 2.6.1.1 :disabled
    • 2.6.2 select
      • 2.6.2.1 :cycle
      • 2.6.2.2 :enum
      • 2.6.2.3 :help
      • 2.6.2.4 :marker
      • 2.6.2.5 :per_page
      • 2.6.2.6 :disabled
      • 2.6.2.7 :filter
    • 2.6.3 multi_select
      • 2.6.3.1 :cycle
      • 2.6.3.2 :enum
      • 2.6.3.3 :help
      • 2.6.3.4 :per_page
      • 2.6.3.5 :disabled
      • 2.6.3.6 :echo
      • 2.6.3.7 :filter
      • 2.6.3.8 :min
      • 2.6.3.9 :max
    • 2.6.4 enum_select
      • 2.6.4.1 :per_page
      • 2.6.4.1 :disabled
  • 2.7 expand
    • 2.7.1 :auto_hint
  • 2.8 collect
  • 2.9 suggest
  • 2.10 slider
  • 2.11 say
    • 2.11.1 ok
    • 2.11.2 warn
    • 2.11.3 error
  • 2.12 keyboard events
• 3. settings
  • 3.1 :symbols
  • 3.2 :active_color
  • 3.3 :enable_color
  • 3.4 :help_color
  • 3.5 :interrupt
  • 3.6 :prefix
  • 3.7 :quiet
  • 3.8 :track_history

In order to start asking questions on the command line, create prompt:

require "tty-prompt"

prompt = TTY::Prompt.new

And then call ask with the question for simple input:

prompt.ask("What is your name?", default: ENV["USER"])
# => What is your name? (piotr)

To confirm input use yes?:

prompt.yes?("Do you like Ruby?")
# => Do you like Ruby? (Y/n)

If you want to input password or secret information use mask:

prompt.mask("What is your secret?")
# => What is your secret? ••••

Asking question with list of options couldn't be easier using select like so:

prompt.select("Choose your destiny?", %w(Scorpion Kano Jax))
# =>
# Choose your destiny? (Use ↑/↓ arrow keys, press Enter to select)
# ‣ Scorpion
#   Kano
#   Jax

Also, asking multiple choice questions is a breeze with multi_select:

choices = %w(vodka beer wine whisky bourbon)
prompt.multi_select("Select drinks?", choices)
# =>
#
# Select drinks? (Use ↑/↓ arrow keys, press Space to select and Enter to finish)"
# ‣ ⬡ vodka
#   ⬡ beer
#   ⬡ wine
#   ⬡ whisky
#   ⬡ bourbon

To ask for a selection from enumerated list you can use enum_select:

choices = %w(emacs nano vim)
prompt.enum_select("Select an editor?", choices)
# =>
#
# Select an editor?
#   1) emacs
#   2) nano
#   3) vim
#   Choose 1-3 [1]:

However, if you have a lot of options to choose from you may want to use expand:

choices = [
  { key: "y", name: "overwrite this file", value: :yes },
  { key: "n", name: "do not overwrite this file", value: :no },
  { key: "a", name: "overwrite this file and all later files", value: :all },
  { key: "d", name: "show diff", value: :diff },
  { key: "q", name: "quit; do not overwrite this file ", value: :quit }
]
prompt.expand("Overwrite Gemfile?", choices)
# =>
# Overwrite Gemfile? (enter "h" for help) [y,n,a,d,q,h]

If you wish to collect more than one answer use collect:

result = prompt.collect do
  key(:name).ask("Name?")

  key(:age).ask("Age?", convert: :int)

  key(:address) do
    key(:street).ask("Street?", required: true)
    key(:city).ask("City?")
    key(:zip).ask("Zip?", validate: /\A\d{3}\Z/)
  end
end
# =>
# {:name => "Piotr", :age => 30, :address => {:street => "Street", :city => "City", :zip => "123"}}

In order to ask a basic question do:

prompt.ask("What is your name?")

However, to prompt for more complex input you can use robust API by passing hash of properties or using a block like so:

prompt.ask("What is your name?") do |q|
  q.required true
  q.validate /\A\w+\Z/
  q.modify   :capitalize
end

The convert property is used to convert input to a required type.

By default no conversion of input is performed. To change this use one of the following conversions:

• :boolean|:bool - e.g. 'yes/1/y/t/' becomes true, 'no/0/n/f' becomes false
• :date - parses dates formats "28/03/2020", "March 28th 2020"
• :time - parses time formats "11:20:03"
• :float - e.g. -1 becomes -1.0
• :int|:integer - e.g. +1 becomes 1
• :sym|:symbol - e.g. "foo" becomes :foo
• :filepath - converts to file path
• :path|:pathname - converts to Pathname object
• :range - e.g. '1-10' becomes 1..10 range object
• :regexp - e.g. "foo|bar" becomes /foo|bar/
• :uri - converts to URI object
• :list|:array - e.g. 'a,b,c' becomes ["a", "b", "c"]
• :map|:hash - e.g. 'a:1 b:2 c:3' becomes {a: "1", b: "2", c: "3"}

In addition you can specify a plural or append list or array to any base type:

• :ints or :int_list - will convert to a list of integers
• :floats or :float_list - will convert to a list of floats
• :bools or :bool_list - will convert to a list of booleans, e.g. t,f,t becomes [true, false, true]

