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DIALOG(1)							     DIALOG(1)

NAME
       dialog - display dialog boxes from shell scripts

SYNOPSIS
       dialog --clear
       dialog --create-rc file
       dialog --print-maxsize
       dialog common-options box-options

DESCRIPTION
       Dialog is a program that will let you to present a variety of questions
       or display messages using dialog boxes  from  a	shell  script.	 These
       types  of  dialog boxes are implemented (though not all are necessarily
       compiled into dialog):

	      calendar, checklist, dselect, editbox, form, fselect, gauge,
	      infobox, inputbox, inputmenu, menu, mixedform, mixedgauge,
	      msgbox (message), passwordbox, passwordform, pause, progressbox,
	      radiolist, tailbox, tailboxbg, textbox, timebox, and yesno
	      (yes/no).

       You can put more than one dialog box into a script:

       -    Use the "--and-widget" token to force Dialog  to  proceed  to  the
	    next dialog unless you have pressed ESC to cancel, or

       -    Simply  add	 the  tokens  for the next dialog box, making a chain.
	    Dialog stops chaining when the return code from a dialog is nonze‐
	    ro, e.g., Cancel or No (see DIAGNOSTICS).

       Some  widgets,  e.g.,  checklist,  will	write text to dialog's output.
       Normally that is the standard error, but there are options for changing
       this:  "--output-fd", "--stderr" and "--stdout".	 No text is written if
       the Cancel button (or ESC) is pressed; dialog exits immediately in that
       case.

OPTIONS
       All  options  begin  with  "--"	(two ASCII hyphens, for the benefit of
       those using systems with deranged locale support).

       A "--" by itself is used as an escape, i.e., the next token on the com‐
       mand-line is not treated as an option.
	      dialog --title -- --Not an option

       The "--args" option tells dialog to list the command-line parameters to
       the standard error.  This is useful when debugging complex scripts  us‐
       ing  the	 "--" and "--file", since the command-line may be rewritten as
       these are expanded.

       The "--file" option tells dialog to read parameters from the file named
       as its value.
	      dialog --file parameterfile
       Blanks not within double-quotes are discarded (use backslashes to quote
       single characters).  The result is inserted into the command-line,  re‐
       placing	"--file" and its option value.	Interpretation of the command-
       line resumes from that point.  If parameterfile begins with "&", dialog
       interprets the following text as a file descriptor number rather than a
       filename.

   Common Options
       --ascii-lines
	      Rather than draw graphics lines around boxes, draw ASCII "+" and
	      "-" in the same place.  See also "--no-lines".

       --aspect ratio
	      This  gives  you some control over the box dimensions when using
	      auto sizing (specifying 0 for height and width).	It  represents
	      width / height.  The default is 9, which means 9 characters wide
	      to every 1 line high.

       --backtitle backtitle
	      Specifies a backtitle string to be displayed on the backdrop, at
	      the top of the screen.

       --begin y x
	      Specify the position of the upper left corner of a dialog box on
	      the screen.

       --cancel-label string
	      Override the label used for "Cancel" buttons.

       --clear
	      Clears the widget screen, keeping only  the  screen_color	 back‐
	      ground.	Use  this when you combine widgets with "--and-widget"
	      to erase the contents of a previous widget on the screen, so  it
	      won't  be seen under the contents of a following widget.	Under‐
	      stand this as the complement of "--keep-window".	To compare the
	      effects, use these:

	      All three widgets visible, staircase effect, ordered 1,2,3:
	      dialog			     --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
		  --and-widget		     --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
		  --and-widget		     --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0

	      Only the last widget is left visible:
	      dialog	       --clear	     --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
		  --and-widget --clear	     --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
		  --and-widget		     --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0

	      All three widgets visible, staircase effect, ordered 3,2,1:
	      dialog	       --keep-window --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
		  --and-widget --keep-window --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
		  --and-widget		     --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0

	      First and third widget visible, staircase effect, ordered 3,1:
	      dialog	       --keep-window --begin 2 2 --yesno "" 0 0 \
		  --and-widget --clear	     --begin 4 4 --yesno "" 0 0 \
		  --and-widget		     --begin 6 6 --yesno "" 0 0

	      Note,  if	 you  want to restore original console colors and send
	      your cursor home after the dialog program has  exited,  use  the
	      clear (1) command.

       --colors
	      Interpret embedded "\Z" sequences in the dialog text by the fol‐
	      lowing character, which tells dialog  to	set  colors  or	 video
	      attributes: 0 through 7 are the ANSI used in curses: black, red,
	      green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan and white respectively.  Bold
	      is  set  by  'b', reset by 'B'.  Reverse is set by 'r', reset by
	      'R'.  Underline is set by 'u', reset by 'U'.  The	 settings  are
	      cumulative,  e.g.,  "\Zb\Z1" makes the following text bold (per‐
	      haps bright) red.	 Restore normal settings with "\Zn".

