Class: Interface
#
Added in: v0.1.104
Instances of the readline.Interface
class are constructed using the
readline.createInterface()
method. Every instance is associated with a
single input
Readable stream and a single output
Writable stream.
The output
stream is used to print prompts for user input that arrives on,
and is read from, the input
stream.
Event: 'close'
#
Added in: v0.1.98
The 'close'
event is emitted when one of the following occur:
- The
rl.close()
method is called and the readline.Interface
instance has
relinquished control over the input
and output
streams;
- The
input
stream receives its 'end'
event;
- The
input
stream receives Ctrl+D to signal
end-of-transmission (EOT);
- The
input
stream receives Ctrl+C to signal SIGINT
and there is no 'SIGINT'
event listener registered on the
readline.Interface
instance.
The listener function is called without passing any arguments.
The readline.Interface
instance is finished once the 'close'
event is
emitted.
Event: 'line'
#
Added in: v0.1.98
The 'line'
event is emitted whenever the input
stream receives an
end-of-line input (\n
, \r
, or \r\n
). This usually occurs when the user
presses Enter or Return.
The 'line'
event is also emitted if new data has been read from a stream and
that stream ends without a final end-of-line marker.
The listener function is called with a string containing the single line of
received input.
rl.on('line', (input) => {
console.log(`Received: ${input}`);
});
Event: 'history'
#
Added in: v15.8.0
The 'history'
event is emitted whenever the history array has changed.
The listener function is called with an array containing the history array.
It will reflect all changes, added lines and removed lines due to
historySize
and removeHistoryDuplicates
.
The primary purpose is to allow a listener to persist the history.
It is also possible for the listener to change the history object. This
could be useful to prevent certain lines to be added to the history, like
a password.
rl.on('history', (history) => {
console.log(`Received: ${history}`);
});
Event: 'pause'
#
Added in: v0.7.5
The 'pause'
event is emitted when one of the following occur:
- The
input
stream is paused.
- The
input
stream is not paused and receives the 'SIGCONT'
event. (See
events 'SIGTSTP'
and 'SIGCONT'
.)
The listener function is called without passing any arguments.
rl.on('pause', () => {
console.log('Readline paused.');
});
Event: 'resume'
#
Added in: v0.7.5
The 'resume'
event is emitted whenever the input
stream is resumed.
The listener function is called without passing any arguments.
rl.on('resume', () => {
console.log('Readline resumed.');
});
Event: 'SIGCONT'
#
Added in: v0.7.5
The 'SIGCONT'
event is emitted when a Node.js process previously moved into
the background using Ctrl+Z (i.e. SIGTSTP
) is then
brought back to the foreground using fg(1p)
.
If the input
stream was paused before the SIGTSTP
request, this event will
not be emitted.
The listener function is invoked without passing any arguments.
rl.on('SIGCONT', () => {
rl.prompt();
});
The 'SIGCONT'
event is not supported on Windows.
Event: 'SIGINT'
#
Added in: v0.3.0
The 'SIGINT'
event is emitted whenever the input
stream receives
a Ctrl+C input, known typically as SIGINT
. If there are no
'SIGINT'
event listeners registered when the input
stream receives a
SIGINT
, the 'pause'
event will be emitted.
The listener function is invoked without passing any arguments.
rl.on('SIGINT', () => {
rl.question('Are you sure you want to exit? ', (answer) => {
if (answer.match(/^y(es)?$/i)) rl.pause();
});
});
Event: 'SIGTSTP'
#
Added in: v0.7.5
The 'SIGTSTP'
event is emitted when the input
stream receives
a Ctrl+Z input, typically known as SIGTSTP
. If there are
no 'SIGTSTP'
event listeners registered when the input
stream receives a
SIGTSTP
, the Node.js process will be sent to the background.
When the program is resumed using fg(1p)
, the 'pause'
and 'SIGCONT'
events
will be emitted. These can be used to resume the input
stream.
The 'pause'
and 'SIGCONT'
events will not be emitted if the input
was
paused before the process was sent to the background.
The listener function is invoked without passing any arguments.
rl.on('SIGTSTP', () => {
console.log('Caught SIGTSTP.');
});
The 'SIGTSTP'
event is not supported on Windows.
rl.close()
#
Added in: v0.1.98
The rl.close()
method closes the readline.Interface
instance and
relinquishes control over the input
and output
streams. When called,
the 'close'
event will be emitted.
Calling rl.close()
does not immediately stop other events (including 'line'
)
from being emitted by the readline.Interface
instance.
rl.pause()
#
Added in: v0.3.4
The rl.pause()
method pauses the input
stream, allowing it to be resumed
later if necessary.
Calling rl.pause()
does not immediately pause other events (including
'line'
) from being emitted by the readline.Interface
instance.
rl.prompt([preserveCursor])
#
Added in: v0.1.98
preserveCursor
<boolean> If true
, prevents the cursor placement from
being reset to 0
.
The rl.prompt()
method writes the readline.Interface
instances configured
prompt
to a new line in output
in order to provide a user with a new
location at which to provide input.