Similarly, you can append map or hash to any base type:

• :int_map|:integer_map|:int_hash - will convert to a hash of integers, e.g a:1 b:2 c:3 becomes {a: 1, b: 2, c: 3}
• :bool_map | :boolean_map|:bool_hash - will convert to a hash of booleans, e.g a:t b:f c:t becomes {a: true, b: false, c: true}

By default, map converts keys to symbols, if you wish to use strings instead specify key type like so:

• :str_int_map - will convert to a hash of string keys and integer values
• :string_integer_hash - will convert to a hash of string keys and integer values

For example, if you are interested in range type as answer do the following:

prompt.ask("Provide range of numbers?", convert: :range)
# Provide range of numbers? 1-10
# => 1..10

If, on the other hand, you wish to convert input to a hash of integer values do:

prompt.ask("Provide keys and values:", convert: :int_map)
# Provide keys and values: a=1 b=2 c=3
# => {a: 1, b: 2, c: 3}

If a user provides a wrong type for conversion an error message will be printed in the console:

prompt.ask("Provide digit:", convert: :float)
# Provide digit: x
# >> Cannot convert `x` into 'float' type

You can further customize error message:

prompt.ask("Provide digit:", convert: :float) do |q|
  q.convert(:float, "Wrong value of %{value} for %{type} conversion")
  # or
  q.convert :float
  q.messages[:convert?] = "Wrong value of %{value} for %{type} conversion"
end

You can also provide a custom conversion like so:

prompt.ask("Ingredients? (comma sep list)") do |q|
  q.convert -> (input) { input.split(/,\s*/) }
end
# Ingredients? (comma sep list) milk, eggs, flour
# => ["milk", "eggs", "flour"]

The :default option is used if the user presses return key:

prompt.ask("What is your name?", default: "Anonymous")
# =>
# What is your name? (Anonymous)

To pre-populate the input line for editing use :value option:

prompt.ask("What is your name?", value: "Piotr")
# =>
# What is your name? Piotr

To control whether the input is shown back in terminal or not use :echo option like so:

prompt.ask("password:", echo: false)

By default tty-prompt comes with predefined error messages for convert, required, in, validate options.

You can change these and configure to your liking either by passing message as second argument with the option:

prompt.ask("What is your email?") do |q|
  q.validate(/\A\w+@\w+\.\w+\Z/, "Invalid email address")
end

Or change the messages key entry out of :convert?, :range?, :required? and :valid?:

prompt.ask("What is your email?") do |q|
  q.validate(/\A\w+@\w+\.\w+\Z/)
  q.messages[:valid?] = "Invalid email address"
end

To change default range validation error message do:

prompt.ask("How spicy on scale (1-5)? ") do |q|
  q.in "1-5"
  q.messages[:range?] = "%{value} out of expected range %{in}"
end

In order to check that provided input falls inside a range of inputs use the in option. For example, if we wanted to ask a user for a single digit in given range we may do following:

prompt.ask("Provide number in range: 0-9?") { |q| q.in("0-9") }

Set the :modify option if you want to handle whitespace or letter capitalization.

prompt.ask("Enter text:") do |q|
  q.modify :strip, :collapse
end

Available letter casing settings are:

:up         # change to upper case
:down       # change to small case
:capitalize # capitalize each word

Available whitespace settings are:

:trim     # remove whitespace from both ends of the input
:strip    # same as :trim
:chomp    # remove whitespace at the end of input
:collapse # reduce all whitespace to single character
:remove   # remove all whitespace

To ensure that input is provided use :required option:

prompt.ask("What's your phone number?", required: true)
# What's your phone number?
# >> Value must be provided

In order to validate that input matches a given pattern you can pass the validate option/method.

Validate accepts Regex, Proc or Symbol.

prompt.ask("What is your username?") do |q|
  q.validate(/\A[^.]+\.[^.]+\Z/)
end

The above can also be expressed as a Proc:

prompt.ask("What is your username?") do |q|
  q.validate ->(input) { input =~ /\A[^.]+\.[^.]+\Z/ }
end

There is a built-in validation for :email and you can use it directly like so:

prompt.ask("What is your email?") { |q| q.validate :email }

The default validation message is "Your answer is invalid (must match %{valid})" and you can customise it by passing in a second argument:

prompt.ask("What is your username?") do |q|
  q.validate(/\A[^.]+\.[^.]+\Z/, "Invalid username: %{value}, must match %{valid}")
end

The default message can also be set using messages and the :valid? key:

prompt.ask("What is your username?") do |q|
  q.validate(/\A[^.]+\.[^.]+\Z/)
  q.messages[:valid?] = "Invalid username: %{value}, must match %{valid}")
end

In order to ask question that awaits a single character answer use keypress prompt like so:

prompt.keypress("Press key ?")
# Press key?
# => a

By default any key is accepted but you can limit keys by using :keys option. Any key event names such as :space or :ctrl_k are valid:

prompt.keypress("Press space or enter to continue", keys: [:space, :return])

Timeout can be set using :timeout option to expire prompt and allow the script to continue automatically:

prompt.keypress("Press any key to continue, resumes automatically in 3 seconds ...", timeout: 3)

