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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, form, fselect,  gauge,  infobox,  inputbox,
	      inputmenu,  menu,	 msgbox (message), password, pause, 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
	    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 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
       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
       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 com‐
       mand-line resumes from that point.

   Common Options
       --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  following
						      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 cumula‐
						      tive,   e.g.,   "\Zb\Z1"
						      makes the following text
						      bold   (perhaps  bright)
						      red.    Restore	normal
						      settings with "\Zn".

					       --cr-wrap
						      Interpret	 embedded new‐
						      lines in the dialog text
						      as   a  newline  on  the
						      screen.  Otherwise, dia‐
						      log will only wrap lines
						      where  needed   to   fit
						      inside   the  text  box.
						      Even though you can con‐
						      trol  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-col‐
						      lapse"	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	speci‐
						      fied by file.

					       --defaultno
						      Make  the	 default value
						      of the yes/no box a  No.
						      Likewise,	   make	   the
						      default button  of  wid‐
						      gets  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 "Can‐
						      cel" buttons.

					       --extra-label string
						      Override the label  used
						      for   "Extra"   buttons.
						      Note: for inputmenu wid‐
						      gets,  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"  but‐
						      tons,  i.e.,  in	check‐
						      list, 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 out‐
						      put  after   the	 token
						      "HELP".	Otherwise, the
						      return status will indi‐
						      cate  that the Help but‐
						      ton 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 dia‐
						      log 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 descrip‐
						      tor.     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 dia‐
						      log 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  wid‐
						      get  friendlier but less
						      secure,	 by    echoing
						      asterisks for each char‐
						      acter.

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

					       --keep-window
						      Normally	 when	dialog
						      performs	several	 tail‐
						      boxbg  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
						      widgets.	 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 message boxes, etc.
						      Use this option to  dis‐
						      able 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, printing its
						      process id  to  dialog's
						      output.	SIGHUP is dis‐
						      abled for the background
						      process.

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

					       --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  mes‐
						      sages  may also be writ‐
						      ten there, depending  on
						      your script.

					       --print-maxsize
						      Print  the  maximum size
						      of dialog	 boxes,	 i.e.,
						      the screen size, to dia‐
						      log'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 quot‐
						      ing.   This  facilitates
						      parsing  by another pro‐
						      gram.

					       --separator string

					       --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 sepa‐
						      rator  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, print‐
						      ing 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 dia‐
						      log 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 Xdia‐
						      log, 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 dis‐
						      play.   Depending on the
						      platform and your	 envi‐
						      ronment, that may fail.

					       --tab-correct
						      Convert each tab charac‐
						      ter to one or more  spa‐
						      ces.    Otherwise,  tabs
						      are  rendered  according
						      to  the curses library's
						      interpretation.

					       --tab-len n
						      Specify  the  number  of
						      spaces  that a tab char‐
						      acter  occupies  if  the
						      "--tab-correct"	option
						      is given.	  The  default
						      is 8.

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

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

					       --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-ver‐
						      sion".

					       --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, abbrevi‐
						      ations apply to the but‐
						      tons.

					       --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.

       --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  file-selection dialog displays a text-entry window in which
	      you can type a filename (or directory), and above that two  win‐
	      dows 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.

	      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 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.

       --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.

	      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 (status OK) or
	      the user presses the Exit button (status CANCEL).

       --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.

       --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.

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.

BUGS
       Perhaps.

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

CONTRIBUTORS
       Tobias C. Rittweiler

       Valery Reznic - the form widget.

       Yura Kalinichenko adapted the guage 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: 2005/10/30 20:12:00 $					     DIALOG(1)
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