       --column-separator string
	      Tell dialog to split data for radio/checkboxes and menus on  the
	      occurrences  of  the  given  string, and to align the split data
	      into columns.

       --cr-wrap
	      Interpret embedded newlines in the dialog text as a  newline  on
	      the screen.  Otherwise, dialog will only wrap lines where needed
	      to fit inside the text box.  Even though you  can	 control  line
	      breaks  with this, dialog will still wrap any lines that are too
	      long for the width of the box.  Without cr-wrap, the  layout  of
	      your  text  may  be formatted to look nice in the source code of
	      your script without affecting the way it will look in  the  dia‐
	      log.

	      See also the "--no-collapse" and "--trim" options.

       --create-rc file
	      When dialog supports run-time configuration, this can be used to
	      dump a sample configuration file to the file specified by file.

       --defaultno
	      Make the default value of the yes/no box a No.   Likewise,  make
	      the  default  button of widgets that provide "OK" and "Cancel" a
	      Cancel.  If "--nocancel"	or  "--visit-items"  are  given	 those
	      options  overrides  this, making the default button always "Yes"
	      (internally the same as "OK").

       --default-item string
	      Set the default item in a checklist, form or menu box.  Normally
	      the first item in the box is the default.

       --exit-label string
	      Override the label used for "EXIT" buttons.

       --extra-button
	      Show an extra button, between "OK" and "Cancel" buttons.

       --extra-label string
	      Override	the  label used for "Extra" buttons.  Note: for input‐
	      menu widgets, this defaults to "Rename".

       --help Prints the help message to dialog's output.  The help message is
	      printed if no options are given.

       --help-button
	      Show  a  help-button  after  "OK" and "Cancel" buttons, i.e., in
	      checklist, radiolist and menu boxes.  If "--item-help"  is  also
	      given,  on  exit	the  return status will be the same as for the
	      "OK" button, and the item-help text will be written to  dialog's
	      output  after  the  token	 "HELP".  Otherwise, the return status
	      will indicate that the Help button was pressed, and  no  message
	      printed.

       --help-label string
	      Override the label used for "Help" buttons.

       --help-status
	      If  the help-button is selected, writes the checklist, radiolist
	      or form information  after  the  item-help  "HELP"  information.
	      This  can	 be used to reconstruct the state of a checklist after
	      processing the help request.

       --ignore
	      Ignore options that dialog does not recognize.  Some  well-known
	      ones  such  as "--icon" are ignored anyway, but this is a better
	      choice for compatibility with other implementations.

       --input-fd fd
	      Read keyboard input from the given file descriptor.  Most dialog
	      scripts read from the standard input, but the gauge widget reads
	      a pipe (which is always standard input).	Some configurations do
	      not work properly when dialog tries to reopen the terminal.  Use
	      this option (with appropriate juggling of	 file-descriptors)  if
	      your script must work in that type of environment.

       --insecure
	      Makes the password widget friendlier but less secure, by echoing
	      asterisks for each character.

       --item-help
	      Interpret the tags data for checklist, radiolist and menu	 boxes
	      adding  a	 column	 which	is displayed in the bottom line of the
	      screen, for the currently selected item.

       --keep-tite
	      Normally dialog checks to see if it is running in an xterm,  and
	      in  that	case tries to suppress the initialization strings that
	      would make it switch to the alternate screen.  Switching between
	      the  normal  and	alternate screens is visually distracting in a
	      script which runs dialog several	times.	 Use  this  option  to
	      allow dialog to use those initialization strings.

       --keep-window
	      Normally	when  dialog  performs	several tailboxbg widgets con‐
	      nected by "--and-widget", it clears  the	old  widget  from  the
	      screen  by  painting  over it.  Use this option to suppress that
	      repainting.

	      At exit, dialog repaints all of  the  widgets  which  have  been
	      marked with "--keep-window", even if they are not tailboxbg wid‐
	      gets.  That causes them to be repainted in reverse  order.   See
	      the discussion of the "--clear" option for examples.

       --max-input size
	      Limit  input  strings  to the given size.	 If not specified, the
	      limit is 2048.

       --no-cancel

       --nocancel
	      Suppress the "Cancel" button in checklist, inputbox and menu box
	      modes.   A script can still test if the user pressed the ESC key
	      to cancel to quit.