In addition the keypress recognises :countdown token when inserted inside the question. It will automatically countdown the time in seconds:

prompt.keypress("Press any key to continue, resumes automatically in :countdown ...", timeout: 3)

Asking for multiline input can be done with multiline method. The reading of input will terminate when Ctrl+d or Ctrl+z is pressed. Empty lines will not be included in the returned array.

prompt.multiline("Description?")
# Description? (Press CTRL-D or CTRL-Z to finish)
# I know not all that may be coming,
# but be it what it will,
# I'll go to it laughing.
# =>
# ["I know not all that may be coming,\n", "but be it what it will,\n", "I'll go to it laughing.\n"]

The multiline uses similar options to those supported by ask prompt. For example, to provide default description:

prompt.multiline("Description?", default: "A super sweet prompt.")

Or using DSL:

prompt.multiline("Description?") do |q|
  q.default "A super sweet prompt."
  q.help "Press thy ctrl+d to end"
end

If you require input of confidential information use mask method. By default each character that is printed is replaced by • symbol. All configuration options applicable to ask method can be used with mask as well.

prompt.mask("What is your secret?")
# => What is your secret? ••••

The masking character can be changed by passing the :mask key:

heart = prompt.decorate(prompt.symbols[:heart] + " ", :magenta)
prompt.mask("What is your secret?", mask: heart)
# => What is your secret? ❤  ❤  ❤  ❤  ❤

If you don't wish to show any output use :echo option like so:

prompt.mask("What is your secret?", echo: false)

You can also provide validation for your mask to enforce for instance strong passwords:

prompt.mask("What is your secret?", mask: heart) do |q|
  q.validate(/[a-z\ ]{5,15}/)
end

In order to display a query asking for boolean input from user use yes? like so:

prompt.yes?("Do you like Ruby?")
# =>
# Do you like Ruby? (Y/n)

You can further customize question by passing suffix, positive, negative and convert options. The suffix changes text of available options, the positive specifies display string for successful answer and negative changes display string for negative answer. The final value is a boolean provided the convert option evaluates to boolean.

It's enough to provide the suffix option for the prompt to accept matching answers with correct labels:

prompt.yes?("Are you a human?") do |q|
  q.suffix "Yup/nope"
end
# =>
# Are you a human? (Yup/nope)

Alternatively, instead of suffix option provide the positive and negative labels:

prompt.yes?("Are you a human?") do |q|
  q.default false
  q.positive "Yup"
  q.negative "Nope"
end
# =>
# Are you a human? (yup/Nope)

Finally, providing all available options you can ask fully customized question:

prompt.yes?("Are you a human?") do |q|
  q.suffix "Agree/Disagree"
  q.positive "Agree"
  q.negative "Disagree"
  q.convert -> (input) { !input.match(/^agree$/i).nil? }
end
# =>
# Are you a human? (Agree/Disagree)

There is also the opposite for asking confirmation of negative question:

prompt.no?("Do you hate Ruby?")
# =>
# Do you hate Ruby? (y/N)

Similarly to yes? method, you can supply the same options to customize the question.

There are many ways in which you can add menu choices. The simplest way is to create an array of values:

choices = %w(small medium large)

By default the choice name is also the value the prompt will return when selected. To provide custom values, you can provide a hash with keys as choice names and their respective values:

choices = {small: 1, medium: 2, large: 3}
prompt.select("What size?", choices)
# =>
# What size? (Press ↑/↓ arrow to move and Enter to select)
# ‣ small
#   medium
#   large

Finally, you can define an array of choices where each choice is a hash value with :name & :value keys which can include other options for customising individual choices:

choices = [
  {name: "small", value: 1},
  {name: "medium", value: 2, disabled: "(out of stock)"},
  {name: "large", value: 3}
]

You can specify :key as an additional option which will be used as short name for selecting the choice via keyboard key press.

Another way to create menu with choices is using the DSL and the choice method. For example, the previous array of choices with hash values can be translated as:

prompt.select("What size?") do |menu|
  menu.choice name: "small",  value: 1
  menu.choice name: "medium", value: 2, disabled: "(out of stock)"
  menu.choice name: "large",  value: 3
end
# =>
# What size? (Press ↑/↓ arrow to move and Enter to select)
# ‣ small
# ✘ medium (out of stock)
#   large

or in a more compact way:

prompt.select("What size?") do |menu|
  menu.choice "small", 1
  menu.choice "medium", 2, disabled: "(out of stock)"
  menu.choice "large", 3
end

The :disabled key indicates to display a choice as currently unavailable to select. Disabled choices are displayed with a cross ✘ character next to them. If the choice is disabled, it cannot be selected. The value for the :disabled is used next to the choice to provide reason for excluding it from the selection menu. For example:

choices = [
  {name: "small", value: 1},
  {name: "medium", value: 2, disabled: "(out of stock)"},
  {name: "large", value: 3}
]

For asking questions involving list of options use select method by passing the question and possible choices:

prompt.select("Choose your destiny?", %w(Scorpion Kano Jax))
# =>
# Choose your destiny? (Use ↑/↓ arrow keys, press Enter to select)
# ‣ Scorpion
#   Kano
#   Jax

