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 DIALOG(1)              $Date: 2017/01/31 00:00:07 $               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 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):
           buildlist, calendar, checklist, dselect, editbox, form, fselect,
           gauge, infobox, inputbox, inputmenu, menu, mixedform, mixedgauge,
           msgbox (message), passwordbox, passwordform, pause, prgbox,
           programbox, progressbox, radiolist, rangebox, tailbox, tailboxbg,
           textbox, timebox, treeview, 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
          nonzero, 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 chang-
      ing this: "--output-fd", "--stderr" and "--stdout".  No text is  writ-
      ten 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
      command-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
      using 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



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      Blanks not within double-quotes  are  discarded  (use  backslashes  to
      quote  single  characters).   The result is inserted into the command-
      line, replacing "--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
      Most of the common options are reset before processing each widget.

      --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









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           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 at-
           tributes:

           +   0 through 7 are the ANSI color numbers used in curses: black,
               red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan and white respective-
               ly.

           +   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 follow-
               ing text bold (perhaps 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.





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      --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 dialog.

           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.

      --date-format format
           If the host provides strftime, this option allows you to  specify
           the  format  of  the date printed for the --calendar widget.  The
           time of day (hour, minute, second) are the current local time.

      --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  op-
           tions  overrides  this,  making  the  default button always "Yes"
           (internally the same as "OK").

      --default-button string
           Set the default (preselected) button in a widget.  By  preselect-
           ing  a  button, a script makes it possible for the user to simply
           press Enter to proceed through a dialog with minimum interaction.

           The option's value is the name of the button:  ok,  yes,  cancel,
           no, help or extra.

           Normally the first button in each widget  is  the  default.   The
           first  button shown is determined by the widget together with the
           "--nook" and "--nocancel options.  If this option is  not  given,
           there is no default button assigned.

      --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.



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

      --help
           Prints the help message to the standard output  and  exits.   The
           help  message  is  also printed if no options are given, or if an
           unrecognized option is given.

      --help-button
           Show a help-button after "OK"  and  "Cancel"  buttons,  i.e.,  in
           checklist, radiolist and menu boxes.

           On exit, the return status will indicate that the Help button was
           pressed.   Dialog  will  also write a message to its output after
           the token "HELP":

           +   If "--item-help" is also given, the item-help  text  will  be
               written.

           +   Otherwise, the item's tag (the first field) will be written.



            You  can   use   the   --help-tags   option   and/or   set   the
           DIALOG_ITEM_HELP  environment  variable  to modify these messages
           and exit-status.

      --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  pro-
           cessing the help request.

      --help-tags
           Modify the messages written on exit for --help-button  by  making
           them  always  just the item's tag.  This does not affect the exit
           status code.

      --hfile filename
           Display the given file using a textbox when the user presses F1.

      --hline string
           Display the given string centered at the bottom of the widget.

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



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           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.

      --iso-week
           Set the starting point for  the  week-number  shown  in  the  "--
           calendar"  option  according  to ISO-8601, which starts numbering
           with the first week which includes a Thursday in January.

      --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
           When built with ncurses, dialog normally checks to see if  it  is
           running  in an xterm, and in that case tries to suppress the ini-
           tialization 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 connected
           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 widg-
           ets.  That causes them to be repainted in reverse order.  See the
           discussion of the "--clear" option for examples.

      --last-key
           At exit, report the last key which the user entered.  This is the
           curses  key  code  rather than a symbol or literal character.  It
           can be used by scripts to distinguish between two keys which  are
           bound to the same action.

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



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           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 message
           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-items
           Some widgets (checklist, inputmenu, radiolist,  menu)  display  a
           list  with two columns (a "tag" and "item", i.e., "description").
           This option tells dialog  to  read  shorter  rows,  omitting  the
           "item"  part  of the list.  This is occasionally useful, e.g., if
           the tags provide enough information.

           See also --no-tags.  If both options are given, this one  is  ig-
           nored.

      --no-kill
           Tells dialog to put the tailboxbg box in the background, printing
           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-mouse
           Do not enable the mouse.

      --no-nl-expand
           Do not convert "\n" substrings of the  message/prompt  text  into
           literal newlines.

      --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.



