ask - a simple command line asker

ask is a simple command line tool to get user input. ask is less janky than read, more compact than fzf and fzy, and less bloated than readline-based tools. ask supports most of the typical readline-style line editing functionality (e.g. arrow keys, backspace, Ctrl-U) and can be used to perform fuzzy matching or basic user input all on a single line of terminal space. Like fuzzy find tools, ask plays nicely with unix pipelines, but unlike the fuzzy find tools, ask only uses a single line of terminal output, so it’s good for embedding. ask’s functionality overlaps with fuzzy finders, but if you want to see a full list of things you’re filtering through, use fzy or fzf instead of ask.

Usage

Here’s a simple program to move a file from the current directory:

#!/bin/sh
file="`ls | ask "Pick a file: "`"
mv "$file" "`ask "Move $file to: "`"

ask also supports a few other command line options:

ask -y or ask --yes and ask -n or ask --no will append “ [Y/n]” or “ [y/N]” respectively to the prompt, and provide “Y” and “N” as the only options, and will exit with success or failure accordingly. (e.g. if ask --yes "Continue?"; then ...)
ask --quickpick or ask -Q will pick an option automatically without pressing enter if there is only one valid option.
ask --password or ask -P will show a typing indicator without displaying the typed letters on the screen. (e.g. password="$(ask -P "Enter your password: ")")
ask --history=<name> will load/save previous ask responses in $XDG_DATA/ask/<name>.hist (~/.local/share/ask/<name>.hist by default) for use with up/down arrow keys. Maximum of 1000 entries are stored per log file.

For the full set of command line options, run man ./ask.1.

License

ask is released under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.