You can also provide options through DSL using the choice method for single entry and/or choices for more than one choice:

prompt.select("Choose your destiny?") do |menu|
  menu.choice "Scorpion"
  menu.choice "Kano"
  menu.choice "Jax"
end
# =>
# Choose your destiny? (Use ↑/↓ arrow keys, press Enter to select)
# ‣ Scorpion
#   Kano
#   Jax

By default the choice name is used as return value, but you can provide your custom values including a Proc object:

prompt.select("Choose your destiny?") do |menu|
  menu.choice "Scorpion", 1
  menu.choice "Kano", 2
  menu.choice "Jax", -> { "Nice choice captain!" }
end
# =>
# Choose your destiny? (Use ↑/↓ arrow keys, press Enter to select)
# ‣ Scorpion
#   Kano
#   Jax

If you wish you can also provide a simple hash to denote choice name and its value like so:

choices = {"Scorpion" => 1, "Kano" => 2, "Jax" => 3}
prompt.select("Choose your destiny?", choices)

To mark particular answer as selected use default with either an index of the choice starting from 1 or a choice's name:

prompt.select("Choose your destiny?") do |menu|
  menu.default 3
  # or menu.default "Jax"

  menu.choice "Scorpion", 1
  menu.choice "Kano", 2
  menu.choice "Jax", 3
end
# =>
# Choose your destiny? (Use ↑/↓ arrow keys, press Enter to select)
#   Scorpion
#   Kano
# ‣ Jax

You can navigate the choices using the arrow keys or define your own key mappings (see keyboard events. When reaching the top/bottom of the list, the selection does not cycle around by default. If you wish to enable cycling, you can pass cycle: true to select and multi_select:

prompt.select("Choose your destiny?", %w(Scorpion Kano Jax), cycle: true)
# =>
# Choose your destiny? (Use ↑/↓ arrow keys, press Enter to select)
# ‣ Scorpion
#   Kano
#   Jax

For ordered choices set enum to any delimiter String. In that way, you can use arrows keys and numbers (0-9) to select the item.

prompt.select("Choose your destiny?") do |menu|
  menu.enum "."

  menu.choice "Scorpion", 1
  menu.choice "Kano", 2
  menu.choice "Jax", 3
end
# =>
# Choose your destiny? (Use ↑/↓ arrow or number (0-9) keys, press Enter to select)
#   1. Scorpion
#   2. Kano
# ‣ 3. Jax

You can configure help message with :help and when to display it with :show_help options. The help can be displayed on start, never or always:

choices = %w(Scorpion Kano Jax)
prompt.select("Choose your destiny?", choices, help: "(Bash keyboard keys)", show_help: :always)
# =>
# Choose your destiny? (Bash keyboard keys)
# > Scorpion
#   Kano
#   Jax

You can configure active marker like so:

choices = %w(Scorpion Kano Jax)
prompt.select("Choose your destiny?", choices, symbols: { marker: ">" })
# =>
# Choose your destiny? (Use ↑/↓ and ←/→ arrow keys, press Enter to select)
# > Scorpion
#   Kano
#   Jax

By default the menu is paginated if selection grows beyond 6 items. To change this setting use :per_page configuration.

letters = ("A".."Z").to_a
prompt.select("Choose your letter?", letters, per_page: 4)
# =>
# Which letter? (Use ↑/↓ and ←/→ arrow keys, press Enter to select)
# ‣ A
#   B
#   C
#   D

You can also customise page navigation text using :help option:

letters = ("A".."Z").to_a
prompt.select("Choose your letter?") do |menu|
  menu.per_page 4
  menu.help "(Wiggle thy finger up/down and left/right to see more)"
  menu.choices letters
end
# =>
# Which letter? (Wiggle thy finger up/down and left/right to see more)
# ‣ A
#   B
#   C
#   D

To disable menu choice, use the :disabled key with a value that explains the reason for the choice being unavailable. For example, out of all warriors, the Goro is currently injured:

warriors = [
  "Scorpion",
  "Kano",
  { name: "Goro", disabled: "(injury)" },
  "Jax",
  "Kitana",
  "Raiden"
]

The disabled choice will be displayed with a cross ✘ character next to it and followed by an explanation:

prompt.select("Choose your destiny?", warriors)
# =>
# Choose your destiny? (Use ↑/↓ arrow keys, press Enter to select)
# ‣ Scorpion
#   Kano
# ✘ Goro (injury)
#   Jax
#   Kitana
#   Raiden

To activate dynamic list searching on letter/number key presses use :filter option:

warriors = %w(Scorpion Kano Jax Kitana Raiden)
prompt.select("Choose your destiny?", warriors, filter: true)
# =>
# Choose your destiny? (Use ↑/↓ arrow keys, press Enter to select, and letter keys to filter)
# ‣ Scorpion
#   Kano
#   Jax
#   Kitana
#   Raiden

After the user presses "k":

# =>
# Choose your destiny? (Filter: "k")
# ‣ Kano
#   Kitana

After the user presses "ka":

# =>
# Choose your destiny? (Filter: "ka")
# ‣ Kano

Filter characters can be deleted partially or entirely via, respectively, Backspace and Canc.

