Terminal's High-level and Advanced Methods

This section is about high-level methods of Terminal instances.

NOTE: In the following code sample, term is always a Terminal instance.

This is where Terminal-Kit becomes really shiny: you can really build a feature-rich terminal application using this.

You can handle keyboard inputs, change the terminal color palette, create menu, get text input (similar to readline), create nice progress bars, or display some special effects.

Advanced methods of a Terminal instance

Advanced methods are high-level library functions.

.fullscreen( options )

options: true/false/object: if truthy it activates the fullscreen mode, if falsy it returns to normal mode, if it is an object it supports those properties:
- noAlternate boolean true if the alternate screen buffer should not be used

Basically, this method try to achieve the same goal than the native terminal capability alternate screen buffer. If alternate screen buffer is disabled on your terminal, it will provide a clean fallback, clearing the screen and positionning the cursor at the upper-left corner.

.processExit( code )

code number the exit code

This method should be used instead of calling process.exit() directly. The code argument will be transmitted to process.exit() as it is.

It helps quitting cleanly your application without leaving the terminal in a bad state, so the user get a working shell back.

.grabInput( options , [safeCallback] )

options: false/true/Object, false disable input grabbing, true or an Object turn it on, if it is an Object then those properties are supported:
- mouse: if defined, it activate mouse event, those values are supported for 'mouse':
  - 'button': report only button-event
  - 'drag': report button-event and report motion-event only when a button is pressed (i.e. a mouse drag)
  - 'motion': report button-event and all motion-event, use it only when needed, many escape sequences are sent from the terminal (e.g. you may consider it for script running over SSH)
- focus: true/false: if defined and true, focus event will be reported (if your terminal support it - xterm does)
safe boolean (optional), when set and when options is set to false, it returns a promise that resolve when input grabbing is safely turned off, avoiding extra junks to be echoed when the terminal left the raw mode. It is mostly useful after grabbing mouse motion.

This function turns input grabbing on, key will not be echoed anymore, and every input will generate an event on the term object.

Each key pressed will generate a key event and mouse motion and button (if enabled) will generate a mouse event.

Quick example:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

function terminate() {
	term.grabInput( false ) ;
	setTimeout( function() { process.exit() } , 100 ) ;
}

term.bold.cyan( 'Type anything on the keyboard...\n' ) ;
term.green( 'Hit CTRL-C to quit.\n\n' ) ;

term.grabInput( { mouse: 'button' } ) ;

term.on( 'key' , function( name , matches , data ) {
	console.log( "'key' event:" , name ) ;
	if ( name === 'CTRL_C' ) { terminate() ; }
} ) ;

term.on( 'terminal' , function( name , data ) {
	console.log( "'terminal' event:" , name , data ) ;
} ) ;

term.on( 'mouse' , function( name , data ) {
	console.log( "'mouse' event:" , name , data ) ;
} ) ;

.getCursorLocation( [callback] )

callback( error , x , y ) (optional)
- error mixed truthy if an underlying error occurs
- x integer the x coordinate of the cursor
- y integer the y coordinate of the cursor

Get the cursor location.

Without a callback argument, it returns a Promise that resolve to an object with a x and y properties.

.getColor( register , [callback] )

register number the register number in the 0..255 range
callback( error , rgb ) (optional)
- error mixed truthy if an underlying error occurs
- rgb Object where:
  - r number in the 0..255 range, the red value
  - g number in the 0..255 range, the green value
  - b number in the 0..255 range, the blue value

Get the RGB values of a color register.

Without a callback argument, it returns a Promise that resolve to that same rgb object.

.setColor( register , r , g , b , [names] ) or .setColor( register , rgb , [names] )

register number the register number in the 0..255 range
r number in the 0..255 range, the red value
g number in the 0..255 range, the green value
b number in the 0..255 range, the blue value
rgb Object where:
- r number in the 0..255 range, the red value
- g number in the 0..255 range, the green value
- b number in the 0..255 range, the blue value
names Array of string: names for that color, it default to an empty array

Set the RGB values for a color indexed by the integer register.

.getPalette( register , [callback] )

callback( error , palette ) (optional)
- error mixed truthy if an underlying error occurs
- palette Array of 16 Object where:
  - r number in the 0..255 range, the red value
  - g number in the 0..255 range, the green value
  - b number in the 0..255 range, the blue value
  - names Array of string, names for this color

Request from the terminal the 16-colors palette in use.

If the terminal does not support the feature, then the default palette for this terminal is provided, and each color that was modified by the lib replace it.

Without a callback argument, it returns a Promise that resolve to that same palette array.

.setPalette( palette )

palette, is either:
- Array of 16 Object where:
  - r number in the 0..255 range, the red value
  - g number in the 0..255 range, the green value
  - b number in the 0..255 range, the blue value
  - names Array of string, names for this color
- OR string one of the built-in palette (default, gnome, konsole, linux, solarized, vga, xterm)

If the terminal supports it, it will reset the 16-colors palette to the provided one.

.wrapColumn() / .wrapColumn( [options] ) / .wrapColumn( [x] , width )

options Object where:
- width integer or null the width of the column, or null for the terminal's width
- x integer the x-coordinate of the left side of the column
- continue boolean true if it would continue a previous output (mostly for insternal lib usage)
- offset integer the offset of the next/first line (used for continuing text, mostly for insternal lib usage)

This method change the behavior of the .wrap modifier. It defines the column setup used for word-wrapping.

Calling .wrapColumn() without argument simply reset the continue and offset value. It is useful since issuing multiple term.wrap( "some text" ) would continue the text one after the other. That would stop that continuation behavior.

Any call to .wrapColumn(), with or without arguments, reset the offset, except if the user defines its own value.