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

      --no-tags
           Some widgets (checklist, inputmenu, radiolist,  menu)  display  a
           list  with  two  columns (a "tag" and "description").  The tag is
           useful for scripting, but may not help the user.   The  --no-tags
           option  (from Xdialog) may be used to suppress the column of tags
           from the display.  Unlike the --no-items option,  this  does  not
           affect the data which is read from the script.

           Xdialog does  not  display  the  tag  column  for  the  analogous
           buildlist and treeview widgets; dialog does the same.

           Normally dialog allows you to quickly  move  to  entries  on  the
           displayed list, by matching a single character to the first char-
           acter of the tag.  When the --no-tags  option  is  given,  dialog
           matches  against  the first character of the description.  In ei-
           ther case, the matchable character is highlighted.

      --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 writ-
           ten there, depending on your script.

      --separator string

      --output-separatorstring
           Specify a string that will separate the output on dialog's output
           from checklists, rather than a newline (for --separate-output) or
           a space.  This applies to other widgets such as forms  and  edit-
           boxes 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.  It does not cause dialog to exit
           by itself.

      --quoted
           Normally dialog quotes the strings  returned  by  checklist's  as



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           well  as the item-help text.  Use this option to quote all string
           results.

      --reorder
           By default, the buildlist widget uses the same order for the out-
           put  (right)  list  as  for the input (left).  Use this option to
           tell dialog to use the order in which a user adds  selections  to
           the output list.

      --scrollbar
           For widgets holding a scrollable set of data, draw a scrollbar on
           its right-margin.  This does not respond to the mouse.

      --separate-output
           For certain  widgets  (buildlist,  checklist,  treeview),  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 output
           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 op-
           tion is not set, dialog uses double quotes around each item.   In
           either case, dialog adds 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



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           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 ren-
           dered according to the curses library's interpretation.   The  --
           no-collapse option disables tab expansion.

      --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.

      --time-format format
           If the host provides strftime, this option allows you to  specify
           the  format  of  the  time printed for the --timebox widget.  The
           day, month, year values in this case are for  the  current  local
           time.

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

           This option is ignored by the "--pause" widget.  It is also over-
           ridden  if  the  background "--tailboxbg" option is used to setup
           multiple concurrent widgets.

      --title title
           Specifies a title string to be displayed at the top of the dialog
           box.

      --trace filename
           logs the command-line parameters, keystrokes and  other  informa-
           tion  to the given file.  If dialog reads a configure file, it is
           logged as well.  Piped input to the gauge widget is logged.   Use
           control/T to log a picture of the current dialog window.

      --week-start day
           sets the starting day for the week, used in the "--calendar"  op-
           tion.  The day parameter can be

           +   a number (0 to 6, Sunday through Saturday using POSIX) or

           +   the special value "locale" (this  works  with  systems  using
               glibc,  providing  an  extension  to  the locale command, the
               first_weekday value).




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           +   a string matching one of the abbreviations for the day of the
               week shown in the calendar widget, e.g., "Mo" for "Monday".

      The dialog program handles some command-line parameters specially, and
      removes them from the parameter list as they are processed.  For exam-
      ple, if the first option is --trace, then that is processed  (and  re-
      moved) before dialog initializes the display.

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

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

      --version
           Prints dialog's version to the standard output, and  exits.   See
           also "--print-version".

      --visit-items
           Modify the tab-traversal of checklist, radiolist, menubox and in-
           putmenu  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.

      --buildlist text height width list-height [ tag item status ] ...
           A buildlist dialog displays two lists, side-by-side.  The list on
           the  left  shows  unselected  items.  The list on the right shows
           selected items.  As items are selected or unselected,  they  move
           between the lists.

           Use a carriage return or the "OK" button to  accept  the  current
           value  in  the selected-window and exit.  The results are written



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           using the order displayed in the selected-window.

           The initial on/off state of each entry is specified by status.

           The dialog behaves like a menu, using the --visit-items  to  con-
           trol whether the cursor is allowed to visit the lists directly.

           +   If --visit-items is not given, tab-traversal uses two  states
               (OK/Cancel).

           +   If --visit-items is given,  tab-traversal  uses  four  states
               (Left/Right/OK/Cancel).

           Whether or not --visit-items is given, it is possible to move the
           highlight  between  the  two  lists  using the default "^" (left-
           column) and "$" (right-column) keys.