If the user changes or deletes a filter, the choices previously selected remain selected.

For asking questions involving multiple selection list use multi_select method by passing the question and possible choices:

choices = %w(vodka beer wine whisky bourbon)
prompt.multi_select("Select drinks?", choices)
# =>
#
# Select drinks? (Use ↑/↓ arrow keys, press Space to select and Enter to finish)"
# ‣ ⬡ vodka
#   ⬡ beer
#   ⬡ wine
#   ⬡ whisky
#   ⬡ bourbon

As a return value, the multi_select will always return an array by default populated with the names of the choices. If you wish to return custom values for the available choices do:

choices = {vodka: 1, beer: 2, wine: 3, whisky: 4, bourbon: 5}
prompt.multi_select("Select drinks?", choices)

# Provided that vodka and beer have been selected, the function will return
# => [1, 2]

Similar to select method, you can also provide options through DSL using the choice method for single entry and/or choices call for more than one choice:

prompt.multi_select("Select drinks?") do |menu|
  menu.choice :vodka, {score: 1}
  menu.choice :beer, 2
  menu.choice :wine, 3
  menu.choices whisky: 4, bourbon: 5
end

To mark choice(s) as selected use the default option with either index(s) of the choice(s) starting from 1 or choice name(s):

prompt.multi_select("Select drinks?") do |menu|
  menu.default 2, 5
  # or menu.default :beer, :whisky

  menu.choice :vodka,   {score: 10}
  menu.choice :beer,    {score: 20}
  menu.choice :wine,    {score: 30}
  menu.choice :whisky,  {score: 40}
  menu.choice :bourbon, {score: 50}
end
# =>
# Select drinks? beer, bourbon
#   ⬡ vodka
#   ⬢ beer
#   ⬡ wine
#   ⬡ whisky
# ‣ ⬢ bourbon

Also like, select, the method takes an option cycle (which defaults to false), which lets you configure whether the selection should cycle around when reaching the top/bottom of the list when navigating:

prompt.multi_select("Select drinks?", %w(vodka beer wine), cycle: true)

Like select, for ordered choices set enum to any delimiter String. In that way, you can use arrows keys and numbers (0-9) to select the item.

prompt.multi_select("Select drinks?") do |menu|
  menu.enum ")"

  menu.choice :vodka,   {score: 10}
  menu.choice :beer,    {score: 20}
  menu.choice :wine,    {score: 30}
  menu.choice :whisky,  {score: 40}
  menu.choice :bourbon, {score: 50}
end
# =>
# Select drinks? beer, bourbon
#   ⬡ 1) vodka
#   ⬢ 2) beer
#   ⬡ 3) wine
#   ⬡ 4) whisky
# ‣ ⬢ 5) bourbon

And when you press enter you will see the following selected:

# Select drinks? beer, bourbon
# => [{score: 20}, {score: 50}]

You can configure help message with :help and when to display it with :show_help options. The help can be displayed on start, never or always:

choices = {vodka: 1, beer: 2, wine: 3, whisky: 4, bourbon: 5}
prompt.multi_select("Select drinks?", choices, help: "Press beer can against keyboard", show_help: :always)
# =>
# Select drinks? (Press beer can against keyboard)"
# ‣ ⬡ vodka
#   ⬡ beer
#   ⬡ wine
#   ⬡ whisky
#   ⬡ bourbon

By default the menu is paginated if selection grows beyond 6 items. To change this setting use :per_page configuration.

letters = ("A".."Z").to_a
prompt.multi_select("Choose your letter?", letters, per_page: 4)
# =>
# Which letter? (Use ↑/↓ and ←/→ arrow keys, press Space to select and Enter to finish)
# ‣ ⬡ A
#   ⬡ B
#   ⬡ C
#   ⬡ D

To disable menu choice, use the :disabled key with a value that explains the reason for the choice being unavailable. For example, out of all drinks, the sake and beer are currently out of stock:

drinks = [
  "bourbon",
  {name: "sake", disabled: "(out of stock)"},
  "vodka",
  {name: "beer", disabled: "(out of stock)"},
  "wine",
  "whisky"
]

The disabled choice will be displayed with a cross ✘ character next to it and followed by an explanation:

prompt.multi_select("Choose your favourite drink?", drinks)
# =>
# Choose your favourite drink? (Use ↑/↓ arrow keys, press Space to select and Enter to finish)
# ‣ ⬡ bourbon
#   ✘ sake (out of stock)
#   ⬡ vodka
#   ✘ beer (out of stock)
#   ⬡ wine
#   ⬡ whisky

To control whether the selected items are shown on the question header use the :echo option:

choices = %w(vodka beer wine whisky bourbon)
prompt.multi_select("Select drinks?", choices, echo: false)
# =>
# Select drinks?
#   ⬡ vodka
#   ⬢ 2) beer
#   ⬡ 3) wine
#   ⬡ 4) whisky
# ‣ ⬢ 5) bourbon

To activate dynamic list filtering on letter/number typing, use the :filter option:

choices = %w(vodka beer wine whisky bourbon)
prompt.multi_select("Select drinks?", choices, filter: true)
# =>
# Select drinks? (Use ↑/↓ arrow keys, press Space to select and Enter to finish, and letter keys to filter)
# ‣ ⬡ vodka
#   ⬡ beer
#   ⬡ wine
#   ⬡ whisky
#   ⬡ bourbon

After the user presses "w":

# Select drinks? (Filter: "w")
# ‣ ⬡ wine
#   ⬡ whisky

Filter characters can be deleted partially or entirely via, respectively, Backspace and Canc.