The offset is also reset everytime some text is written without the wrap mode turned on.

Examples:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

// Word-wrap this along the full terminal width
term.wrap.yellow( 'Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish' ) ;

// Word-wrap this inside a column starting at x=10 with a width of 25 terminal cells
term.wrapColumn( { x: 10 , width: 25 } ) ;
term.wrap.green( 'Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish' ) ;

// This reset the offset
term( '\n' ) ;
//term.wrapColumn() could be used as well, but the next text would overwrite the last line

// Text continuation: the second text start at the end of line of the first text
term.wrap.blue( '^GP^re^Yr^um^Mi^bs^bs^ci^ro^mn^ is ' )
term.wrap.red( 'hereby granted' ) ;

It produces:

.table( tableCells , [options] )

tableCells array of array of string describing the text content of each cells
options object, see TextTable

This creates a table of text.

Behind the scene, this method uses the inlinized variant of the TextTable widget of the document-model, so for more details, you will have to read the TextTable doc.

Example of a table with border:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

term.table( [
		[ 'header #1' , 'header #2' , 'header #3' ] ,
		[ 'row #1' , 'a much bigger cell, a much bigger cell, a much bigger cell... ' , 'cell' ] ,
		[ 'row #2' , 'cell' , 'a medium cell' ] ,
		[ 'row #3' , 'cell' , 'cell' ] ,
		[ 'row #4' , 'cell\nwith\nnew\nlines' , '^YThis ^Mis ^Ca ^Rcell ^Gwith ^Bmarkup^R^+!' ]
	] , {
		hasBorder: true ,
		contentHasMarkup: true ,
		borderChars: 'lightRounded' ,
		borderAttr: { color: 'blue' } ,
		textAttr: { bgColor: 'default' } ,
		firstCellTextAttr: { bgColor: 'blue' } ,
		firstRowTextAttr: { bgColor: 'yellow' } ,
		firstColumnTextAttr: { bgColor: 'red' } ,
		width: 60 ,
		fit: true   // Activate all expand/shrink + wordWrap
	}
) ;

It produces:

Example of a table without a border, with checkered cells:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

term.table( [
        [ 'header #1' , 'header #2' , 'header #3' ] ,
        [ 'row #1' , 'a much bigger cell, a much bigger cell, a much bigger cell... ' , 'cell' ] ,
        [ 'row #2' , 'cell' , 'a medium cell' ] ,
        [ 'row #3' , 'cell' , 'cell' ] ,
        [ 'row #4' , 'cell\nwith\nnew\nlines' , '^YThis ^Mis ^Ca ^Rcell ^Gwith ^Bmarkup^R^+!' ]
    ] , {
        hasBorder: false ,
        contentHasMarkup: true ,
        textAttr: { bgColor: 'default' } ,
        firstCellTextAttr: { bgColor: 'blue' } ,
        firstRowTextAttr: { bgColor: 'yellow' } ,
        firstColumnTextAttr: { bgColor: 'red' } ,
        checkerEvenCellTextAttr: { bgColor: 'gray' } ,
        width: 60 ,
        fit: true   // Activate all expand/shrink + wordWrap
    }
) ;

It produces:

.yesOrNo( [options] , [callback] )

options Object where:
- yes string or Array contains a key code or an array of key code that will trigger the yes
- no string or Array contains a key code or an array of key code that will trigger the
- echoYes String contains what to write on yes, default 'yes'
- echoNo String contains what to write on no, default 'no'
callback( error , result ) (optional)
- error mixed truthy if an underlying error occurs
- result boolean true for 'yes' or false for 'no'

Wait for user input, call the completion callback when the user hit the 'y' key or the 'n' key, result will be true if the user hit any yes keys or false if the user hit any no keys. Other keys do not do anything.

Turn input grabbing on if necessary.

We can specify the keys for yes and no by providing a string or an array of string.

It returns an object featuring some functions to control things during the input process:

abort(): abort the input process and do not even call the yesOrNo()'s callback
promise: without a callback argument, this will be a promise that resolve with the result value

Quick example:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

function question() {
	term( 'Do you like javascript? [Y|n]\n' ) ;
	
	// Exit on y and ENTER key
	// Ask again on n
	term.yesOrNo( { yes: [ 'y' , 'ENTER' ] , no: [ 'n' ] } , function( error , result ) {
	
		if ( result ) {
			term.green( "'Yes' detected! Good bye!\n" ) ;
			process.exit() ;
		}
		else {
			term.red( "'No' detected, are you sure?\n" ) ;
			question() ;
		}
	} ) ;
}

question() ;

It produces:

.inputField( [options] , [callback] )