       --no-collapse
	      Normally dialog converts tabs to	spaces	and  reduces  multiple
	      spaces  to  a single space for text which is displayed in a mes‐
	      sage boxes, etc.	Use this option to disable that feature.  Note
	      that dialog will still wrap text, subject to the "--cr-wrap" and
	      "--trim" options.

       --no-kill
	      Tells dialog to put the tailboxbg box in the background,	print‐
	      ing  its	process id to dialog's output.	SIGHUP is disabled for
	      the background process.

       --no-label string
	      Override the label used for "No" buttons.

       --no-lines
	      Rather than draw lines around boxes, draw	 spaces	 in  the  same
	      place.  See also "--ascii-lines".

       --no-ok

       --nook Suppress	the  "OK"  button  in checklist, inputbox and menu box
	      modes.  A script can still test if the user pressed the  "Enter"
	      key to accept the data.

       --no-shadow
	      Suppress	shadows that would be drawn to the right and bottom of
	      each dialog box.

       --ok-label string
	      Override the label used for "OK" buttons.

       --output-fd fd
	      Direct output to the given file descriptor.  Most dialog scripts
	      write  to	 the  standard	error,	but error messages may also be
	      written there, depending on your script.

       --separator string

       --output-separatorstring
	      Specify a string that will separate the output on dialog's  out‐
	      put  from checklists, rather than a newline (for --separate-out‐
	      put) or a space.	This applies to other widgets  such  as	 forms
	      and editboxes which normally use a newline.

       --print-maxsize
	      Print  the  maximum size of dialog boxes, i.e., the screen size,
	      to dialog's output.  This	 may  be  used	alone,	without	 other
	      options.

       --print-size
	      Prints the size of each dialog box to dialog's output.

       --print-version
	      Prints  dialog's	version	 to dialog's output.  This may be used
	      alone, without other options.

       --separate-output
	      For checklist widgets, output result one line at a time, with no
	      quoting.	This facilitates parsing by another program.

       --separate-widget string
	      Specify  a string that will separate the output on dialog's out‐
	      put from each widget.  This is  used  to	simplify  parsing  the
	      result  of a dialog with several widgets.	 If this option is not
	      given, the default separator string is a tab character.

       --shadow
	      Draw a shadow to the right and bottom of each dialog box.

       --single-quoted
	      Use single-quoting as needed (and no quotes if unneeded) for the
	      output  of  checklist's  as well as the item-help text.  If this
	      option is not set, dialog uses double quotes around  each	 item.
	      That  requires  occasional use of backslashes to make the output
	      useful in shell scripts.

       --size-err
	      Check the resulting size of a dialog box before  trying  to  use
	      it, printing the resulting size if it is larger than the screen.
	      (This  option  is	 obsolete,  since  all	new-window  calls  are
	      checked).

       --sleep secs
	      Sleep (delay) for the given number of seconds after processing a
	      dialog box.

       --stderr
	      Direct output to the standard error.  This is the default, since
	      curses normally writes screen updates to the standard output.

       --stdout
	      Direct  output  to the standard output.  This option is provided
	      for compatibility with Xdialog, however  using  it  in  portable
	      scripts  is  not	recommended,  since curses normally writes its
	      screen updates to the standard output.  If you use this  option,
	      dialog  attempts	to  reopen the terminal so it can write to the
	      display.	Depending on the platform and your  environment,  that
	      may fail.

       --tab-correct
	      Convert  each  tab  character  to	 one  or  more spaces (for the
	      textbox widget; otherwise to a single space).   Otherwise,  tabs
	      are rendered according to the curses library's interpretation.

       --tab-len n
	      Specify  the  number  of spaces that a tab character occupies if
	      the "--tab-correct" option is given.  The default	 is  8.	  This
	      option is only effective for the textbox widget.

       --timeout secs
	      Timeout  (exit  with  error code) if no user response within the
	      given number of seconds.	This is overridden if  the  background
	      "--tailboxbg is used.  A timeout of zero seconds is ignored.

       --title title
	      Specifies	 a title string to be displayed at the top of the dia‐
	      log box.

       --trace filename
	      logs keystrokes to the given file.  Use control/T to log a  pic‐
	      ture of the current dialog window.

       --trim eliminate	 leading  blanks,  trim	 literal newlines and repeated
	      blanks from message text.

	      See also the "--cr-wrap" and "--no-collapse" options.

       --version
	      Same as "--print-version".

       --visit-items
	      Modify the tab-traversal of  checklist,  radiobox,  menubox  and
	      inputmenu	 to  include  the  list of items as one of the states.
	      This is useful as a visual aid, i.e., the cursor position	 helps
	      some users.