If the user changes or deletes a filter, the choices previously selected remain selected.

The filter option is not compatible with enum.

To force the minimum number of choices an user must select, use the :min option:

choices = %w(vodka beer wine whisky bourbon)
prompt.multi_select("Select drinks?", choices, min: 3)
# =>
# Select drinks? (min. 3) vodka, beer
#   ⬢ vodka
#   ⬢ beer
#   ⬡ wine
#   ⬡ wiskey
# ‣ ⬡ bourbon

To limit the number of choices an user can select, use the :max option:

choices = %w(vodka beer wine whisky bourbon)
prompt.multi_select("Select drinks?", choices, max: 3)
# =>
# Select drinks? (max. 3) vodka, beer, whisky
#   ⬢ vodka
#   ⬢ beer
#   ⬡ wine
#   ⬢ whisky
# ‣ ⬡ bourbon

In order to ask for standard selection from indexed list you can use enum_select and pass question together with possible choices:

choices = %w(emacs nano vim)
prompt.enum_select("Select an editor?", choices)
# =>
#
# Select an editor?
#   1) nano
#   2) vim
#   3) emacs
#   Choose 1-3 [1]:

Similar to select and multi_select, you can provide question options through DSL using choice method and/or choices like so:

choices = %w(nano vim emacs)
prompt.enum_select("Select an editor?") do |menu|
  menu.choice :nano,  "/bin/nano"
  menu.choice :vim,   "/usr/bin/vim"
  menu.choice :emacs, "/usr/bin/emacs"
end
# =>
#
# Select an editor?
#   1) nano
#   2) vim
#   3) emacs
#   Choose 1-3 [1]:
#
# Select an editor? /bin/nano

You can change the indexed numbers formatting by passing enum option. The default option lets you specify which choice to mark as selected by default. It accepts an index of the choice starting from 1 or a choice name:

choices = %w(nano vim emacs)
prompt.enum_select("Select an editor?") do |menu|
  menu.default 2
  # or menu.defualt "/usr/bin/vim"
  menu.enum "."

  menu.choice :nano,  "/bin/nano"
  menu.choice :vim,   "/usr/bin/vim"
  menu.choice :emacs, "/usr/bin/emacs"
end
# =>
#
# Select an editor?
#   1. nano
#   2. vim
#   3. emacs
#   Choose 1-3 [2]:
#
# Select an editor? /usr/bin/vim

By default the menu is paginated if selection grows beyond 6 items. To change this setting use :per_page configuration.

letters = ("A".."Z").to_a
prompt.enum_select("Choose your letter?", letters, per_page: 4)
# =>
# Which letter?
#   1) A
#   2) B
#   3) C
#   4) D
#   Choose 1-26 [1]:
# (Press tab/right or left to reveal more choices)

To make a choice unavailable use the :disabled option and, if you wish, as value provide a reason:

choices = [
  {name: "Emacs", disabled: "(not installed)"},
  "Atom",
  "GNU nano",
  {name: "Notepad++", disabled: "(not installed)"},
  "Sublime",
  "Vim"
]

The disabled choice will be displayed with a cross ✘ character next to it and followed by an explanation:

prompt.enum_select("Select an editor", choices)
# =>
# Select an editor
# ✘ 1) Emacs (not installed)
#   2) Atom
#   3) GNU nano
# ✘ 4) Notepad++ (not installed)
#   5) Sublime
#   6) Vim
#   Choose 1-6 [2]:

The expand provides a compact way to ask a question with many options.

As first argument expand takes the message to display and as a second an array of choices. Compared to the select, multi_select and enum_select, the choices need to be objects that include :key, :name and :value keys. The :key must be a single character. The help choice is added automatically as the last option under the key h.

choices = [
  {
    key: "y",
    name: "overwrite this file",
    value: :yes
  }, {
    key: "n",
    name: "do not overwrite this file",
    value: :no
  }, {
    key: "q",
    name: "quit; do not overwrite this file ",
    value: :quit
  }
]

The choices can also be provided through DSL using the choice method. The :value can be a primitive value or Proc instance that gets executed and whose value is used as returned type. For example:

prompt.expand("Overwrite Gemfile?") do |q|
  q.choice key: "y", name: "Overwrite"      do :ok end
  q.choice key: "n", name: "Skip",          value: :no
  q.choice key: "a", name: "Overwrite all", value: :all
  q.choice key: "d", name: "Show diff",     value: :diff
  q.choice key: "q", name: "Quit",          value: :quit
end

The first element in the array of choices or provided via choice DSL will be the default choice, you can change that by passing default option.

prompt.expand("Overwrite Gemfile?", choices)
# =>
# Overwrite Gemfile? (enter "h" for help) [y,n,q,h]

Each time user types an option a hint will be displayed:

# Overwrite Gemfile? (enter "h" for help) [y,n,a,d,q,h] y
# >> overwrite this file

If user types h and presses enter, an expanded view will be shown which further allows to refine the choice:

# Overwrite Gemfile?
#   y - overwrite this file
#   n - do not overwrite this file
#   q - quit; do not overwrite this file
#   h - print help
#   Choice [y]:

Run examples/expand.rb to see the prompt in action.