           On exit, a list of the tag strings  of  those  entries  that  are
           turned on will be printed on dialog's output.

           If the "--separate-output" option is not given, the strings  will
           be  quoted  as  needed  to make it simple for scripts to separate
           them.  By default, this uses double-quotes.  See  the  "--single-
           quoted" option, which modifies the quoting behavior.

      --calendar text height width day month year
           A calendar box displays month, day and year in  separately  adju-
           stable 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.   The
           format can be overridden using the --date-format option.

      --checklist text height width list-height [ tag item status ] ...
           A checklist box is similar to a menu box; there are multiple  en-
           tries  presented  in  the  form of a menu.  Another difference is
           that you can indicate which entry is currently selected, by  set-
           ting  its  status to on.  Instead of choosing one entry among the
           entries, each entry can be turned on or off by the user.  The in-
           itial on/off state of each entry is specified 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 "--separate-output" option is not given, the strings  will
           be  quoted  as  needed  to make it simple for scripts to separate



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           them.  By default, this uses double-quotes.  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 win-
           dow 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
           current selection.  Use the space-bar to copy the current  selec-
           tion into the text-entry window.

           Typing any printable characters switches focus to the  text-entry
           window, entering that character as well as scrolling the directo-
           ry 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 er-
           rors.   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  al-
               tered,  and  the  negated  value  of  flen  is  used  as  the



                                   - 13 -       Formatted:  December 7, 2024






 DIALOG(1)              $Date: 2017/01/31 00:00:07 $               DIALOG(1)




               displayed-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  written
           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 direc-
           tory  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 directo-
           ry 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  in-
           teger  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.





                                   - 14 -       Formatted:  December 7, 2024






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

           On exit, no text is written to dialog's output.  The  widget  ac-
           cepts 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.   An  OK  exit
           status is returned.

      --inputbox text height width [init]
           An input box is useful when you want to ask  questions  that  re-
           quire  the user to input a string as the answer.  If init is sup-
           plied it is used to initialize the input string.   When  entering
           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
               dialog'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 en-
           try represents.  The user can move between the  menu  entries  by



                                   - 15 -       Formatted:  December 7, 2024






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           pressing  the  cursor keys, the first letter of the tag as a hot-
           key, or the number keys 1 through 9.  There are  menu-height  en-
           tries  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
           dialog's  output.   If  the  "--help-button" option is given, the
           corresponding 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  ac-
           cepts 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 re-



                                   - 16 -       Formatted:  December 7, 2024






 DIALOG(1)              $Date: 2017/01/31 00:00:07 $               DIALOG(1)




           turned.

      --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.

      --prgbox text command height width

      --prgbox command height width
           A prgbox is very similar to a programbox.

           This dialog box is used to display the output of a  command  that
           is specified as an argument to prgbox.

           After the command completes, the user can press the ENTER key  so
           that  dialog  will exit and the calling shell script can continue
           its operation.

           If three parameters are given, it displays the text under the ti-
           tle,  delineated from the scrolling file's contents.  If only two
           parameters are given, this text is omitted.

      --programbox text height width

      --programbox height width
           A programbox is very similar to a progressbox.  The only  differ-
           ence  between  a program box and a progress box is that a program
           box displays an OK button (but only after the command completes).

           This dialog box is used to display the piped output of a command.
           After  the command completes, the user can press the ENTER key so
           that dialog will exit and the calling shell script  can  continue



                                   - 17 -       Formatted:  December 7, 2024






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           its operation.

           If three parameters are given, it displays the text under the ti-
           tle,  delineated from the scrolling file's contents.  If only two
           parameters are given, this text is omitted.

      --progressbox text height width

      --progressbox height width
           A progressbox is similar to an tailbox, except that

           a) rather than displaying the contents of a file,
              it displays the piped output of a command and

           b) it will exit when it reaches the end of the file
              (there is no "OK" button).

           If three parameters are given, it displays the text under the ti-
           tle,  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 set-
           ting its status to on.

           On exit, the tag of the selected item is written to dialog's out-
           put.

      --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 re-
           turned.