options Object where:
- y number (optional) if set, this is the y coordinate (the row) of the beginning of the inputField
- x number (optional) if set, this is the x coordinate (the column) of the beginning of the inputField
- echo boolean if true (the default), input are displayed on the terminal
- echoChar string or true if set, all characters are replaced by this one (useful for password fields), if true, it is replaced by a dot: •
- default string default input/placeholder
- cursorPosition integer (default: -1, end of input) set the cursor position/offset in the input, negative value starts from the end
- cancelable boolean if true (default: false), it is cancelable by user using the cancel key (default: ESC), thus will return undefined.
- style Function style used, default to the terminal instance (no style)
- hintStyle Function style used for hint (auto-completion preview), default to terminal.brightBlack (gray)
- maxLength number maximum length of the input
- minLength number minimum length of the input
- history Array (optional) an history array, so UP and DOWN keys move up and down in the history
- maxLength number (optional) the maximum length (in characters) of the user input
- autoComplete Array or Function( inputString , [callback] ) (optional) an array of possible completion, so the TAB key will auto-complete the input field. If it is a function, it should accept an input string and return the completed string (if no completion can be done, it should return the input string, if multiple candidate are possible, it should return an array of string), if the function accepts 2 arguments (checked using function.length), then the auto-completer will be asynchronous! If it does not accept a callback but returns a thenable (Promise-like), it will be asynchronous too. Also note that if it is an array or the result of the function is an array, and if that array has a special property prefix (a string), then this prefix will be prepended to the output of the auto complete menu, and if it has the special property postfix (still a string), this will be appended to the output of the auto complete menu.
- autoCompleteMenu boolean or Object of options, used in conjunction with the 'autoComplete' option, if truthy any auto-complete attempt having many completion candidates will display a menu to let the user choose between each possibilities. If an object is given, it should contain options for the .singleLineMenu() that is used for the completion (notice: some options are overwritten: 'y' and 'exitOnUnexpectedKey')
- autoCompleteHint boolean if true (default: false) use the hintStyle to write the auto-completion preview at the right of the input
- keyBindings Object overide default key bindings, object's keys are Terminal-kit key names, the value is the action (string). See below for the list of available actions.
- tokenHook Function( token , isEndOfInput , previousTokens , term , config ) this is a hook called for each token of the input, where:
  - token String is the current token * isEndOfInput boolean true if this is the last token and if it ends the input string (e.g. it is possible for the last token to be followed by some blank char, in that case isEndOfInput would be false)
  - previousTokens Array of String is a array containing all tokens before the current one
  - term is a Terminal instance
  - config Object is an object containing dynamic settings that can be altered by the hook, where:
    - style Function style in use (see the style option)
    - hintStyle Function style in use for hint (see the hintStyle option)
    - tokenRegExp RegExp the regexp in use for tokenization (see the tokenRegExp option)
    - autoComplete Array or Function( inputString , [callback] ) (see the autoComplete option)
    - autoCompleteMenu boolean or Object (see the autoCompleteMenu option)
    - autoCompleteHint boolean enable/disable the auto-completion preview (see the autoCompleteHint option) The config settings are always reset on new input, on new tokenization pass. The hook can return a style (Function, like the style option) that will be used to print that token. Used together, this can achieve syntax hilighting, as well as dynamic behavior suitable for a shell. Finally, it can return a string, styled or not, that will be displayed in place of that token, useful if the token should have multiple styles (but that string MUST contains the same number of printable character, or it would lead hazardous behavior).
- tokenResetHook Function( term , config ) this is a hook called before the first token
- tokenRegExp RegExp this is the regex used to tokenize the input, by default a token is space-delimited, so "one two three" would be tokenized as [ "one" , "two" , "three" ]. NOTE: this RegExp MUST have the g flag, or it will throw an error.
callback( error , input ): an optional completion callback, for promise, use the returnValue's .promise preperty. Arguments:
- error mixed truthy if an underlying error occurs
- input string the user input

Wait for user input, call the completion callback when the user hit the ENTER key and pass the user input to the callback.

It turns input grabbing on if necessary.

Special keys are supported by the input field:

ENTER, KP_ENTER: end the input process and return the current user input
DELETE: delete
BACKSPACE: backward delete
LEFT/RIGHT: move the cursor one character left/right
CTRL_LEFT/CTRL_RIGHT: move the cursor to the previous/next word
HOME: move the cursor at the beginning of the input field
END: move the cursor at the end of the input field
DOWN, UP: use the history feature (if options.history is set)
TAB: use the auto-completion feature (if options.autoComplete is set)
CTRL_R: use the auto-completion feature, using the provided history array (options.history)
CTRL_U/CTRL_K: delete all characters before/after the cursor

Additional keys are used when the auto-completion displays its menu (see .singleLineMenu() for details).

All those keys are customizable through the keyBindings options. Available actions are:

submit: submit the input field (default: ENTER and KP_ENTER)
cancel: cancel the input field (default: ESC, the input field should be cancelable)
backDelete: delete one character backward (default: BACKSPACE)
delete: delete one character (default: DELETE)
deleteAllBefore: delete all characters before the cursor (default: CTRL_U)
deleteAllAfter: delete all characters from the cursor to the end of input (default: DELETE)
backward: move the cursor one character backward (default: LEFT)
forward: move the cursor one character forward (default: RIGHT)
previousWord: move the cursor to the begining of the previous word (default: CTRL_LEFT)
nextWord: move the cursor to the end of the next word (default: CTRL_RIGHT)
historyPrevious: use the previous history entry (default: UP)
historyNext: use the next history entry (default: DOWN)
startOfInput: move the cursor at the begining of input (default: HOME)
endOfInput: move the cursor at the end of input (default: END)
autoComplete: auto-complete the input (default: TAB)
autoCompleteUsingHistory: auto-complete the input, using the provided history (options.history array instead of options.autoComplete)
meta: if bound to ESCAPE, allows for two-key combos like ESC-D to generate an ALT_D (useful for terminals that do not have a modifier key assigned to alt/meta)

It returns an EventEmitter object featuring some functions to control things during the input process:

abort(): abort the input process and do not even call the inputField()'s callback
stop(): stop the input process now, call the inputField()'s callback (same behavior than a regular 'ENTER' key pressed)
getInput(): get the current input string
getPosition(): return an object containing 'x' and 'y' properties, the coordinates where the input field starts
getCursorPosition(): return the cursor position/offset in the input
setCursorPosition( offset ): set the cursor position/offset in the input
redraw(): redraw the input field, useful if you had echo'ed something that can mess it
hide(): hide the input field, it still records keystrokes
show(): show the input field again
rebase( [x] , [y] ): rebase the input field to the current cursor position. Please note: it does NOT erase the previously entered text, you have to use hide() before. It works this way because you may want to modify the screen in between, and it needs some I/O with the terminal to works accordingly. If x and y are given, it use those coordinates instead of an internal asynchronous call to .getCursorLocation(), so it makes .rebase() synchronous.
promise: without a callback argument, this will be a promise that resolve with the input string

