terminal-kit

What is terminal-kit?

The terminal-kit npm package provides a comprehensive set of tools for creating rich terminal applications. It offers functionalities for handling terminal input and output, creating interactive user interfaces, and managing terminal capabilities.

What are terminal-kit's main functionalities?

Terminal Output

This feature allows you to output text to the terminal. The code sample demonstrates how to print 'Hello, world!' to the terminal using terminal-kit.

const term = require('terminal-kit').terminal;
term('Hello, world!\n');

Interactive Menus

This feature allows you to create interactive menus. The code sample shows how to create a single-column menu with three options and handle the user's selection.

const term = require('terminal-kit').terminal;
term.singleColumnMenu(['Option 1', 'Option 2', 'Option 3'], function(error, response) {
  term('
').eraseLineAfter.green('You selected: %s
', response.selectedText);
});

Text Input

This feature allows you to capture text input from the user. The code sample demonstrates how to prompt the user to enter their name and then display it.

const term = require('terminal-kit').terminal;
term('Enter your name: ');
term.inputField(function(error, input) {
  term.green('
Your name is: %s
', input);
});

Progress Bars

This feature allows you to create and manage progress bars. The code sample shows how to create a progress bar that updates every 100 milliseconds until it reaches 100%.

const term = require('terminal-kit').terminal;
const ProgressBar = require('terminal-kit').ProgressBar;
const progressBar = new ProgressBar({
  width: 80,
  title: 'Progress',
  eta: true,
  percent: true
});
let progress = 0;
const interval = setInterval(() => {
  progress += 0.01;
  progressBar.update(progress);
  if (progress >= 1) {
    clearInterval(interval);
    term.green('
Done!
');
  }
}, 100);

Other packages similar to terminal-kit

blessed

Blessed is a high-level terminal interface library for node.js. It provides a wide range of widgets and supports complex layouts, making it suitable for creating advanced terminal applications. Compared to terminal-kit, blessed offers more built-in widgets and a more extensive API for layout management.

ink

Ink is a React-like library for building command-line interfaces using React components. It allows you to use the familiar React paradigm to create terminal applications. Compared to terminal-kit, ink leverages the React ecosystem, making it a good choice for developers who are already comfortable with React.

vorpal

Vorpal is a framework for building interactive CLI applications. It provides a command-line interface with built-in support for commands, arguments, and options. Compared to terminal-kit, vorpal focuses more on creating command-line tools rather than rich terminal UIs.

README

Terminal Kit

Terminal utilities for node.js, it supports 'xterm' compatible terminal and the Linux Console. It does not depend on ncurses.

• License: MIT
• Current status: alpha/unstable
• Platform: linux, tested with gnome-terminal, xterm and Linux Console so far

Work in progress, only a rough documentation ATM.

Features

• colors
• styles (bold, underline, italic, and many more)
• string formating
• style mixing
• cursor positionning
• keyboard input
• mouse support
• terminal window title
• event-driven

Quick example

var term = require( 'terminal-kit' ) ;
term( 'Hello world!\n' ) ; // output "Hello world!" normally
term.red( 'red' ) ; // output 'red' in red
term.bold( 'bold' ) ; // output 'bold' in bold

// output 'mixed' using bold, underlined red, exposing style-mixing syntax
term.bold.underline.red( 'mixed' ) ; 

// printf() style formating everywhere: this will output 'My name is Jack, I'm 32.' in green
term.green( "My name is %s, I'm %d.\n" , 'Jack' , 32 ) ;

// Width and height of the terminal
term( 'The terminal size is %dx%d' , term.width , term.height ) ;

// Move the cursor at the upper-left corner
term.moveTo( 1 , 1 ) ;

// We can always pass additionnal arguments that will be displayed...
term.moveTo( 1 , 1 , 'Upper-left corner' ) ;

// ... and formated
term.moveTo( 1 , 1 , "My name is %s, I'm %d.\n" , 'Jack' , 32 ) ;

// ... or even combined with other styles
term.moveTo.cyan( 1 , 1 , "My name is %s, I'm %d.\n" , 'Jack' , 32  ) ;

Short function description

All those functions are chainable, and their arguments can be combined.