      --rangebox text height width min-value max-value default-value
           Allow the user to select from a range of values,  e.g.,  using  a
           slider.   The  dialog  shows the current value as a bar (like the
           gauge dialog).  Tabs or arrow keys move the  cursor  between  the
           buttons  and the value.  When the cursor is on the value, you can
           edit it by:

           left/right cursor movement to select a digit to modify

           +/-  characters to increment/decrement the digit by one

           0 through 9
                to set the digit to the given value



                                   - 18 -       Formatted:  December 7, 2024






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           Some keys are also recognized in all cursor positions:

           home/end
                set the value to its maximum or minimum

           pageup/pagedown
                increment the value so that the slider moves by one column

      --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 re-
           turned.

           NOTE: Older versions of dialog forked immediately  and  attempted
           to update the screen individually.  Besides being bad for perfor-
           mance, it was unworkable.  Some older scripts may not work  prop-
           erly with the polled scheme.

      --textbox file height width
           A text box lets you display the contents of a text file in a dia-
           log  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, and 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 re-
           turned.





                                   - 19 -       Formatted:  December 7, 2024






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      --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 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 tab or backtab to move between  win-
           dows.

           On exit, the result is printed in  the  form  hour:minute:second.
           The format can be overridden using the --time-format option.

      --treeview text height width list-height [ tag item status depth ] ...
           Display data organized as a tree.  Each group of data contains  a
           tag, the text to display for the item, its status ("on" or "off")
           and the depth of the item in the tree.

           Only one item can be selected (like the radiolist).  The  tag  is
           not displayed.

           On exit, the tag of the selected item is written to dialog's out-
           put.

      --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 button
           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
           status 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.




                                   - 20 -       Formatted:  December 7, 2024






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 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
      configuration  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 charac-
      ters 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".

    Widget Names
      Some widgets (such as the formbox) have an area where  fields  can  be
      edited.   Those are managed in a subwindow of the widget, and may have
      separate keybindings from the main widget because the  subwindows  are
      registered using a different name.  center tab(/) ; lI lI lI _ _ _ l l
      l   .     Widget/Window    name/Subwindow    Name    calendar/calendar
      checklist/checklist   editbox/editbox/editbox2  form/formbox/formfield
      fselect/fselect/fselect2 inputbox/inputbox/inputbox2 menu/menubox/menu
      msgbox/msgbox  pause/pause progressbox/progressbox radiolist/radiolist
      tailbox/tailbox textbox/textbox/searchbox timebox/timebox  yesno/yesno



                                   - 21 -       Formatted:  December 7, 2024






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      _

      Some widgets are actually other widgets, using  internal  settings  to
      modify  the  behavior.   Those  use the same widget name as the actual
      widget: center tab(/) ;  lI  lI  _  _  l  l  .   Widget/Actual  Widget
      dselect/fselect     infobox/msgbox    inputmenu/menu    mixedform/form
      passwordbox/inputbox       passwordform/form        prgbox/progressbox
      programbox/progressbox tailboxbg/tailbox _

    Built-in Bindings
      This manual page does not list the key bindings for each  widget,  be-
      cause that detailed information can be obtained by running dialog.  If
      you have set the --trace option, dialog writes the key-binding  infor-
      mation for each widget as it is registered.

    Example
      Normally dialog uses different keys for navigating between the buttons
      and  editing  part  of  a  dialog versus navigating within the editing
      part.  That is, tab (and back-tab) traverse buttons (or  between  but-
      tons  and  the  editing part), while arrow keys traverse fields within
      the editing part.  Tabs are also recognized  as  a  special  case  for
      traversing  between widgets, e.g., when using multiple tailboxbg widg-
      ets.

      Some users may wish to use the same  key  for  traversing  within  the
      editing  part  as  for traversing between buttons.  The form widget is
      written to support this sort of redefinition of the keys, by adding  a
      special  group in dlgk_keys.h for "form" (left/right/next/prev).  Here
      is an example binding demonstrating how to do this:

             bindkey formfield TAB  form_NEXT
             bindkey formbox   TAB  form_NEXT
             bindkey formfield BTAB form_prev
             bindkey formbox   BTAB form_prev

      That type of redefinition would not be useful in other widgets,  e.g.,
      calendar, due to the potentially large number of fields to traverse.

 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
                     dialog's state after the reset.  As in the "--file" op-
                     tion, 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).





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      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  "--
                     stdout" 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.
      The  default  values  and corresponding environment variables that can
      override them are:

      0    if the YES or OK button is pressed (DIALOG_OK).