It emits:

ready: when the input field is ready (rarely useful)
rebased: when the input field has been rebased (rarely useful)
highlight: when an underlying auto-complete single-line-menu emit an 'hightlight' event, it is re-emitted by the input-field

Quick example, featuring history and auto-completion:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

var history = [ 'John' , 'Jack' , 'Joey' , 'Billy' , 'Bob' ] ;

var autoComplete = [
	'Barack Obama' , 'George W. Bush' , 'Bill Clinton' , 'George Bush' ,
	'Ronald W. Reagan' , 'Jimmy Carter' , 'Gerald Ford' , 'Richard Nixon' ,
	'Lyndon Johnson' , 'John F. Kennedy' , 'Dwight Eisenhower' ,
	'Harry Truman' , 'Franklin Roosevelt'
] ;

term( 'Please enter your name: ' ) ;

term.inputField(
	{ history: history , autoComplete: autoComplete , autoCompleteMenu: true } ,
	function( error , input ) {

		term.green( "\nYour name is '%s'\n" , input ) ;
		process.exit() ;
	}
) ;

It produces:

The same, with Promise:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

var history = [ 'John' , 'Jack' , 'Joey' , 'Billy' , 'Bob' ] ;

var autoComplete = [
	'Barack Obama' , 'George W. Bush' , 'Bill Clinton' , 'George Bush' ,
	'Ronald W. Reagan' , 'Jimmy Carter' , 'Gerald Ford' , 'Richard Nixon' ,
	'Lyndon Johnson' , 'John F. Kennedy' , 'Dwight Eisenhower' ,
	'Harry Truman' , 'Franklin Roosevelt'
] ;

term( 'Please enter your name: ' ) ;

var input = await term.inputField(
	{ history: history , autoComplete: autoComplete , autoCompleteMenu: true }
).promise ;

term.green( "\nYour name is '%s'\n" , input ) ;
process.exit() ;

If we need our own auto-completer, we might take advantage of the built-in static method termkit.autoComplete().

Custom auto-completer can be asynchronous, if the function's length is exactly 2.

This is an example of a file selector that exposes the async behavior of auto-completer and the usage of the static termkit.autoComplete() method:

var fs = require( 'fs' ) ;
var termkit = require( 'terminal-kit' ) ;
var term = termkit.terminal ;

var autoCompleter = function autoCompleter( inputString , callback )
{  
    fs.readdir( __dirname , function( error , files ) {
        callback( undefined , termkit.autoComplete( files , inputString , true ) ) ;
    } ) ;
} ;
    
term( 'Choose a file: ' ) ;

term.inputField(
	{ autoComplete: autoCompleter , autoCompleteMenu: true } ,
	function( error , input ) {
		if ( error )
		{
			term.red.bold( "\nAn error occurs: " + error + "\n" ) ;
		}
		else
		{
			term.green( "\nYour file is '%s'\n" , input ) ;
		}
		
		process.exit() ;
	}
) ;

It produces:

Note: In this example, we created a simple file selector to demonstrate custom auto-completion in action. However, such simple file selectors already exists in the lib: see .fileInput().

Also note that if the autoComplete options is an array or if it is a function whose output is an array, a special property prefix (a string) can be set on it: this prefix will be prepended to the output of the auto complete menu.

Here an example featuring tokenHook to achive a very basic syntax hilighting:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

term( 'shell> ' ) ;

var autoComplete = [
	'dnf install' ,
	'dnf install nodejs' ,
	'dnf search' ,
	'sudo' ,
	'sudo dnf install' ,
	'sudo dnf install nodejs' ,
	'sudo dnf search' ,
] ;

term.inputField(
	{
		autoComplete: autoComplete ,
		autoCompleteHint: true ,
		autoCompleteMenu: true ,
		tokenHook: function( token , isEndOfInput , previousTokens , term , config ) {
			var previousText = previousTokens.join( ' ' ) ;
			
			switch ( token )
			{
				case 'sudo' :
					config.style = term.red ;
					return previousTokens.length ? null : term.bold.red ;
				case 'dnf' :
					return previousText === '' || previousText === 'sudo' ?
						term.brightMagenta : null ;
				case 'install' :
					config.style = term.brightBlue ;
					config.hintStyle = term.brightBlack.italic ;
					return previousText === 'dnf' || previousText === 'sudo dnf' ?
						term.brightYellow : null ;
				case 'search' :
					config.style = term.brightBlue ;
					return previousText === 'dnf' || previousText === 'sudo dnf' ?
						term.brightCyan : null ;
			}
		}
	} ,
	function( error , input ) {
		term.green( "\nYour command is: '%s'\n" , input ) ;
		process.exit() ;
	}
) ;

It produces:

If you want to see an advanced usage of inputField in action, have a look to ngsh, a node.js shell in early alpha stage, featuring auto-completion and syntax hilighting.

.fileInput( [options] , [callback] )

options Object where:
- baseDir string (optional, default: process.cwd()) the base directory path
- ... as well as all .inputField() options
callback( error , input ) (optional)
- error mixed truthy if an underlying error occurs
- input string the user input

This is a variant of .inputField() that auto-complete file paths relative to the baseDir path.

Without a callback argument, it returns a promise that resolve to the input.

