Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

FreeBSD Manual Pages

  
 
  

home | help
XPROMPT(1)		    General Commands Manual		    XPROMPT(1)

NAME
       xprompt - prompt	a user for input

SYNOPSIS
       xprompt [ X toolkit options ] [-rlen number] [-ibw number]
	       [-grab] [-nograb] [-pfn fontname] [-rfn fontname]
	       [-re] [-nre] [-tf filename] [-w wordchars]
	       [-warp] [-nowarp]
	       -p prompt [-r reply] [-p	prompt [-r reply]] ...

DESCRIPTION
       Xprompt	pops  up  a window containing a	prompt and an optional default
       reply.  If more than one	prompt argument	is given, the cursor-down  key
       and the return key select the next prompt and the cursor-up key selects
       the  previous prompt.  The program exits	normally by typing <ctrl> D or
       pressing	any mouse button inside	the reply area	of  the	 window.   The
       replies	are  printed  to  stdout, one per line.	 Most standard editing
       characters (e.g., Delete, Backspace, <ctrl>  U,	cursor	movement)  are
       available.  These default key bindings may be changed.

       Xprompt	can be aborted by typing <ctrl>	C.  In this case, no output is
       generated and an	exit code of 1 is returned by the program.

       The default is to position the window in	the middle of the  screen  and
       to grab keyboard	input so that the cursor need not be positioned	inside
       the  text  area.	  If  no height	or width geometry is provided, xprompt
       will calculate it based on the length of	the prompt, the	reply  length,
       and the fonts being used.  If a height (or width) is provided it	is in-
       terpreted  in  terms  of	 the  character	height (or width) in the reply
       font.

OPTIONS
       The following command line flags	are recognized:

       -rlen number
	       Specifies the maximum length of the reply.  The default	is  80
	       characters.

       -ibw number
	       Specifies  the border width for the box bounding	the text area.
	       The default is 1.

       -nograb The cursor must be in the text portion of the window for	 input
	       to be accepted.

       -grab   The  cursor  may	 be anywhere but input is directed to the text
	       area.

       -r reply
	       Insert reply into the text area as the default reply.

       -pfn fontname
	       Specifies the font to be	used for the prompt string.

       -rfn fontname
	       Specifies the font to be	used for the reply string.

       -re     After all prompts have been seen, the  return  key  causes  the
	       program to exit normally	(i.e., it becomes a synonym for	<ctrl>
	       D).

       -nre    The return key will not terminate the program.  This is the de-
	       fault.

       -tf filename
	       Specifies a file	containing text	translations, one per line, to
	       override	 the defaults.	Xprompt	recognizes the following func-
	       tions in	addition to those predefined:

	       abort()
		   The program terminates and returns an  exit	status	of  1.
		   The default binding is Ctrl<Key>C.

	       erase-line()
		   Erases   the	  entire   reply.    The  default  binding  is
		   Ctrl<Key>U.

	       erase-word()
		   By default, a word is considered to consist of one or  more
		   alphanumeric	characters.  Non-word characters following the
		   cursor are deleted, then word characters are	deleted	up un-
		   til	the next non-word character or the end of line.	 There
		   is no default binding.

	       finish-prompt()
		   All replies are printed and the program terminates with  an
		   exit	 status	 of  0.	  The default bindings are Ctrl<Key>D,
		   <Btn1Down>, <Btn2Down>, and <Btn3Down>.

	       next-prompt()
		   The next prompt is displayed.  The list of prompts is  cir-
		   cular,  so  the  first  prompt is displayed after the last.
		   The default bindings	are Ctrl<Key>J,	Ctrl<Key>M, <Key>Down,
		   and <Key>Linefeed.

	       next-prompt-or-finish()
		   If all prompts have been seen and returnExit	is TRUE,  fin-
		   ish-prompt()	will be	called otherwise next-prompt() will be
		   called.  The	default	binding	is <Key>Return.

	       previous-prompt()
		   The	previous prompt	is displayed.  The last	prompt is con-
		   sidered to be previous to the first.	 The  default  binding
		   is <Key>Up.
       The resource textTranslations may also be used to specify translations.

       -w wordchars
	       The  string  wordchars  specifies the characters	that make up a
	       word for	the purpose of the erase-word()	function.  The	string
	       is in a format similar to that used by the tar(1) command:

	       a)  A  backslash	followed by 1, 2, or 3 octal digits stands for
		   the ASCII character corresponding to	the octal value.   The
		   value is limited to 8 bits.

	       b)  A  backslash	followed by a non-octal	digit character	stands
		   for the character.

	       c)  Other ASCII characters stand	for themselves.

	       d)  The range of	characters between two	characters,  <c1>  and
		   <c2>, is specified by a sequence of the form	<c1>-<c2> when
		   <c1>	comes before <c2> in the ASCII character set.
       The default is "a-zA-Z0-9".

       -warp   Warp  the cursor	into the text area and return it to its	origi-
	       nal position before exiting.

       -nowarp Don't warp the cursor.  This is the default.

X DEFAULTS
       The standard X toolkit options and resources are	accepted.   For	 exam-
       ple,  the default font can be changed by	the standard -fn fontname flag
       or by the resource XPrompt*Font.	 In addition, the following  resources
       are understood:

       Rlen (class Integer)
	       Specifies the maximum length of the reply.

       insideborderWidth (class	BorderWidth)
	       Specifies the border width for the box bounding the text	area.

       Grab (class Boolean)
	       Specifies whether keyboard input	should be focussed on the text
	       area regardless of where	the cursor is.

       replyFont (class	Font)
	       The font	to use for the reply string, overriding	XPrompt*Font.

       promptFont (class Font)
	       The font	to use for the prompt string, overriding XPrompt*Font.

       returnExit (class Boolean)
	       Specifies  whether  the return key should allow normal termina-
	       tion if all prompts have	been seen.

       textTranslations	(class String)
	       Text widget translations.

       textTranslationFile (class String)
	       The name	of a file containing text widget translations.

       Warp (class Boolean)
	       Warp the	cursor into the	text area.

       wordChars (class	String)
	       The set of character that make up a word	for the	purpose	of the
	       erase-word() function.

NOTE
       If xprompt is invoked from a Bourne shell script,  the  following  hack
       can be used to quickly grab multi-reply output:

	   reply=`xprompt -p "Prompt1" -p "Prompt2" -p "Prompt3"`
	   IFS="
	   "
	   set $reply
	   echo	"First reply is: $1"
	   echo	"Second	reply is: $2"
	   echo	"Third reply is: $3"

EXIT STATUS
       On  normal  completion  0 is returned.  If the program is aborted, 1 is
       returned.

SEE ALSO
       tar(1)

AUTHOR
       Barry Brachman
       brachman@cs.ubc.ca
       Dept. of	Computer Science
       University of British Columbia

       Valuable	suggestions by Rick Morrison and Bob Mende.
       Conversion to X11R5 by Casey Leedom.

BUGS
       The reply is limited to a single	line.  The user	is responsible for en-
       suring that a proper window size	is chosen.

				29 January 1989			    XPROMPT(1)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=xprompt&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+14.3.quarterly>

home | help