	      When this option is given, the cursor is initially placed on the
	      list.  Abbreviations (the first letter of the tag) apply to  the
	      list  items.   If you tab to the button row, abbreviations apply
	      to the buttons.

       --yes-label string
	      Override the label used for "Yes" buttons.

   Box Options
       All dialog boxes have at least three parameters:

       text the caption or contents of the box.

       height
	    the height of the dialog box.

       width
	    the width of the dialog box.

       Other parameters depend on the box type.

       --calendar text height width day month year
	      A calendar box  displays	month,	day  and  year	in  separately
	      adjustable  windows.   If	 the values for day, month or year are
	      missing or negative, the current date's corresponding values are
	      used.   You  can	increment  or decrement any of those using the
	      left-, up-, right- and down-arrows.  Use vi-style h, j, k and  l
	      for  moving  around  the	array  of days in a month.  Use tab or
	      backtab to move between windows.	If the year is given as	 zero,
	      the current date is used as an initial value.

	      On exit, the date is printed in the form day/month/year.

       --checklist text height width list-height [ tag item status ] ...
	      A	 checklist  box	 is  similar to a menu box; there are multiple
	      entries presented in the form of a menu.	 Instead  of  choosing
	      one  entry among the entries, each entry can be turned on or off
	      by the user.  The initial on/off state of each entry  is	speci‐
	      fied by status.

	      On  exit,	 a  list  of the tag strings of those entries that are
	      turned on will be printed on dialog's output.  If	 the  "--sepa‐
	      rate-output"  option is not given, the strings will be quoted to
	      make it simple for scripts to separate them.  See the "--single-
	      quoted" option, which modifies the quoting behavior.

       --dselect filepath height width
	      The  directory-selection	dialog displays a text-entry window in
	      which you can type a directory, and above that  a	 windows  with
	      directory names.

	      Here filepath can be a filepath in which case the directory win‐
	      dow will display the contents of the  path  and  the  text-entry
	      window will contain the preselected directory.

	      Use  tab	or arrow keys to move between the windows.  Within the
	      directory window, use the up/down arrow keys to scroll the  cur‐
	      rent selection.  Use the space-bar to copy the current selection
	      into the text-entry window.

	      Typing any printable characters switches focus to the text-entry
	      window,  entering that character as well as scrolling the direc‐
	      tory window to the closest match.

	      Use a carriage return or the "OK" button to accept  the  current
	      value in the text-entry window and exit.

	      On  exit,	 the  contents of the text-entry window are written to
	      dialog's output.

       --editbox filepath height width
	      The edit-box dialog displays a copy of the file.	You  may  edit
	      it using the backspace, delete and cursor keys to correct typing
	      errors.	It  also  recognizes  pageup/pagedown.	  Unlike   the
	      --inputbox,  you	must  tab  to  the "OK" or "Cancel" buttons to
	      close the dialog.	 Pressing the "Enter" key within the box  will
	      split the corresponding line.

	      On exit, the contents of the edit window are written to dialog's
	      output.

       --form text height width formheight [ label y x item y x flen ilen ] ...
	      The form dialog displays a form consisting of labels and fields,
	      which are positioned on a scrollable window by coordinates given
	      in the script.  The field length flen and input-length ilen tell
	      how  long the field can be.  The former defines the length shown
	      for a selected field, while the latter defines  the  permissible
	      length of the data entered in the field.

	      -	 If  flen  is zero, the corresponding field cannot be altered.
		 and the contents of the field determine the displayed-length.

	      -	 If flen  is  negative,	 the  corresponding  field  cannot  be
		 altered,  and	the  negated value of flen is used as the dis‐
		 played-length.

	      -	 If ilen is zero, it is set to flen.

	      Use up/down arrows (or control/N,	 control/P)  to	 move  between
	      fields.  Use tab to move between windows.

	      On exit, the contents of the form-fields are written to dialog's
	      output, each field separated by a newline.   The	text  used  to
	      fill non-editable fields (flen is zero or negative) is not writ‐
	      ten out.

       --fselect filepath height width
	      The fselect (file-selection) dialog displays a text-entry window
	      in  which you can type a filename (or directory), and above that
	      two windows with directory names and filenames.

	      Here filepath can be a filepath  in  which  case	the  file  and
	      directory	 windows will display the contents of the path and the
	      text-entry window will contain the preselected filename.

	      Use tab or arrow keys to move between the windows.   Within  the
	      directory	 or  filename  windows,	 use the up/down arrow keys to
	      scroll the current selection.  Use the  space-bar	 to  copy  the
	      current selection into the text-entry window.