Example featuring the fileInput:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

term( 'Choose a file: ' ) ;

term.fileInput(
	{ baseDir: '../' } ,
	function( error , input ) {
		if ( error )
		{
			term.red.bold( "\nAn error occurs: " + error + "\n" ) ;
		}
		else
		{
			term.green( "\nYour file is '%s'\n" , input ) ;
		}
		
		process.exit() ;
	}
) ;

.singleLineMenu( menuItems , [options] , [callback] )

menuItems array of menu item text
options object (optional) of options, where:
- y number the line where the menu will be displayed, default to the next line
- separator string (default: ' ') the string separating each menu item
- nextPageHint string (default: ' » ') string indicator for a next page
- previousPageHint string (default: ' « ') string indicator for a previous page
- style function the style of unselected items, default to the current term
- selectedStyle function the style of the selected item, default to term.dim.blue.bgGreen
- selectedIndex number selected index at initialization (default: 0)
- align string one of 'left' (default), 'right' or 'center', align the menu accordingly
- fillIn boolean if true (default: false), the menu will fill in the whole line with white chars
- keyBindings Object overide default key bindings, object's keys are Terminal-kit key names, the value is the action (string)
- cancelable boolean if ESCAPE is pressed, it exits, calling the callback with undefined values
- exitOnUnexpectedKey boolean if an unexpected key is pressed, it exits, calling the callback with undefined values
callback( error , response ) (optional), where:
- error mixed truthy if an underlying error occurs
- response Object where
  - selectedIndex number the user-selected menu item index
  - selectedText string the user-selected menu item text
  - x number the x coordinate of the selected menu item (the first character)
  - y number the y coordinate of the selected menu item (same coordinate for all items since it's a single line menu)
  - canceled true when 'cancelable' option is set and the ESCAPE key is pressed
  - unexpectedKey string when 'exitOnUnexpectedKey' option is set and an unexpected key is pressed, this contains the key that produced the exit

It creates an interactive menu that uses only a single line.

It supports the mouse if the mouse has been activated by .grabInput()'s mouse option.

It features paging if items oversize the line length, and supports the following keys:

ENTER, KP_ENTER: end the process and return the currently selected menu item
LEFT, RIGHT: move and select the previous or the next item in the menu
SHIFT_TAB, TAB: cycle backward or forward and select the item
UP, DOWN: go to the previous or the next page of items (if paging is used)
HOME, END: move and select the first or the last item of the menu
ESCAPE: exit from the menu, if the 'cancelable' option is set

All those keys are customizable through the keyBindings options. Available actions are:

submit: submit the menu (default: ENTER and KP_ENTER)
previous: move and select the previous item in the menu (default: LEFT)
next: move and select the next item in the menu (default: RIGHT)
cyclePrevious: cycle backward and select the item (default: SHIFT_TAB)
cycleNext: cycle forward and select the item (default: TAB)
previousPage: go to the previous page of items, if paging is used (default: UP)
nextPage: go to the next page of items, if paging is used (default: DOWN)
first: move and select the first item in the menu (default: HOME)
last: move and select the last item in the menu (default: END)
escape: exit from the menu, if the 'cancelable' option is set (default: ESCAPE)

If the 'exitOnUnexpectedKey' option is set, any other keys will exit the menu, the callback's response argument does not contain any property except 'unexpectedKey', that will contain the key having triggered the exit.

It returns an EventEmitter object with those properties:

promise: without a callback argument, this will be a promise that resolve with the response object.

It emits:

highlight: every-time the hightlighted menu item changes, this event is emitted, with an object as its unique argument:
- highlightedIndex: the index of the highlighted item
- highlightedText: the text of the highlighted item

Example:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

var items = [ 'File' , 'Edit' , 'View' , 'History' , 'Bookmarks' , 'Tools' , 'Help' ] ;

var options = {
	y: 1 ,	// the menu will be on the top of the terminal
	style: term.inverse ,
	selectedStyle: term.dim.blue.bgGreen
} ;

term.clear() ;

term.singleLineMenu( items , options , function( error , response ) {
	term( '\n' ).eraseLineAfter.green(
		"#%s selected: %s (%s,%s)\n" ,
		response.selectedIndex ,
		response.selectedText ,
		response.x ,
		response.y
	) ;
	process.exit() ;
} ) ;

It produces:

It creates a menu on the top of the terminal, with unselected items using inverted foreground/background colors, and the selected item using blue on green. When the user press RETURN/ENTER, it displays the index, text and coordinates of the selected menu item.

.singleRowMenu( menuItems , [options] , [callback] )

This is an alias of .singleLineMenu().

.singleColumnMenu( menuItems , [options] , [callback] )

menuItems array of menu item text
options object (optional) of options, where:
- y number the line where the menu will be displayed, default to the next line
- style function the style of unselected items, default to the current term
- selectedStyle function the style of the selected item, default to term.inverse
- submittedStyle function the style of the submitted item, default to term.bgGray.bold
- leftPadding string the text to put before a menu item, default to ' '
- selectedLeftPadding string the text to put before a selected menu item, default to ' '
- submittedLeftPadding string the text to put before a submitted menu item, default to ' '
- extraLines number (default: 1) the number of lines to create (if needed) between the end of the menu and the bottom of the terminal
- oneLineItem boolean if true (default: false), big items do not span multiple lines, instead they are truncated and ended with an ellipsis char
- itemMaxWidth number the max width for an item, default to the terminal width
- continueOnSubmit boolean if true, the submit action does not end the menu, the callback argument is ignored. The 'submit' event should be listened instead.
- selectedIndex number selected index at initialization (default: 0)
- keyBindings Object overide default key bindings, object's keys are Terminal-kit key names, the value is the action (string)
- cancelable boolean if ESCAPE is pressed, it exits, calling the callback with undefined values
- exitOnUnexpectedKey boolean if an unexpected key is pressed, it exits, calling the callback with undefined values
callback( error , response ) (optional), where:
- error mixed truthy if an underlying error occurs
- response Object where:
  - selectedIndex number the user-selected menu item index
  - selectedText string the user-selected menu item text
  - submitted boolean if true, the selectedIndex was submitted (rarely false, except when stopped)
  - x number the x coordinate of the selected menu item (the first character)
  - y number the y coordinate of the selected menu item
  - canceled true when 'cancelable' option is set and the ESCAPE key is pressed
  - unexpectedKey string when 'exitOnUnexpectedKey' option is set and an unexpected key is pressed, this contains the key that produced the exit

It creates an interactive menu over multiple lines.