      1    if the No or Cancel button is pressed (DIALOG_CANCEL).

      2    if the Help button is pressed (DIALOG_HELP),
           except as noted below about DIALOG_ITEM_HELP.

      3    if the Extra button is pressed (DIALOG_EXTRA).

      4    if the Help button is pressed,
           and the --item-help option is set
           and the DIALOG_ITEM_HELP environment variable is set to 4.




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           While any of the exit-codes can be overridden  using  environment
           variables,  this  special case was introduced in 2004 to simplify
           compatibility.  Dialog uses DIALOG_ITEM_HELP(4)  internally,  but
           unless  the  environment variable is also set, it changes that to
           DIALOG_HELP(2) on exit.

      -1   if errors occur inside dialog (DIALOG_ERROR) or dialog exits  be-
           cause the ESC key (DIALOG_ESC) was pressed.

 PORTABILITY
      Dialog works with X/Open curses.  However, some  implementations  have
      deficiencies:

         +   HPUX curses (and perhaps others) do not open the terminal prop-
             erly  for  the newterm function.  This interferes with dialog's
             --input-fd option, by preventing cursor-keys and similar escape
             sequences from being recognized.

         +   NetBSD 5.1 curses has incomplete support  for  wide-characters.
             dialog will build, but not all examples display properly.

 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:
           tab(/) ; lI lI _ _ l  l.   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:
           tab(/) ; lI lI _ _ l l.   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.   There are some differences not shown in the manpage.  For exam-
      ple, the html documentation states

           Note: former Xdialog releases used the  "\n"  (line  feed)  as  a
           results separator for the checklist widget; this has been changed



                                   - 24 -       Formatted:  December 7, 2024






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           to "/" in Xdialog v1.5.0 to make it  compatible  with  (c)dialog.
           In  your  old  scripts using the Xdialog checklist, you will then
           have to add the --separate-output option before  the  --checklist
           one.

      Dialog has not used a different separator; the difference  was  likely
      due to confusion regarding some script.

    WHIPTAIL
      Then there is whiptail.  For practical purposes, it is  maintained  by
      Debian (very little work is done by its upstream developers).  Its do-
      cumentation (README.whiptail) 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 environments 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 757 KB.  The com-
      parable number for dialog (counting ncurses) is 520 KB.  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 original mid-1990s dialog 0.4 program.

      whiptail's manpage borrows features from dialog, e.g., but oddly cites
      only  dialog versions up to 0.4 (1994) as a source.  That is, its man-
      page refers to features which were borrowed from more recent  versions
      of dialog, e.g.,

      +   --gauge (from 0.5)

      +   --passwordbox (from Debian changes in 1999),

      +   --default-item (from dialog 2000/02/22),

      +   --output-fd (from dialog 2002/08/14).

      Somewhat humorously, 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).



                                   - 25 -       Formatted:  December 7, 2024






 DIALOG(1)              $Date: 2017/01/31 00:00:07 $               DIALOG(1)




      Debian uses whiptail for the official dialog variation.

      The dialog program ignores or maps these options which are  recognized
      by whiptail:
           tab(/) ; lI lI _ _ l l.  Option/Treatment  --cancel-button/mapped
           to   --cancel-label   --fb/ignored   --fullbutton/ignored   --no-
           button/mapped to --no-label --nocancel/mapped to  --no-cancel  --
           noitem/mapped  to  --no-items  --notags/mapped to --no-tags --ok-
           button/mapped to --ok-label  --scrolltext/mapped  to  --scrollbar
           --topleft/mapped  to  --begin  0  0 --yes-button/mapped to --yes-
           label _
      There are visual differences which are not addressed  by  command-line
      options:

      +   dialog centers lists within the window.  whiptail  typically  puts
          lists against the left margin.

      +   whiptail uses angle brackets ("<" and ">")  for  marking  buttons.
          dialog uses square brackets.

      +   whiptail marks the limits of subtitles with vertical bars.  dialog
          does not mark the limits.

      +   whiptail attempts to mark the top/bottom cells of a scrollbar with
          up/down arrows.  When it cannot do this, it fills those cells with
          the background color of the scrollbar and confusing the user.  di-
          alog uses the entire scrollbar space, thereby getting better reso-
          lution.

 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"




                                   - 26 -       Formatted:  December 7, 2024