Common/Misc

• reset(): full reset the terminal.
• error(): it just set error to true so it will write to STDERR instead of STDOUT
• beep(): emit a beep

Foreground colors

• defaultColor(): back to the default foreground color
• black(): ...
• red(): ...
• green(): ...
• yellow(): dark yellow, most of time brown or orange
• blue(): ...
• magenta(): ...
• cyan(): ...
• white(): ...
• brightBlack(): ...
• brightRed(): ...
• brightGreen(): ...
• brightYellow(): true yellow
• brightBlue(): ...
• brightMagenta(): ...
• brightCyan(): ...
• brightWhite(): ...
• color(register): choose between 16 colors using an 0..15 integer
• darkColor(register): choose between 8 regular (dark) colors using an 0..7 integer
• brightColor(register): choose between 8 bright colors using an 0..7 integer

Background colors

• bgDefaultColor(): back to the default background color
• bgBlack(): ...
• bgRed(): ...
• bgGreen(): ...
• bgYellow(): dark yellow, most of time brown or orange
• bgBlue(): ...
• bgMagenta(): ...
• bgCyan(): ...
• bgWhite(): ...
• bgDarkColor(): ...
• bgBrightBlack(): ...
• bgBrightRed(): ...
• bgBrightGreen(): ...
• bgBrightYellow(): true yellow
• bgBrightBlue(): ...
• bgBrightMagenta(): ...
• bgBrightCyan(): ...
• bgColor(register): choose between 16 colors using an 0..15 integer
• bgBrightWhite(): choose between 8 regular (dark) colors using an 0..7 integer
• bgBrightColor(): choose between 8 bright colors using an 0..7 integer

Styles

• styleReset(): reset all styles and go back to default colors without
• bold(): bold text
• dim(): faint color
• italic(): italic
• underline(): underline
• blink(): blink text, not widely supported
• inverse(): foreground and background color
• hidden(): invisible, but can be copy/paste'd
• strike(): strike through

Cursors

• saveCursor(): save cursor position
• restoreCursor(): restore a previously saved cursor position
• up(n): move the cursor 'n' chars up
• down(n): move the cursor 'n' chars down
• right(n): move the cursor 'n' chars right
• left(n): move the cursor 'n' chars left
• moveTo(x,y): move the cursor to the (x,y) coordinate (1,1 is the upper-left corner)
• move(x,y): relative move of the cursor

Editing

• clear(): clear the screen and move the cursor to the upper-left corner
• eraseDisplayBelow(): erase everything below the cursor
• eraseDisplayAbove(): erase everything above the cursor
• eraseDisplay(): erase everything
• eraseLineAfter(): erase current line after the cursor
• eraseLineBefore(): erase current line before the cursor
• eraseLine(): erase current line
• alternateScreenBuffer(boolean): this set/unset the alternate screen buffer, many terminal do not support it or inhibit it

Input/Output

• requestCursorLocation(): request the cursor location, a 'terminal' event will be fired when available
• requestScreenSize(): request for screen size, a 'terminal' event will be fired when available (rarely useful, most of time this event is fired on resize)
• applicationKeypad(): should allow keypad to send different code than 0..9 keys, not widely supported

Internal input/output (do not use directly, use grabInput() instead)

• mouseButton(): ask the terminal to send event when a mouse button is pressed, with the mouse cursor position
• mouseDrag(): ask the terminal to send event when a mouse button is pressed and when draging, with the mouse cursor position
• mouseMotion(): ask the terminal to send all mouse event, even mouse motion that occurs without buttons
• mouseSGR(): another mouse protocol that extend coordinate mapping (without it, it supports only 223 rows and columns)
• focusEvent(): ask the terminal to send event when it gains and loses focus, not widely supported

OS functions (not widely supported)

• windowTitle(): set the title of an xterm-compatible window

Input management with grabInput()

• grabInput(options): turn input grabbing on, keyboard entry will not be echoed, every input will generate an event

Quick example:

var term = require( '../lib/terminal.js' ) ;

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 ( matches.indexOf( 'CTRL_C' ) >= 0 ) { 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 ) ;
} ) ;