It supports the mouse if the mouse has been activated by .grabInput()'s mouse option.

ENTER, KP_ENTER: end the process and return the currently selected menu item
UP, DOWN: move and select the previous or the next item in the menu
SHIFT_TAB, TAB: cycle backward or forward and select the item
HOME, END: move and select the first or the last item of the menu
ESCAPE: exit from the menu, if the 'cancelable' option is set

All those keys are customizable through the keyBindings options. Available actions are:

submit: submit the menu (default: ENTER and KP_ENTER)
previous: move and select the previous item in the menu (default: UP)
next: move and select the next item in the menu (default: DOWN)
cyclePrevious: cycle backward and select the item (default: SHIFT_TAB)
cycleNext: cycle forward and select the item (default: TAB)
first: move and select the first item in the menu (default: HOME)
last: move and select the last item in the menu (default: END)
escape: exit from the menu, if the 'cancelable' option is set (default: ESCAPE)

If the 'exitOnUnexpectedKey' option is set, any other keys will exit the menu, the callback's response argument does not contain any property except 'unexpectedKey', that will contain the key having triggered the exit.

It returns an EventEmitter object with those properties:

promise: without a callback argument, this will be a promise that resolve with the response object.

It emits:

highlight: every-time the hightlighted menu item changes, this event is emitted, with an object as its unique argument:
- highlightedIndex: the index of the highlighted item
- highlightedText: the text of the highlighted item

Example:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

term.cyan( 'The hall is spacious. Someone lighted few chandeliers.\n' ) ;
term.cyan( 'There are doorways south and west.\n' ) ;

var items = [
	'a. Go south' ,
	'b. Go west' ,
	'c. Go back to the street'
] ;

term.singleColumnMenu( items , function( error , response ) {
	term( '\n' ).eraseLineAfter.green(
		"#%s selected: %s (%s,%s)\n" ,
		response.selectedIndex ,
		response.selectedText ,
		response.x ,
		response.y
	) ;
	process.exit() ;
} ) ;

It produces:

It creates a menu, when the user press RETURN/ENTER, it displays the index, text and coordinates of the selected menu item.

.gridMenu( menuItems , [options] , [callback] )

menuItems array of menu item text
options object (optional) of options, where:
- y number the line where the menu will be displayed, default to the next line
- x number the column where the menu will be displayed (default: 1)
- width number the maximum width of the grid menu (default: terminal's width)
- style function the style of unselected items, default to the current term
- selectedStyle function the style of the selected item, default to term.inverse
- leftPadding string the text to put before a menu item, default to ' '
- selectedLeftPadding string the text to put before a selected menu item, default to ' '
- rightPadding string the text to put after a menu item, default to ' '
- selectedRightPadding string the text to put after a selected menu item, default to ' '
- itemMaxWidth number the max width for an item, default to the 1/3 of the terminal width or of the specified width option
- keyBindings Object overide default key bindings, object's keys are Terminal-kit key names, the value is the action (string)
- exitOnUnexpectedKey boolean if an unexpected key is pressed, it exits, calling the callback with undefined values
callback( error , response ) (optional), where:
- error mixed truthy if an underlying error occurs
- response Object where
  - selectedIndex number the user-selected menu item index
  - selectedText string the user-selected menu item text
  - x number the x coordinate of the selected menu item (the first character)
  - y number the y coordinate of the selected menu item
  - unexpectedKey string when 'exitOnUnexpectedKey' option is set and an unexpected key is pressed, this contains the key that produced the exit

It creates an interactive menu, items are organized in multiple rows and columns, as a grid/table.

It supports the mouse if the mouse has been activated by .grabInput()'s mouse option.

ENTER, KP_ENTER: end the process and return the currently selected menu item
UP, DOWN: move and select the previous or the next item in the menu
LEFT, RIGHT: move and select the item on the left or on the right (previous or next column)
SHIFT_TAB, TAB: cycle backward or forward and select the item
HOME, END: move and select the first or the last item of the menu

All those keys are customizable through the keyBindings options. Available actions are:

submit: submit the menu (default: ENTER and KP_ENTER)
previous: move and select the previous item in the menu (default: UP)
next: move and select the next item in the menu (default: DOWN)
previousColumn: move and select the item on the previous column/on the left (default: LEFT)
nextColumn: move and select the item on the next column/on the right (default: RIGHT)
cyclePrevious: cycle backward and select the item (default: SHIFT_TAB)
cycleNext: cycle forward and select the item (default: TAB)
first: move and select the first item in the menu (default: HOME)
last: move and select the last item in the menu (default: END)

If the 'exitOnUnexpectedKey' option is set, any other keys will exit the menu, the callback's response argument does not contain any property except 'unexpectedKey', that will contain the key having triggered the exit.

It returns an object with those properties:

promise: without a callback argument, this will be a promise that resolve with the response object.