	      Typing any printable characters switches focus to the text-entry
	      window, entering that character as well as scrolling the	direc‐
	      tory and filename windows to the closest match.

	      Typing the space character forces dialog to complete the current
	      name (up to the point where there may be a  match	 against  more
	      than one entry).

	      Use  a  carriage return or the "OK" button to accept the current
	      value in the text-entry window and exit.

	      On exit, the contents of the text-entry window  are  written  to
	      dialog's output.

       --gauge text height width [percent]
	      A	 gauge	box displays a meter along the bottom of the box.  The
	      meter indicates the percentage.  New percentages are  read  from
	      standard	input,	one integer per line.  The meter is updated to
	      reflect each new percentage.  If the standard  input  reads  the
	      string "XXX", then the first line following is taken as an inte‐
	      ger percentage, then subsequent lines up to  another  "XXX"  are
	      used  for	 a new prompt.	The gauge exits when EOF is reached on
	      the standard input.

	      The percent value denotes the initial percentage	shown  in  the
	      meter.  If not specified, it is zero.

	      On  exit,	 no  text  is  written to dialog's output.  The widget
	      accepts no input, so the exit status is always OK.

       --infobox text height width
	      An info box is basically a message box.  However, in this	 case,
	      dialog will exit immediately after displaying the message to the
	      user.  The screen is not cleared when dialog exits, so that  the
	      message will remain on the screen until the calling shell script
	      clears it later.	This is useful when you	 want  to  inform  the
	      user  that some operations are carrying on that may require some
	      time to finish.

	      On exit, no text is written to dialog's output.	Only  an  "OK"
	      button  is  provided  for	 input,	 but an ESC exit status may be
	      returned.

       --inputbox text height width [init]
	      An input box is useful when  you	want  to  ask  questions  that
	      require  the  user  to input a string as the answer.  If init is
	      supplied it is used to initialize the input string.  When enter‐
	      ing  the	string,	 the  backspace, delete and cursor keys can be
	      used to correct typing errors.  If the input  string  is	longer
	      than  can	 fit  in  the  dialog  box,  the  input	 field will be
	      scrolled.

	      On exit, the input string will be printed on dialog's output.

       --inputmenu text height width menu-height [ tag item ] ...
	      An inputmenu box is very similar to an ordinary menu box.	 There
	      are only a few differences between them:

	      1.  The	entries	  are  not  automatically  centered  but  left
		  adjusted.

	      2.  An extra button (called Rename) is  implied  to  rename  the
		  current item when it is pressed.

	      3.  It  is  possible to rename the current entry by pressing the
		  Rename button.  Then dialog will write the following on dia‐
		  log's output.

		  RENAMED <tag> <item>

       --menu text height width menu-height [ tag item ] ...
	      As  its  name  suggests,	a menu box is a dialog box that can be
	      used to present a list of choices in the form of a menu for  the
	      user to choose.  Choices are displayed in the order given.  Each
	      menu entry consists of a tag string and an item string.  The tag
	      gives  the entry a name to distinguish it from the other entries
	      in the menu.  The item is a short description of the option that
	      the  entry  represents.	The  user  can	move  between the menu
	      entries by pressing the cursor keys, the first letter of the tag
	      as  a  hot-key,  or  the	number keys 1-9. There are menu-height
	      entries displayed in the menu at one time, but the menu will  be
	      scrolled if there are more entries than that.

	      On exit the tag of the chosen menu entry will be printed on dia‐
	      log's output.  If the "--help-button" option is given, the  cor‐
	      responding  help	text  will  be printed if the user selects the
	      help button.

       --mixedform text height width formheight [ label y x item y x flen ilen itype ] ...
	      The mixedform dialog displays a form consisting  of  labels  and
	      fields,  much  like  the	--form dialog.	It differs by adding a
	      field-type parameter to each field's description.	 Each  bit  in
	      the type denotes an attribute of the field:

	      1	   hidden, e.g., a password field.

	      2	   readonly, e.g., a label.

       --mixedgauge text height width percent [ tag1 item1 ] ...
	      A	 mixedgauge  box displays a meter along the bottom of the box.
	      The meter indicates the percentage.

	      It also displays a list of the tag- and item-values at  the  top
	      of the box.  See dialog(3) for the tag values.

	      The  text is shown as a caption between the list and meter.  The
	      percent value denotes the initial percentage shown in the meter.

	      No provision is made for reading data from the standard input as
	      --gauge does.

	      On  exit,	 no  text  is  written to dialog's output.  The widget
	      accepts no input, so the exit status is always OK.

