cli-input-validator

Small, reusable helpers for validating interactive command-line input in Python. The package repeatedly prompts until the user enters a valid value, while letting you control the validation rules, error messages, and input function.

Installation

pip install cli-input-validator

Quick start

Prompt until a user enters one of the allowed choices:

from cli_input_validator import get_valid_choice

answer = get_valid_choice(["yes", "no"], "Continue? ")

get_valid_choice() is case-insensitive by default, so YES, Yes, and yes are all accepted. It returns the value exactly as the user entered it.

Custom validators

A validator receives the user's input and returns a tuple containing:

• A Boolean indicating whether the input is valid.
• An error message to use as the next prompt when the input is invalid.

Use the exported VALID result for successful validation:

from cli_input_validator import VALID, get_validated_input


def positive_number(value):
    if value.isdigit() and int(value) > 0:
        return VALID
    return False, "Enter a positive whole number: "


get_positive_number = get_validated_input(positive_number)
number = get_positive_number("Number: ")

If the user enters zero, the validator's error message becomes the next prompt. Validation continues until the validator returns (True, None). The accepted value is returned as a string.

Each validator controls its own error message, so different rules can provide specific guidance:

def username_validator(value):
    if len(value) < 3:
        return False, "Username must contain at least 3 characters: "
    if not value.isalnum():
        return False, "Username must contain only letters and numbers: "
    return True, None

Custom input functions

By default, prompts are read with Python's built-in input(). You can pass any callable that accepts a prompt and returns a string. For example, use getpass.getpass when the entered value should not be displayed:

from getpass import getpass

from cli_input_validator import VALID, get_validated_input


def password_validator(value):
    if len(value) >= 8:
        return VALID
    return False, "Password must contain at least 8 characters: "


password = get_validated_input(
    password_validator,
    input_function=getpass,
)("Password: ")

Third-party prompt functions work the same way. For example, after installing maskpass, its masked askpass() function can be supplied directly:

from maskpass import askpass

from cli_input_validator import get_validated_input

password = get_validated_input(
    password_validator,
    input_function=askpass,
)("Password: ")

maskpass is optional and is not installed with cli-input-validator.

Valid choices

get_valid_choice() accepts any iterable of strings and generates its own error prompt from the available choices:

from cli_input_validator import get_valid_choice

difficulty = get_valid_choice(
    ["easy", "medium", "hard"],
    "Difficulty: ",
)

Matching is case-insensitive by default. Set case_sensitive=True when letter case is significant:

confirmation = get_valid_choice(
    ["YES", "NO"],
    "Type YES or NO: ",
    case_sensitive=True,
)

A custom input function can also be supplied:

answer = get_valid_choice(
    ["yes", "no"],
    "Continue? ",
    input_function=my_prompt_function,
)

Passing an empty collection of choices raises ValueError.

Valid names

get_valid_name() prompts until the user enters a non-empty name containing only letters, spaces, or hyphens:

from cli_input_validator import get_valid_name

name = get_valid_name("Name: ")

It also accepts a custom input function:

name = get_valid_name("Name: ", input_function=my_prompt_function)

Use name_validator() directly when you need to validate a value without prompting:

from cli_input_validator import name_validator

valid, error = name_validator("Anne-Marie")

To use different name rules or a custom error message, create your own validator and pass it to get_validated_input().

API overview

• get_validated_input(is_valid=None, input_function=None) creates a reusable prompting function from a validator.
• get_valid_choice(choices, prompt="", case_sensitive=False, input_function=None) prompts for one of a collection of values.
• get_valid_name(prompt, input_function=None) prompts for a supported name.
• name_validator(name) validates a name without prompting.
• VALID is the convenience result (True, None).

Development

python -m pip install -e ".[test]"
pytest