Example:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

var fs = require( 'fs' ) ;

term.cyan( 'Choose a file:\n' ) ;

var items = fs.readdirSync( process.cwd() ) ;

term.gridMenu( items , function( error , response ) {
	term( '\n' ).eraseLineAfter.green(
		"#%s selected: %s (%s,%s)\n" ,
		response.selectedIndex ,
		response.selectedText ,
		response.x ,
		response.y
	) ;
	process.exit() ;
} ) ;

It produces:

It reads the current directory and creates a menu with all files and folder, displayed using a table layout. When the user press RETURN/ENTER, it displays the index, text and coordinates of the selected menu item.

.spinner( [options] ) or .spinner( animation )

animation string or array when using this shorthand ariant, the argument is turned into an object having an animation property set to this value, if it is a string, it should be one of those built-in animations, if it is an array, it should comply with this format those built-in animations.
options object, see AnimatedText

This creates a spinner.

Behind the scene, this method uses the inlinized variant of the AnimatedText widget of the document-model, so for more details, you will have to read the AnimatedText doc.

Example of the classic line spinner:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;
term.spinner() ;

It produces:

Example of a colorful unboxing spinner with a text appended after it:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

async function test() {
    var spinner = await term.spinner( 'unboxing-color' ) ;
    term( ' Loading... ' ) ;
}

test() ;

It produces:

Internally, since the spinner is animated, the lib needs to get the cursor location from the terminal before starting spinning, that's why we await it before writing after. Without await, it would write ' Loading...' first, then overwrite it with the spinner.

Here is the list of all built-in animations and for custom animation, follow this format.

.progressBar( [options] )

options object of options, all of them are OPTIONAL, where:
- width: number the total width of the progress bar, default to the max available width
- percent: boolean if true, it shows the progress in percent alongside with the progress bar
- eta: boolean if true, it shows the Estimated Time of Arrival alongside with the progress bar
- items number the number of items that should be completed, turns the item mode on
- title string the title of the current progress bar, turns the title mode on
- barStyle function the style of the progress bar items, default to term.cyan
- barBracketStyle function the style of the progress bar bracket character, default to options.barStyle if given or term.blue
- percentStyle function the style of percent value string, default to term.yellow
- etaStyle function the style of the ETA display, default to term.bold
- itemStyle function the style of the item display, default to term.dim
- titleStyle function the style of the title display, default to term.bold
- itemSize number the size of the item status, default to 33% of width
- titleSize number the size of the title, default to 33% of width or title.length depending on context
- barChar string the char used for the bar, default to '='
- barHeadChar string the char used for the bar, default to '>'
- maxRefreshTime number the maximum time between two refresh in ms, default to 500ms
- minRefreshTime number the minimum time between two refresh in ms, default to 100ms
- inline boolean
  - when false (the default), the progressBar is locked in-place, it always redraws itself on the same place
  - when true, the progressBar is redrawn on the beginning of the current line
- syncMode boolean
  - when false (the default), the progressBar works asynchronously, every few milliseconds it is redrawn. Note that it will fail for CPU bound tasks, if the tasks do not let the event loop breathes
  - when true, the progressBar works in synchronous mode: it only redraws itself synchronously in those cases:
    - at startup when progressBar() is called
    - each time progressBar.startItem() is called
    - each time progressBar.itemDone() is called
    - each time progressBar.update() is called
    - each time progressBar.resume() is called
- y integer if set (and non-zero), the progressBar will be on the yth line
- x integer if set (and non-zero) and the 'y' option is set (and non-zero), the progressBar will start on the xth row

It creates a nice progress bar and returns a controller object to interact with it.

The controller provides those functions:

update( updateObject ): update the progress bar, having the arguments:
- updateObject object or number or null. If updateObject is not an object, it's a shorthand for { progress: value }. It supports those properties:
  - progress number or null the progress value:
    - if it's a float between 0 and 1, it's the actual progress value to be displayed
    - if null then it will display a spinning wheel: something is in progress, but cannot be quantified
  - items number change the number of items that should be completed, turns the item mode on
  - title string change the title of the current progress bar, turns the title mode on
startItem( name ): in item mode, it informs the progress bar that a new item is processing, having arguments:
- name string the name of the item that will be displayed in the item status part of the progress bar
itemDone( name ): in item mode, it informs the progress bar that an item is now done, if that item was started using .startItem(), it will be removed from the running item list. When the number of finished item reaches the items parameter (see the .progressBar()'s 'items' option or .update() method's 'items' option), the progressBar reaches 100% and stop. It has the arguments:
- name string the name of the item that just finished.
stop(): stop the progress bar, no redraw will occurs
resume(): resume a previously stopped progress bar, it will be redrawn again
reset(): reset the progress bar, removing progress value, items done, time elapsed and so on...

Example of a progress bar using fake progress values:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

var progressBar , progress = 0 ;


function doProgress()
{
	// Add random progress
	progress += Math.random() / 10 ;
	progressBar.update( progress ) ;
	
	if ( progress >= 1 )
	{
		// Cleanup and exit
		setTimeout( function() { term( '\n' ) ; process.exit() ; } , 200 ) ;
	}
	else
	{
		setTimeout( doProgress , 100 + Math.random() * 400 ) ;
	}
}


progressBar = term.progressBar( {
	width: 80 ,
	title: 'Serious stuff in progress:' ,
	eta: true ,
	percent: true
} ) ;

doProgress() ;

It produces:

It creates a progress bar and feeds it with a random progress value, then quit when it reaches 100%.