To show hint by default use :auto_hint option:

prompt.expand("Overwrite Gemfile?", choices, auto_hint: true)
# =>
# Overwrite Gemfile? (enter "h" for help) [y,n,q,h]
# >> overwrite this file

In order to collect more than one answer use collect method. Using the key you can describe the answers key name. All the methods for asking user input such as ask, mask, select can be directly invoked on the key. The key composition is very flexible by allowing nested keys. If you want the value to be automatically converted to required type use convert.

For example to gather some contact information do:

prompt.collect do
  key(:name).ask("Name?")

  key(:age).ask("Age?", convert: :int)

  key(:address) do
    key(:street).ask("Street?", required: true)
    key(:city).ask("City?")
    key(:zip).ask("Zip?", validate: /\A\d{3}\Z/)
  end
end
# =>
# {:name => "Piotr", :age => 30, :address => {:street => "Street", :city => "City", :zip => "123"}}

In order to collect mutliple values for a given key in a loop, chain values onto the key desired:

result = prompt.collect do
  key(:name).ask("Name?")

  key(:age).ask("Age?", convert: :int)

  while prompt.yes?("continue?")
    key(:addresses).values do
      key(:street).ask("Street?", required: true)
      key(:city).ask("City?")
      key(:zip).ask("Zip?", validate: /\A\d{3}\Z/)
    end
  end
end
# =>
# {
#   :name => "Piotr",
#   :age => 30,
#   :addresses => [
#     {:street => "Street", :city => "City", :zip => "123"},
#     {:street => "Street", :city => "City", :zip => "234"}
#   ]
# }

To suggest possible matches for the user input use suggest method like so:

prompt.suggest("sta", ["stage", "stash", "commit", "branch"])
# =>
# Did you mean one of these?
#         stage
#         stash

To customize query text presented pass :single_text and :plural_text options to respectively change the message when one match is found or many.

possible = %w(status stage stash commit branch blame)
prompt.suggest("b", possible, indent: 4, single_text: "Perhaps you meant?")
# =>
# Perhaps you meant?
#     blame

If you'd rather not display all possible values in a vertical list, you may consider using slider. The slider provides easy visual way of picking a value marked by ● symbol.

For integers, you can set :min(defaults to 0), :max and :step(defaults to 1) options to configure slider range:

prompt.slider("Volume", min: 0, max: 100, step: 5)
# =>
# Volume ──────────●────────── 50
# (Use ←/→ arrow keys, press Enter to select)

For everything else, you can provide an array of your desired choices:

prompt.slider("Letter", ('a'..'z').to_a)
# =>
# Letter ────────────●───────────── m
# (Use ←/→ arrow keys, press Enter to select)

By default the slider is configured to pick middle of the range as a start value, you can change this by using the :default option:

prompt.slider("Volume", max: 100, step: 5, default: 75)
# =>
# Volume ───────────────●────── 75
# (Use ←/→ arrow keys, press Enter to select)

You can also select the default value by name:

prompt.slider("Letter", ('a'..'z').to_a, default: 'q')
# =>
# Letter ──────────────────●─────── q
# (Use ←/→ arrow keys, press Enter to select)

You can also change the default slider formatting using the :format. The value must contain the :slider token to show current value and any sprintf compatible flag for number display, in our case %d:

prompt.slider("Volume", max: 100, step: 5, default: 75, format: "|:slider| %d%%")
# =>
# Volume |───────────────●──────| 75%
# (Use ←/→ arrow keys, press Enter to select)

You can also specify slider range with decimal numbers. For example, to have a step of 0.5 and display each value with a single decimal place use %f as format:

prompt.slider("Volume", max: 10, step: 0.5, default: 5, format: "|:slider| %.1f")
# =>
# Volume |───────────────●──────| 7.5
# (Use ←/→ arrow keys, press Enter to select)

You can alternatively provide a proc/lambda to customize your formatting even further:

slider_format = -> (slider, value) { "|#{slider}| #{value.zero? ? "muted" : "%.1f"}" % value }
prompt.slider("Volume", max: 10, step: 0.5, default: 0, format: slider_format)
# =>
# Volume |●─────────────────────| muted
# (Use ←/→ arrow keys, press Enter to select)

If you wish to change the slider handle and the slider range display use :symbols option:

prompt.slider("Volume", max: 100, step: 5, default: 75, symbols: {bullet: "x", line: "_"})
# =>
# Volume _______________x______ 75%
# (Use ←/→ arrow keys, press Enter to select)

You can configure help message with :help and when to display with :show_help options. The help can be displayed on start, never or always:

prompt.slider("Volume", max: 10, default: 7, help: "(Move arrows left and right to set value)", show_help: :always)
# =>
# Volume ───────────────●────── 7
# (Move arrows left and right to set value)

Slider can be configured through DSL as well:

prompt.slider("What size?") do |range|
  range.max 100
  range.step 5
  range.default 75
  range.format "|:slider| %d%%"
end
# =>
# Volume |───────────────●──────| 75%
# (Use ←/→ arrow keys, press Enter to select)

prompt.slider("What letter?") do |range|
  range.choices ('a'..'z').to_a
  range.format "|:slider| %s"
  range.default 'q'
end
# =>
# What letter? |──────────────────●───────| q
# (Use ←/→ arrow keys, press Enter to select)

To simply print message out to standard output use say like so:

prompt.say(...)

