promptly

Simple command line prompting utility.

Installation

$ npm install promptly

API

.prompt(message, [options])

Prompts for a value, printing the message and waiting for the input.
Returns a promise that resolves with the input.

Available options:

The same options are available to all functions but with different default values.

Examples

• Ask for a name:

  const name = await promptly.prompt('Name: ');
   
  console.log(name);

• Ask for a name with a constraint (non-empty value and length > 2):

  const validator = function (value) {
      if (value.length < 2) {
          throw new Error('Min length of 2');
      }
   
      return value;
  };
   
  const name = await promptly.prompt('Name: ', { validator });
   
  // Since retry is true by default, promptly will keep asking for a name until it is valid
  // Between each prompt, the error message from the validator will be printed
  console.log('Name is:', value);

• Same as above but do not retry automatically:

  var validator = function (value) {
      if (value.length < 2) {
          throw new Error('Min length of 2');
      }
   
      return value;
  };
   
  try {
      const name = await promptly.prompt('Name: ', { validator, retry: false });
   
      console.log('Name is:', value);
  } catch (err) {
      console.error('Invalid name:')
      console.error(`- ${err.message}`);
  }

Validators

The validators have two purposes: to check and transform input.

(value) => {
    // Validation example, throwing an error when invalid
    if (value.length !== 2) {
        throw new Error('Length must be 2');
    }
 
    // Parse the value, modifying it
    return value.replace('aa', 'bb');
}

.confirm(message, [options])

Ask the user for confirmation, printing the message and waiting for the input.
Returns a promise that resolves with the answer.

Truthy values are: y, yes and 1. Falsy values are n, no, and 0.
Comparison is made in a case insensitive way.

The options are the same as prompt, except that trim defaults to false.

Examples

• Ask to confirm something important:

  const answer = await promptly.confirm('Are you really sure? ');
   
  console.log('Answer:', answer);

.choose(message, choices, [options])

Ask the user to choose between multiple choices (array of choices), printing the message and waiting for the input.
Returns a promise that resolves with the choice.

The options are the same as prompt, except that trim defaults to false.

Examples

• Ask to choose between:

  const choice = await promptly.choose('Do you want an apple or an orange? ', ['apple', 'orange']);
   
  console.log('Choice:', choice);

.password(message, [options])

Prompts for a password, printing the message and waiting for the input.
Returns a promise that resolves with the password.

The options are the same as prompt, except that trim and silent default to false and default is an empty string (to allow empty passwords).

Examples

• Ask for a password:

  const password = await promptly.password('Type a password: ');
   
  console.log('Password:', password);

• Ask for a password but mask the input with *:

  const password = await promptly.password('Type a password: ', { replace: '*' });
   
  console.log('Password:', password);

Tests

$ npm test
$ npm test -- --watch during development

License

Released under the MIT License.