syncprompt

A synchronous prompt for node.js


Keywords
synchronous, sync, prompt, cli, stdin, readline, read, get, input, io, line
License
MIT
Install
npm install syncprompt@2.0.0

Documentation

syncprompt

A real sync-prompt solution for node.

What is this?

Python users have always add a simple easy way to grab user-input:

foo = input()

while us JavaScript users are stuck with:

process.stdin.resume()
process.stdin.on('data', function(foo) {
    // ... code
});

but those days are long over! This brings an elegant prompt function to node.


Well they are other sync-prompt libraries? Hardly, here are the two:

  • sync-prompt, not maintained, doesn't even work on most versions of node anymore
  • prompt-sync, very flimsy, doesn't properly handle mixed stdin modes, and lacks proper support for more complex stdin reading. Attempts to mimick terminal inputs with raw-mode but breaks easily

So here's a real solution, one that actually mimicks a getline or input function (uses getline() internally).

Installation

This is easy. Install using:

$ npm install --save syncprompt

Now, in your project, just do:

var prompt = require('syncprompt');

or, if you're using the fancy new import syntax:

import prompt from 'syncprompt';

Usage

Usage couldn't be more simple. Simple do:

var name = prompt("What's your name? ");

Passwords? simply add secure: true and you'll get a real hidden password prompt:

var passwords = prompt("Password? ", { secure: true });

Examples

A full example is the following:

var prompt = require('syncprompt');

var username = prompt("Username: ");
var password = prompt("Password: ", { secure: true });

console.log( "Username: %s\nPassword: %s", username, password );