CUTIE

Command line User Tools for Input Easification

A tool for handling common user input functions in an elegant way. It supports asking yes or no questions, selecting an element from a list with arrow keys or vim arrow keys, forcing the user to input a number and secure text entry while having many customization options.

For example the yes or no input supports forcing the user to match case, tab autocomplete and switching option with the arrow keys. The number input allows setting a minum and a maximum, entering floats or forcing the user to use integers. It will only return once the user inputs a number in that format, showing a warning to them if it does not conform.

It should work on all major operating systems (Mac, Linux, Windows).

Usage

These are the main functions of cutie. example.py contains an extended version of this also showing off the select_multiple option.

import cutie

if cutie.prompt_yes_or_no("Are you brave enough to continue?"):
    # List of names to select from, including some captions
    names = [
        "Kings:",
        "Arthur, King of the Britons",
        "Knights of the Round Table:",
        "Sir Lancelot the Brave",
        "Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir-Lancelot",
        "Sir Bedevere the Wise",
        "Sir Galahad the Pure",
        "Swedish captions:",
        "Møøse",
    ]
    # Names which are captions and thus not selectable
    captions = [0, 2, 7]
    # Get the name
    name = names[cutie.select(names, caption_indices=captions, selected_index=8)]
    print(f"Welcome, {name}")
    # Get an integer greater or equal to 0
    age = cutie.get_number("What is your age?", min_value=0, allow_float=False)
    # Get input without showing it being typed
    quest = cutie.secure_input("What is your quest?")
    print(f"{name}'s quest (who is {age}) is {quest}.")

When run, as demonstrated in the gif above it yields this output:

Are you brave enough to continue? (Y/N) Yes
Kings:
[ ] Arthur, King of the Britons
Knights of the Round Table:
[ ] Sir Lancelot the Brave
[x] Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir-Lancelot
[ ] Sir Bedevere the Wise
[ ] Sir Galahad the Pure
Swedish captions:
[ ] Møøse
Welcome, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir-Lancelot
What is your age? 31
What is your quest?
Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir-Lancelot's quest (who is 31) is to find the holy grail.

Installation

With pip from pypi:

pip3 install cutie

With pip from source or in a virtual environment:

pip3 install -r requirements.txt

Documentation

All functions of cutie are explained here. If something is still unclear or you have questions about the implementation just take a look at cutie.py. The implementation is rather straight forward.

get_number

Get a number from user input.

If an invalid number is entered the user will be prompted again. A minimum and maximum value can be supplied. They are inclusive. If the allow_float option, which is True by default is set to False it forces the user to enter an integer.

Getting any three digit number for example could be done like that:

number = cutie.get_number(
    "Please enter a three digit number:",
    min_value=100,
    max_value=999,
    allow_float=False
)
# which is equivalent to
number = cutie.get_number("Please enter a three digit number", 100, 999, False)

Arguments

argument	type	default	description
prompt	str		The prompt asking the user to input.
min_value	float, optional	- infinity	The [inclusive] minimum value.
max_value	float, optional	infinity	The [inclusive] maximum value.
allow_float	bool, optional	True	Allow floats or force integers.

Returns

The number input by the user.

secure_input

Get secure input without showing it in the command line.

This could be used for passwords:

password = cutie.secure_input("Please enter your password:")

Arguments

argument	type	description
prompt	str	The prompt asking the user to input.

Returns

The secure input.

select

Select an option from a list.

Captions or separators can be included between options by adding them as an option and including their index in caption_indices. A preselected index can be supplied.

In its simplest case it could be used like this:

colors = ["red", "green", "blue", "yellow"]
print("What is your favorite color?")
favorite_color = colors[cutie.select(colors)]

With the high degree of customizability, however it is possible to do things like:

print("Select server to ping")
server_id = cutie.select(
    servers,
    deselected_prefix="    ",
    selected_prefix="PING",
    selected_index=default_server_ip
)

Arguments

argument	type	default	description
options	List[str]		The options to select from.
caption_indices	List[int], optional	None	Non-selectable indices.
deselected_prefix	str, optional	[ ]	Prefix for deselected option.
selected_prefix	str, optional	[x]	Prefix for selected option.
caption_prefix	str, optional		Prefix for captions.
selected_index	int, optional	0	The index to be selected at first.
confirm_on_select	bool, optional	True	Select keys also confirm.

Returns

The index that has been selected.

select_multiple

Select multiple options from a list.

