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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.

   1 # ask - a simple command line asker
   2 `ask` is a simple command line tool to get user input. `ask` is less janky than
   3 `read`, more compact than `fzf` and `fzy`, and less bloated than
   4 readline-based tools. `ask` supports most of the typical readline-style line editing
   5 functionality (e.g. arrow keys, backspace, Ctrl-U) and can be used to perform
   6 fuzzy matching or basic user input all on a single line of terminal space. Like
   7 fuzzy find tools, `ask` plays nicely with unix pipelines, but unlike the fuzzy
   8 find tools, `ask` only uses a single line of terminal output, so it's good for
   9 embedding. `ask`'s functionality overlaps with fuzzy finders, but if you want
  10 to see a full list of things you're filtering through, use `fzy` or `fzf`
  11 instead of `ask`.
  12 
  13 ## Usage
  14 Here's a simple program to move a file from the current directory:
  15 
  16     #!/bin/sh
  17     file="`ls | ask "Pick a file: "`"
  18     mv "$file" "`ask "Move $file to: "`"
  19 
  20 `ask` also supports a few other command line options:
  21 
  22 * `ask -y` or `ask --yes` and `ask -n` or `ask --no` will append " [Y/n]" or
  23   " [y/N]" respectively to the prompt, and provide "Y" and "N" as the only
  24   options, and will exit with success or failure accordingly. (e.g. `if ask
  25   --yes "Continue?"; then ...`)
  26 * `ask --quickpick` or `ask -Q` will pick an option automatically without
  27   pressing enter if there is only one valid option.
  28 * `ask --password` or `ask -P` will show a typing indicator without displaying
  29   the typed letters on the screen. (e.g. `password="$(ask -P "Enter your
  30   password: ")"`)
  31 * `ask --history=<name>` will load/save previous `ask` responses in
  32   `$XDG_DATA/ask/<name>.hist` (`~/.local/share/ask/<name>.hist` by default) for
  33   use with up/down arrow keys. Maximum of 1000 entries are stored per log file.
  34 
  35 For the full set of command line options, run `man ./ask.1`.
  36 
  37 ## License
  38 `ask` is released under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.