       --msgbox text height width
	      A message box is very similar to a yes/no box.  The only differ‐
	      ence  between  a	message box and a yes/no box is that a message
	      box has only a single OK button.	You can use this dialog box to
	      display  any  message  you like.	After reading the message, the
	      user can press the ENTER key so that dialog will	exit  and  the
	      calling shell script can continue its operation.

	      If  the message is too large for the space, dialog may allow you
	      to scroll it, provided that the underlying curses implementation
	      is  capable  enough.  In this case, a percentage is shown in the
	      base of the widget.

	      On exit, no text is written to dialog's output.	Only  an  "OK"
	      button  is  provided  for	 input,	 but an ESC exit status may be
	      returned.

       --pause text height width seconds
	      A pause box displays a meter along the bottom of the  box.   The
	      meter  indicates	how  many  seconds remain until the end of the
	      pause.  The pause exits when timeout  is	reached	 or  the  user
	      presses the OK button (status OK) or the user presses the CANCEL
	      button or Esc key.

       --passwordbox text height width [init]
	      A password box is similar to an input box, except that the  text
	      the user enters is not displayed.	 This is useful when prompting
	      for passwords or other sensitive information.  Be aware that  if
	      anything is passed in "init", it will be visible in the system's
	      process table to casual snoopers.	 Also, it is very confusing to
	      the  user	 to  provide  them with a default password they cannot
	      see.  For these reasons, using  "init"  is  highly  discouraged.
	      See "--insecure" if you do not care about your password.

	      On exit, the input string will be printed on dialog's output.

       --passwordform text height width formheight [ label y x item y x flen ilen ] ...
	      This  is	identical  to  --form  except that all text fields are
	      treated as password widgets rather than inputbox widgets.

       --progressbox text height width

       --progressbox height width
	      A progressbox is similar to an tailbox, except that it will exit
	      when  it	reaches	 the end of the file.  If three parameters are
	      given, it displays the text under the title, delineated from the
	      scrolling	 file's	 contents.   If only two parameters are given,
	      this text is omitted.

       --radiolist text height width list-height  [ tag item status ] ...
	      A radiolist box is similar to a menu box.	 The  only  difference
	      is  that	you can indicate which entry is currently selected, by
	      setting its status to on.

	      On exit, the name of the selected item is	 written  to  dialog's
	      output.

       --tailbox file height width
	      Display text from a file in a dialog box, as in a "tail -f" com‐
	      mand.  Scroll left/right using vi-style 'h' and 'l',  or	arrow-
	      keys.  A '0' resets the scrolling.

	      On  exit,	 no  text is written to dialog's output.  Only an "OK"
	      button is provided for input, but an  ESC	 exit  status  may  be
	      returned.

       --tailboxbg file height width
	      Display  text  from a file in a dialog box as a background task,
	      as in a "tail -f &" command.  Scroll left/right  using  vi-style
	      'h' and 'l', or arrow-keys.  A '0' resets the scrolling.

	      Dialog  treats  the background task specially if there are other
	      widgets (--and-widget) on the screen concurrently.  Until	 those
	      widgets  are  closed (e.g., an "OK"), dialog will perform all of
	      the tailboxbg widgets in the same process, polling for  updates.
	      You may use a tab to traverse between the widgets on the screen,
	      and close them individually, e.g., by pressing ENTER.  Once  the
	      non-tailboxbg  widgets are closed, dialog forks a copy of itself
	      into the background, and prints its process  id  if  the	"--no-
	      kill" option is given.

	      On  exit, no text is written to dialog's output.	Only an "EXIT"
	      button is provided for input, but an  ESC	 exit  status  may  be
	      returned.

	      NOTE:  Older versions of dialog forked immediately and attempted
	      to update the screen individually.  Besides being bad  for  per‐
	      formance,	 it  was  unworkable.  Some older scripts may not work
	      properly with the polled scheme.

       --textbox file height width
	      A text box lets you display the contents of a  text  file	 in  a
	      dialog box.  It is like a simple text file viewer.  The user can
	      move through the file by using the  cursor,  page-up,  page-down
	      and HOME/END keys available on most keyboards.  If the lines are
	      too long to be displayed in the box, the LEFT/RIGHT keys can  be
	      used  to	scroll the text region horizontally.  You may also use
	      vi-style keys h, j, k, l in place of the cursor keys, and B or N
	      in  place	 of  the  page-up  and page-down keys.	Scroll up/down
	      using vi-style 'k' and 'j', or  arrow-keys.   Scroll  left/right
	      using  vi-style  'h'  and	 'l', or arrow-keys.  A '0' resets the
	      left/right scrolling.  For more  convenience,  vi-style  forward
	      and backward searching functions are also provided.