The say method also accepts option :color which supports all the colors provided by pastel

TTY::Prompt provides more specific versions of say method to better express intention behind the message such as ok, warn and error.

Print message(s) in green do:

prompt.ok(...)

Print message(s) in yellow do:

prompt.warn(...)

Print message(s) in red do:

prompt.error(...)

All the prompt types, when a key is pressed, fire key press events. You can subscribe to listen to this events by calling on with type of event name.

prompt.on(:keypress) { |event| ... }

The event object is yielded to a block whenever particular event fires. The event has key and value methods. Further, the key responds to following messages:

• name - the name of the event such as :up, :down, letter or digit
• meta - true if event is non-standard key associated
• shift - true if shift has been pressed with the key
• ctrl - true if ctrl has been pressed with the key

For example, to add vim like key navigation to select prompt one would do the following:

prompt.on(:keypress) do |event|
  if event.value == "j"
    prompt.trigger(:keydown)
  end

  if event.value == "k"
    prompt.trigger(:keyup)
  end
end

You can subscribe to more than one event:

prompt.on(:keypress) { |key| ... }
      .on(:keydown)  { |key| ... }

The available events are:

• :keypress
• :keydown
• :keyup
• :keyleft
• :keyright
• :keynum
• :keytab
• :keyenter
• :keyreturn
• :keyspace
• :keyescape
• :keydelete
• :keybackspace

Many prompts use symbols to display information. You can overwrite the default symbols for all the prompts using the :symbols key and hash of symbol names as value:

prompt = TTY::Prompt.new(symbols: {marker: ">"})

The following symbols can be overwritten:

All prompt types support :active_color option. By default it's set to :green value.

The select, multi_select, enum_select and expand prompts use the active color to highlight the currently selected choice.

The answer provided by the user is also highlighted with the active color.

This :active_color as value accepts either a color symbol or callable object.

For example, to change all prompts active color to :cyan do:

prompt = TTY::Prompt.new(active_color: :cyan)

You could also use pastel:

notice = Pastel.new.cyan.on_blue.detach
prompt = TTY::Prompt.new(active_color: notice)

Or use coloring of your own choice:

prompt = TTY::Prompt.new(active_color: ->(str) { my-color-gem(str) })

This option can be applied either globally for all prompts or individually:

prompt.select("What size?", %w(Large Medium Small), active_color: :cyan)

Please see pastel for all supported colors.

If you wish to disable coloring for a prompt simply pass :enable_color option

prompt = TTY::Prompt.new(enable_color: false)

The :help_color option is used to customize the display color for all the help text. By default it's set to :bright_black value.

Prompts such as select, multi_select, expand support :help_color. This option can be applied either globally for all prompts or individually.

The :help_color option as value accepts either a color symbol or callable object.

For example, to change all prompts help color to :cyan do:

prompt = TTY::Prompt.new(help_color: :cyan)

You could also use pastel:

notice = Pastel.new.cyan.on_blue.detach
prompt = TTY::Prompt.new(help_color: notice)

Or use coloring of your own choice:

prompt = TTY::Prompt.new(help_color: ->(str) { my-color-gem(str) })

Or configure :help_color for an individual prompt:

prompt.select("What size?", %w(Large Medium Small), help_color: :cyan)

Please see pastel for all supported colors.

By default InputInterrupt error will be raised when the user hits the interrupt key(Control-C). However, you can customise this behaviour by passing the :interrupt option. The available options are:

• :signal - sends interrupt signal
• :exit - exits with status code
• :noop - skips handler
• custom proc

For example, to send interrupt signal do:

prompt = TTY::Prompt.new(interrupt: :signal)

You can prefix each question asked using the :prefix option. This option can be applied either globally for all prompts or individual for each one:

prompt = TTY::Prompt.new(prefix: "[?] ")

Prompts such as select, multi_select, expand, slider support :quiet which is used to disable re-echoing of the question and answer after selection is done. This option can be applied either globally for all prompts or individually.

# global
prompt = TTY::Prompt.new(quiet: true)
# single prompt
prompt.select("What is your favorite color?", %w(blue yellow orange))

The prompts that accept line input such as multiline or ask provide history buffer that tracks all the lines entered during TTY::Prompt.new interactions. The history buffer provides previous or next lines when user presses up/down arrows respectively. However, if you wish to disable this behaviour use :track_history option like so:

prompt = TTY::Prompt.new(track_history: false)

1. Fork it ( https://github.com/piotrmurach/tty-prompt/fork )
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add some feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
5. Create a new Pull Request

This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the Contributor Covenant code of conduct.

Copyright (c) 2015 Piotr Murach. See LICENSE for further details.