It per default shows a "confirm" button. In that case space bar and enter select a line. The button can be hidden. In that case space bar selects the line and enter confirms the selection.

This is not in the example in this readme, but in example.py.

packages_to_update = cutie.select_multiple(
    outdated_packages,
    deselected_unticked_prefix="  KEEP  ",
    deselected_ticked_prefix=" UPDATE ",
    selected_unticked_prefix="[ KEEP ]",
    selected_ticked_prefix="[UPDATE]",
    ticked_indices=list(range(len(outdated_packages))),
    deselected_confirm_label="  [[[[ UPDATE ]]]]  ",
    selected_confirm_label="[ [[[[ UPDATE ]]]] ]"
)

Arguments

argument	type	default	description
options	List[str]		The options to select from.
caption_indices	List[int], optional		Non-selectable indices.
deselected_unticked_prefix	str, optional	( )	Prefix for lines that are not selected and not ticked .
deselected_ticked_prefix	str, optional	(x)	Prefix for lines that are not selected but ticked .
selected_unticked_prefix	str, optional	{ }	Prefix for lines that are selected but not ticked .
selected_ticked_prefix	str, optional	{x}	Prefix for lines that are selected and ticked .
caption_prefix	str, optional		Prefix for captions.
ticked_indices	List[int], optional	[]	Indices that are ticked initially.
cursor_index	int, optional	0	The index the cursor starts at.
minimal_count	int, optional	0	The minimal amount of lines that have to be ticked.
maximal_count	int, optional	infinity	The maximal amount of lines that have to be ticked.
hide_confirm	bool, optional	True	Hide the confirm button. This causes <ENTER> to confirm the entire selection and not just tick the line.
deselected_confirm_label	str, optional	(( confirm ))	The confirm label if not selected.
selected_confirm_label	str, optional	{{ confirm }}	The confirm label if selected.

Returns

A list of indices that have been selected.

prompt_yes_or_no

Prompt the user to input yes or no.

This again can range from very simple to very highly customized:

if cutie.prompt_yes_or_no("Do you want to continue?"):
    do_continue()

if cutie.prompt_yes_or_no(
    "Do you want to hear ze funniest joke in ze world? Proceed at your own risk.",
    yes_text="JA",
    no_text="nein",
    has_to_match_case=True, # The user has to type the exact case
    enter_empty_confirms=False, # An answer has to be selected
    )

Arguments

argument	type	default	description
question	str		The prompt asking the user to input.
yes_text	str, optional	Yes	The text corresponding to "yes".
no_text	str, optional	No	The text corresponding to "no".
has_to_match_case	bool, optional	False	Does the case have to match.
enter_empty_confirms	bool, optional	True	Does enter on empty string work.
default_is_yes	bool, optional	False	Is yes selected by default
deselected_prefix	str, optional		Prefix if something is deselected.
selected_prefix	str, optional	>	Prefix if something is selected
char_prompt	bool, optional	True	Add a [Y/N] to the prompt.

Returns

The bool what has been selected.

Changelog

0.3.2

• CircleCI Integration

0.3.1

• Readme fixes for PyPi

0.3.0

• Unittests by provinzkraut
• Travis CI integration
• Vim Arrow keys (jk)
• Also showing error messages with hide_confirm option enabled in select_multiple
• Consistenly crash on keyboard interrupt (Removes prompt_yes_or_no's abort_value)
• Set hide_confirm to default in select_multiple (#9)
• Black code style

0.2.2

• Fixed Python in examples
• PEP8 Compliance by Christopher Bilger
• Fixed critical issue with pypi download (#15)

0.2.1

• Expanded readme descriptions

0.2.0

• select_multiple
• Tweaks to the readme

0.1.1

• Fixed pypi download not working

0.1.0

• caption_indices option by dherrada

0.0.7

• Windows support by Lhitrom

0.0.x

• Initial upload and got everything working

Contributing

If you want to contribute, please feel free to suggest features or implement them yourself.

Also please report any issues and bugs you might find!

If you have a project that uses cutie please let me know and I'll link it here!

Authors

• Main project by me.
• Unittests, issues and advice by provinzkraut.
• Windows support by Lhitrom.
• caption_indices and tidbits by dherrada.
• PEP8 Compliance by Christopher Bilger.

License

The project is licensed under the MIT-License.

Acknowledgments

• This project uses the module Readchar for direct input handling.

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GNU Terry Pratchett