	      On  exit, no text is written to dialog's output.	Only an "EXIT"
	      button is provided for input, but an  ESC	 exit  status  may  be
	      returned.

       --timebox text height [width hour minute second]
	      A	 dialog	 is  displayed which allows you to select hour, minute
	      and second.  If the values for hour, minute or second are	 miss‐
	      ing  or  negative,  the  current date's corresponding values are
	      used.  You can increment or decrement any	 of  those  using  the
	      left-,  up-, right- and down-arrows.  Use tab or backtab to move
	      between windows.

	      On exit, the result is printed in the form hour:minute:second.

       --yesno text height width
	      A yes/no dialog box of size height rows by width columns will be
	      displayed.  The string specified by text is displayed inside the
	      dialog box.  If this string is too long to fit in one  line,  it
	      will be automatically divided into multiple lines at appropriate
	      places.  The text string can also contain the sub-string "\n" or
	      newline  characters  `\n'	 to  control line breaking explicitly.
	      This dialog box is useful for asking questions that require  the
	      user  to answer either yes or no.	 The dialog box has a Yes but‐
	      ton and a No button, in which the user  can  switch  between  by
	      pressing the TAB key.

	      On  exit, no text is written to dialog's output.	In addition to
	      the "Yes" and "No" exit codes (see DIAGNOSTICS) an ESC exit sta‐
	      tus may be returned.

	      The  codes used for "Yes" and "No" match those used for "OK" and
	      "Cancel", internally no distinction is made.

   Obsolete Options
       --beep This was used to tell the original cdialog that it should make a
	      beep  when  the separate processes of the tailboxbg widget would
	      repaint the screen.

       --beep-after
	      Beep after a user has completed a widget by pressing one of  the
	      buttons.

RUN-TIME CONFIGURATION
       1.  Create a sample configuration file by typing:

		 "dialog --create-rc <file>"

       2.  At start, dialog determines the settings to use as follows:

	   a)  if  environment	variable DIALOGRC is set, its value determines
	       the name of the configuration file.

	   b)  if the file in (a) is not found, use the	 file  $HOME/.dialogrc
	       as the configuration file.

	   c)  if  the	file  in (b) is not found, try using the GLOBALRC file
	       determined at compile-time, i.e., /etc/dialogrc.

	   d)  if the file in (c) is not found, use compiled in defaults.

       3.  Edit the sample configuration file and copy it to some  place  that
	   dialog can find, as stated in step 2 above.

KEY BINDINGS
       You can override or add to key bindings in dialog by adding to the con‐
       figuration file.	 Dialog's bindkey command  maps	 single	 keys  to  its
       internal coding.
       bindkey widget curses_key dialog_key
       The  widget  name can be "*" (all widgets), or specific widgets such as
       textbox.	 Specific widget bindings override the	"*"  bindings.	 User-
       defined bindings override the built-in bindings.

       The  curses_key	can  be	 any of the names derived from curses.h, e.g.,
       "HELP" from "KEY_HELP".	Dialog also recognizes ANSI control characters
       such  as	 "^A",	"^?",  as  well	 as C1-controls such as "~A" and "~?".
       Finally, it allows any single character to be escaped with a backslash.

       Dialog's internal keycode names correspond to the DLG_KEYS_ENUM type in
       dlg_keys.h, e.g., "HELP" from "DLGK_HELP".

ENVIRONMENT
       DIALOGOPTS     Define  this variable to apply any of the common options
		      to each widget.  Most of the common  options  are	 reset
		      before  processing  each widget.	If you set the options
		      in this environment variable, they are applied  to  dia‐
		      log's state after the reset.  As in the "--file" option,
		      double-quotes and backslashes are interpreted.

		      The "--file" option is not considered  a	common	option
		      (so  you	cannot	embed it within this environment vari‐
		      able).

       DIALOGRC	      Define this variable if you want to specify the name  of
		      the configuration file to use.

       DIALOG_CANCEL

       DIALOG_ERROR

       DIALOG_ESC

       DIALOG_EXTRA

       DIALOG_HELP

       DIALOG_ITEM_HELP

       DIALOG_OK      Define any of these variables to change the exit code on
		      Cancel (1), error (-1), ESC (255), Extra (3), Help  (2),
		      Help  with  --item-help  (2), or OK (0).	Normally shell
		      scripts cannot distinguish between -1 and 255.

       DIALOG_TTY     Set this variable to "1" to provide  compatibility  with
		      older  versions  of  dialog  which  assumed  that if the
		      script redirects the standard output, that  the  "--std‐
		      out" option was given.

