Module to read input from commandline

[james]

Hi all,

I did some quick searching but I haven't found anything like I want.
It probably has to do with the terms I am searching for so if I
describe what I want then I hope someone can point me to a good
module.

I want to take input from the user at the command line. e.g.)
Would you like to continue [Y/n]: y
What is your favorite color: green
.....

You get the idea. Basic question answer stuff. It should handle
default options, case insensitivity, etc. Perhaps the module would
compare the inputted text against a regexp for validation. If the
module had an interface similar to OptParse that would be nice.

Anyone know of a decent module that handles this type of thing?
Writing from scratch would be simple but why re-invent the wheel.

Cheers,
James.

[thashooski]

What you're looking for is no module, it is included in the standard
python namespace.

raw_input

Use it like this:

value_a = raw_input("Plea se give a value for a: ")
# do your thing to value_a

But this belongs to the real basics, I suggest you get some reading
done on python.

GL

[james]

On Apr 13, 7:44 pm, thashoo...@fari fluset.mailexpi re.com wrote:

What you're looking for is no module, it is included in the standard
python namespace.

raw_input

Use it like this:

value_a = raw_input("Plea se give a value for a: ")
# do your thing to value_a

But this belongs to the real basics, I suggest you get some reading
done on python.

GL

Thanks for the response GL.

What I am looking for is a module to wrap raw_input so it can handle
some of the validation.

e.g.)
response = display_prompt( question, valid_responses ,
default_respons e )

or similar. valid_responses could be a tuple of regexp strings that
would compare against a raw_input and return one in the list. Ideally
I could customize the error message (for responses not in
valid_response) , etc.

I know it isn't rocket science to write it and I have something
already in place. I'd rather use a module built for the purpose now
that I have several scripts that will use the functionality.

Thanks!
James.

FYI: This is what I have so far:

from re import compile

def yes_no(question , default=None):
"""Prompt the user with a yes or no question."""
if default == "y":
question = "".join((questi on, " [Y/n]: "))
elif default == "n":
question = "".join((questi on, " [y/N]: "))
else:
question = "".join((questi on, " [y/n]: "))

valid_answer = "[yn]"
invalid_message = "Answer must be y or n"
answer = prompt(question , valid_answer, invalid_message , default)
return answer == 'y'

def prompt(question , valid_answer, invalid_message , default=None):
"""Prompt the user with a question and validate their response."""
is_valid = False;
compiled_valid_ answers = compile(valid_a nswer)
while not is_valid:
answer = raw_input(quest ion).lower()
if answer == "" and default is not None:
answer = default
is_valid = compiled_valid_ answers.match(a nswer)
if not is_valid:
print invalid_message
return answer

[james]

On Apr 13, 9:05*pm, ja...@reggieban d.com wrote:

On Apr 13, 7:44 pm, thashoo...@fari fluset.mailexpi re.com wrote:

What you're looking for is no module, it is included in the standard
python namespace.

<snip>

raw_input

Thanks for the response GL.

What I am looking for is a module to wrap raw_input so it can handle
some of the validation.

Looks like I found the module after-all:
http://blog.doughellmann.com/2008/05/pymotw-cmd.html
http://docs.python.org/lib/module-cmd.html

The cmd module does what I want and more.

Just wanted to post this in-case someone finds this through a search.

cheers,
James