Example of a progress bar in item mode:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

var progressBar ;

var thingsToDo = [
	'update my lib' ,
	'data analyzing' ,
	'serious business' ,
	'decrunching data' ,
	'do my laundry' ,
	'optimizing'
] ;

var countDown = thingsToDo.length ;


function start()
{
	if ( ! thingsToDo.length ) { return ; }
	
	var task = thingsToDo.shift() ;
	
	progressBar.startItem( task ) ;
	
	// Finish the task in...
	setTimeout( done.bind( null , task ) , 500 + Math.random() * 1200 ) ;
	
	// Start another parallel task in...
	setTimeout( start , 400 + Math.random() * 400 ) ;
}


function done( task )
{
	progressBar.itemDone( task ) ;
	countDown -- ;
	
	// Cleanup and exit
	if ( ! countDown )
	{
		setTimeout( function() { term( '\n' ) ; process.exit() ; } , 200 ) ;
	}
}


progressBar = term.progressBar( {
	width: 80 ,
	title: 'Daily tasks:' ,
	eta: true ,
	percent: true ,
	items: thingsToDo.length
} ) ;

start() ;

It produces:

It creates a progress bar and start and finish task with a random time, then quit when everything is done.

.bar( value , [options] )

value number a number between 0 and 1
options object of options, all of them are OPTIONAL, where:
- innerSize: integer inner width of the bar in characters (default: 10)
- barStyle function the style of the bar, default to term.blue

It displays a bar representing the value. It uses unicode characters to improve the precision.

.slowTyping( str , [options] , [callback] )

str string the text to display
options object of options, where:
- style function the style of text, default to term.green
- flashStyle function or falsy if a function is given, then this is the style of the text for the flash effect, if falsy then the flash effect is turn off, default to term.bold.brightGreen
- delay number average delay before printing the next char, default to 150 ms
- flashDelay number fixed delay before the flashStyle of the last printed char is replaced by the regular style, default to 100 ms
callback function (optional) that will be called on completion

It outputs some text with an old-fashioned slow-typing effect.

Without a callback argument, it returns a promise that resolve on completion.

Example:

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ).terminal ;

term.slowTyping(
	'What a wonderful world!\n' ,
	{ flashStyle: term.brightWhite } ,
	function() { process.exit() ; }
) ;

It produces:

.drawImage( url , [options] , [callback] )

url string filepath, or URL if the original get-pixels module is installed
options object of options, where:
- shrink object (optional, but recommanded) if set, the image may be shrinked to conform to the max width and height. When shrinking, aspect ratio is always preserved. It has those properties:
  - width integer the max width of the image
  - height integer the max height of the image
callback Function( error ) (optional) that will be called on completion, where:
- error: truthy if an error occured

Without a callback argument, it returns a promise that resolve on completion.

This get an image (using a filepath or an URL) and draw it directly into the terminal. Support all format supported by get-pixels, namely PNG, JPEG and GIF. Only the first frame of GIF are used ATM.

NOTE: Terminal Kit does not support loading over HTTP out of the box. Terminal Kit aims to have a good balance between features and lightweight, and loading images over HTTP adds tons of dependencies, which of course are only useful in very rare use-cases. If you need such feature, just add the original get-pixels module (npm install get-pixels), it has precedence over the get-pixels fork which has HTTP support striped.

It uses the upper half block UTF-8 character (▀) to double the height resolution and produces the correct aspect ratio: the upper half having a foreground color and the lower half having the background color.

The shrink object option can be used to reduce the size of the image. It is suggested to set it to { width: term.width, height: term.height * 2 } to avoid creating a 2000 lines image.

Example of rendering:

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high-level.md

high-level.md

Terminal's High-level and Advanced Methods

Table of Contents

Advanced methods of a Terminal instance

.fullscreen( options )

.processExit( code )

.grabInput( options , [safeCallback] )

.getCursorLocation( [callback] )

.getColor( register , [callback] )

.setColor( register , r , g , b , [names] ) or .setColor( register , rgb , [names] )

.getPalette( register , [callback] )

.setPalette( palette )

.wrapColumn() / .wrapColumn( [options] ) / .wrapColumn( [x] , width )

.table( tableCells , [options] )

.yesOrNo( [options] , [callback] )

.inputField( [options] , [callback] )

.fileInput( [options] , [callback] )

.singleLineMenu( menuItems , [options] , [callback] )

.singleRowMenu( menuItems , [options] , [callback] )

.singleColumnMenu( menuItems , [options] , [callback] )

.gridMenu( menuItems , [options] , [callback] )

.spinner( [options] ) or .spinner( animation )

.progressBar( [options] )

.bar( value , [options] )

.slowTyping( str , [options] , [callback] )

.drawImage( url , [options] , [callback] )

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Terminal's High-level and Advanced Methods

Table of Contents

Advanced methods of a Terminal instance

.fullscreen( options )

.processExit( code )

.grabInput( options , [safeCallback] )

.getCursorLocation( [callback] )

.getColor( register , [callback] )

.setColor( register , r , g , b , [names] ) or .setColor( register , rgb , [names] )

.getPalette( register , [callback] )

.setPalette( palette )

.wrapColumn() / .wrapColumn( [options] ) / .wrapColumn( [x] , width )

.table( tableCells , [options] )

.yesOrNo( [options] , [callback] )

.inputField( [options] , [callback] )

.fileInput( [options] , [callback] )

.singleLineMenu( menuItems , [options] , [callback] )

.singleRowMenu( menuItems , [options] , [callback] )

.singleColumnMenu( menuItems , [options] , [callback] )

.gridMenu( menuItems , [options] , [callback] )

.spinner( [options] ) or .spinner( animation )

.progressBar( [options] )

.bar( value , [options] )

.slowTyping( str , [options] , [callback] )

.drawImage( url , [options] , [callback] )