When called, rl.prompt()
will resume the input
stream if it has been
paused.
If the readline.Interface
was created with output
set to null
or
undefined
the prompt is not written.
rl.question(query[, options], callback)
#
Added in: v0.3.3
query
<string> A statement or query to write to output
, prepended to the
prompt.
options
<Object>
signal
<AbortSignal> Optionally allows the question()
to be canceled
using an AbortController
.
callback
<Function> A callback function that is invoked with the user's
input in response to the query
.
The rl.question()
method displays the query
by writing it to the output
,
waits for user input to be provided on input
, then invokes the callback
function passing the provided input as the first argument.
When called, rl.question()
will resume the input
stream if it has been
paused.
If the readline.Interface
was created with output
set to null
or
undefined
the query
is not written.
The callback
function passed to rl.question()
does not follow the typical
pattern of accepting an Error
object or null
as the first argument.
The callback
is called with the provided answer as the only argument.
Example usage:
rl.question('What is your favorite food? ', (answer) => {
console.log(`Oh, so your favorite food is ${answer}`);
});
Using an AbortController
to cancel a question.
const ac = new AbortController();
const signal = ac.signal;
rl.question('What is your favorite food? ', { signal }, (answer) => {
console.log(`Oh, so your favorite food is ${answer}`);
});
signal.addEventListener('abort', () => {
console.log('The food question timed out');
}, { once: true });
setTimeout(() => ac.abort(), 10000);
If this method is invoked as it's util.promisify()ed version, it returns a
Promise that fulfills with the answer. If the question is canceled using
an AbortController
it will reject with an AbortError
.
const util = require('node:util');
const question = util.promisify(rl.question).bind(rl);
async function questionExample() {
try {
const answer = await question('What is you favorite food? ');
console.log(`Oh, so your favorite food is ${answer}`);
} catch (err) {
console.error('Question rejected', err);
}
}
questionExample();
rl.resume()
#
Added in: v0.3.4
The rl.resume()
method resumes the input
stream if it has been paused.
rl.setPrompt(prompt)
#
Added in: v0.1.98
The rl.setPrompt()
method sets the prompt that will be written to output
whenever rl.prompt()
is called.
rl.getPrompt()
#
Added in: v15.3.0
- Returns: <string> the current prompt string
The rl.getPrompt()
method returns the current prompt used by rl.prompt()
.
rl.write(data[, key])
#
Added in: v0.1.98
The rl.write()
method will write either data
or a key sequence identified
by key
to the output
. The key
argument is supported only if output
is
a TTY text terminal. See TTY keybindings for a list of key
combinations.
If key
is specified, data
is ignored.
When called, rl.write()
will resume the input
stream if it has been
paused.
If the readline.Interface
was created with output
set to null
or
undefined
the data
and key
are not written.
rl.write('Delete this!');
rl.write(null, { ctrl: true, name: 'u' });
The rl.write()
method will write the data to the readline
Interface
's
input
as if it were provided by the user.
rl[Symbol.asyncIterator]()
#
Create an AsyncIterator
object that iterates through each line in the input
stream as a string. This method allows asynchronous iteration of
readline.Interface
objects through for await...of
loops.
Errors in the input stream are not forwarded.
If the loop is terminated with break
, throw
, or return
,
rl.close()
will be called. In other words, iterating over a
readline.Interface
will always consume the input stream fully.
Performance is not on par with the traditional 'line'
event API. Use 'line'
instead for performance-sensitive applications.
async function processLineByLine() {
const rl = readline.createInterface({
});
for await (const line of rl) {
}
}
readline.createInterface()
will start to consume the input stream once
invoked. Having asynchronous operations between interface creation and
asynchronous iteration may result in missed lines.
rl.line
#
The current input data being processed by node.
This can be used when collecting input from a TTY stream to retrieve the
current value that has been processed thus far, prior to the line
event
being emitted. Once the line
event has been emitted, this property will
be an empty string.
Be aware that modifying the value during the instance runtime may have
unintended consequences if rl.cursor
is not also controlled.
If not using a TTY stream for input, use the 'line'
event.
One possible use case would be as follows:
const values = ['lorem ipsum', 'dolor sit amet'];
const rl = readline.createInterface(process.stdin);
const showResults = debounce(() => {
console.log(
'\n',
values.filter((val) => val.startsWith(rl.line)).join(' ')
);
}, 300);
process.stdin.on('keypress', (c, k) => {
showResults();
});
rl.cursor
#
Added in: v0.1.98
The cursor position relative to rl.line
.
This will track where the current cursor lands in the input string, when
reading input from a TTY stream. The position of cursor determines the
portion of the input string that will be modified as input is processed,
as well as the column where the terminal caret will be rendered.
rl.getCursorPos()
#
Added in: v13.5.0, v12.16.0
- Returns: <Object>
rows
<number> the row of the prompt the cursor currently lands on
cols
<number> the screen column the cursor currently lands on
Returns the real position of the cursor in relation to the input
prompt + string. Long input (wrapping) strings, as well as multiple
line prompts are included in the calculations.