FILES
       $HOME/.dialogrc	   default configuration file

EXAMPLES
       The  dialog sources contain several samples of how to use the different
       box options and how they look.  Just take a  look  into	the  directory
       samples/ of the source.

DIAGNOSTICS
       Exit  status  is	 subject to being overridden by environment variables.
       Normally they are:

       0    if dialog is exited by pressing the Yes or OK button.

       1    if the No or Cancel button is pressed.

       2    if the Help button is pressed.

       3    if the Extra button is pressed.

       -1   if errors occur inside dialog or dialog is exited by pressing  the
	    ESC key.

COMPATIBILITY
       You may want to write scripts which run with other dialog "clones".

   ORIGINAL DIALOG
       First, there is the "original" dialog program to consider (versions 0.3
       to 0.9).	 It had some misspelled (or inconsistent) options.  The dialog
       program	maps  those  deprecated	 options  to the preferred ones.  They
       include:

	      Option	     Treatment
	      ─────────────────────────────────
	      --beep-after   ignored
	      --guage	     mapped to --gauge

   XDIALOG
       Technically, "Xdialog", this is an X application.  With some  care,  it
       is  possible  to	 write	useful scripts that work with both Xdialog and
       dialog.

       The dialog program ignores these options which are recognized by	 Xdia‐
       log:

	      Option		 Treatment
	      ───────────────────────────────────────────────
	      --allow-close	 ignored
	      --auto-placement	 ignored
	      --fixed-font	 ignored
	      --icon		 ignored
	      --keep-colors	 ignored
	      --no-close	 ignored
	      --no-cr-wrap	 ignored
	      --screen-center	 ignored
	      --separator	 mapped to --separate-output
	      --smooth		 ignored
	      --under-mouse	 ignored
	      --wmclass		 ignored

       Xdialog's  manpage has a section discussing its compatibility with dia‐
       log.

   WHIPTAIL
       Then there is whiptail.	For practical purposes, it  is	maintained  by
       Debian.	Its documentation claims

	      whiptail(1) is a lightweight replacement for dialog(1),
	      to provide dialog boxes for shell scripts. It is built on the
	      newt windowing library rather than the ncurses library, allowing
	      it to be smaller in embedded enviroments such as installers,
	      rescue disks, etc.

	      whiptail is designed to be drop-in compatible with dialog, but
	      has less features: some dialog boxes are not implemented, such
	      as tailbox, timebox, calendarbox, etc.

       Comparing  actual sizes (Debian testing, 2007/1/10): The total of sizes
       for whiptail, the newt, popt and slang libraries is 757kb.  The	compa‐
       rable  number  for  dialog  (counting ncurses) is 520kb.	 Disregard the
       first paragraph.

       The second paragraph is misleading, since whiptail also does  not  work
       for  common options of dialog, such as the gauge box.  whiptail is less
       compatible with dialog than the decade-old original dialog 0.4 program.

       whiptail's manpage borrows features from dialog, e.g.,  --default-item,
       --output-fd,  but  oddly	 cites	only  dialog  versions	up to 0.4 as a
       source.	That is, its manpage refers to features	 which	were  borrowed
       from  more  recent versions of dialog, e.g., the --gauge and --password
       boxes, as well as options such as  -separate-output.   Somewhat	humor‐
       ously, one may note that the popt feature (undocumented in its manpage)
       of using a "--" as an escape was documented in dialog's manpage about a
       year before it was mentioned in whiptail's manpage.  whiptail's manpage
       incorrectly attributes that to getopt (and is inaccurate anyway).

       Debian uses whiptail for the official dialog variation.

       The dialog program ignores or maps these options which  are  recognized
       by whiptail:

	      Option	     Treatment
	      ─────────────────────────────────────
	      --fb	     ignored
	      --fullbutton   ignored
	      --nocancel     mapped to --no-cancel
	      --noitem	     ignored

BUGS
       Perhaps.

AUTHOR
       Thomas E. Dickey (updates for 0.9b and beyond)

CONTRIBUTORS
       Kiran Cherupally - the mixed form and mixed gauge widgets.

       Tobias C. Rittweiler

       Valery Reznic - the form and progressbox widgets.

       Yura Kalinichenko adapted the gauge widget as "pause".

       This  is	 a  rewrite (except as needed to provide compatibility) of the
       earlier version of dialog 0.9a, which lists as authors:

	      Savio Lam - version 0.3, "dialog"

	      Stuart Herbert - patch for version 0.4

	      Marc Ewing - the gauge widget.

	      Pasquale De Marco "Pako" - version 0.9a, "cdialog"

$Date: 2008/07/27 22:49:40 $					     DIALOG(1)
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