opt_select_ncurses

Ncurses-based GUI selector utility

And a simple app to show ncurses-based UI to select from multiple choices.

Author: Shyju N (n.shyju@gmail.com)

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Syntax

opt_select_ncurses [in_file=<input_file>] [out_file=<output_file>] [multi_select=yes] [default=<value>] [from_pipe=yes/no] [udp_dbg_port=<udp_dbg_server_port>] [-h  for help]

Option	feature
in_file	The input options are read from this file
out_file	The selected data will be written to this file
multi_select	Whether its multi-select
default	Default selected value/idx
from_pipe	If the input is from a pipe
udp_dbg_port	UDP port where dbg info to be sent out. Use nc -k -l -u -p <PORT> to listen to debug msgs
-h	Show help

Installation

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1. One-line install (recommended)

Just copy & paste:

wget -qO- https://shyjun.github.io/opt_select_ncurses-apt/install.sh | sudo bash

This will:

• Add the APT repository

• Update package lists

• Install the latest version of opt-select-ncurses

• Set up shell scripts and PATH

2. Add APT repository manually and install

If you prefer adding the repo manually:

echo "deb [trusted=yes] https://shyjun.github.io/opt_select_ncurses-apt/apt ./" \
    | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opt-select-ncurses.list

Update:

sudo apt update

Install:

sudo apt install opt-select-ncurses

3. Install directly from .deb file

Download the .deb from:

https://shyjun.github.io/opt_select_ncurses-apt/apt/opt_select_ncurses_1.0-1_amd64.deb

Then install:

sudo dpkg -i opt_select_ncurses_1.0-1_amd64.deb
sudo apt --fix-broken install

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Verify installation

Check the binary:

which opt_select_ncurses

Check version/help:

opt_select_ncurses --help

Installed File Locations

After installation, files are placed in standard Linux paths:

Binary

/usr/bin/opt_select_ncurses

Library

/usr/lib/libopt_select_ncurses.a

Header

/usr/include/opt_select_ncurses/opt_select_ncurses_lib.h

Scripts (added to PATH automatically)

These helper scripts are globally available:

cdloc
cdopt
fops
gcb
grepopt
gsvi
llopt
output_sel
vif

Actual location of scripts:

/usr/share/opt_select_ncurses/scripts/

Installation location of full Source Tree (installed for development/rebuild)

/usr/share/opt_select_ncurses/
├── inc
│   └── opt_select_ncurses_lib.h
├── libopt_select_ncurses.a
├── Makefile
├── options.txt
├── README.md
├── scripts
│   ├── cdloc
│   ├── cdopt
│   ├── fops
│   ├── gcb
│   ├── grepopt
│   ├── gsvi
│   ├── llopt
│   ├── output_sel.sh
│   └── vif
└── src
    ├── main.c
    ├── opt_select_ncurses_lib.c
    ├── test_app.c
    └── udp_dbg_client.c

Rebuilding (optional)

You can rebuild from the installed source tree:

cd /usr/share/opt_select_ncurses
make
sudo make install

HOW-TO

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Write the multi options to <input_file> and pass it as first argument to opt_select_ncurses. First line should be the caption, something like: "Please select from below" or so, (which is excluded from the list of items)

The tool gives ncurses based UI to choose from selections, and once done, it writes the selected item to <output_file>

Other option is to pass the input from pipe like this:

echo -e  "select\none\ntwo\nthree\nfour\nfive\nsix" | opt_select_ncurses from_pipe=yes default=3 multi_select=yes

Dependency

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This tool depends on ncurses to create the GUI like window. Please instlal ncurses using the command

sudo apt-get install libncurses-dev
sudo apt-get install ncurses-dev
sudo apt install libncurses5-dev libncursesw5-dev

Key bindings

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Normal Mode:

Key	Operation
UP	Previous option
CTRL+p	Previous option
DOWN	Next option
CTRL+n	Next option
CTRL+d	4 options down
CTRL+u	4 options up
PAGE_DOWN	8 options down
PAGE_UP	8 options up
Esc	Exit the app
CTRL+c	Exit the app
Enter	Done selecting. return
Space	Select the current option (in multi select mode)

Grep Mode(searching):

Key	Operation
CTRL+p	Previous option
CTRL+n	Next option
Esc	Exit Grep mode and switch to normal mode
CTRL+c	Exit the app
Enter	Done selecting. return
Space	Select the current option (in multi select mode)

How to Build

make

How to test

make test

How to integrate it with simple bash script

#!/bin/bash

temp_filename=$(mktemp)
echo "Please choose an option" >> $temp_filename

echo "option1" >> $temp_filename
echo "option2" >> $temp_filename
echo "option3" >> $temp_filename
echo "option4" >> $temp_filename
echo "option5" >> $temp_filename
echo "new_option6" >> $temp_filename
echo "new_new_option7" >> $temp_filename
echo "again_new_option8" >> $temp_filename
./opt_select_ncurses in_file=$temp_filename out_file=$temp_filename multi_select=yes
return_value=$?
# check if opt_select_ncurses returned non-zero
if [ $return_value -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "opt_select_ncurses returned exit code: $return_value"
    rm -rf $temp_filename
    exit
fi

selected=`cat $temp_filename | sed 's/\,/ /g'`
rm -rf $temp_filename
echo "Selected option is"
echo $selected
echo

How to integrate it with simple bash script, which selects the git branch

#!/bin/bash

# Generate a random temp_filename
temp_filename=$(mktemp)

# Caption of the window
echo "Please choose the branch" > $temp_filename

git branch | sed 's/^\*/ /g' >> $temp_filename

echo

opt_select_ncurses/opt_select_ncurses in_file=$temp_filename out_file=$temp_filename

return_value=$?
# check if opt_select_ncurses returned non-zero
if [ $return_value -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "opt_select_ncurses failed with exit code: $return_value"
    rm -rf $temp_filename
    exit
fi

actual_branch=`cat $temp_filename`
rm -rf $temp_filename

echo "$0: branch: $actual_branch"

git checkout $actual_branch

Screenshot of git branch selector

Screenshots

Multi mode screenshot

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Single mode screenshot