pick

pick is a small python library to help you create interactive selection list in the terminal.

Basic	Multiselect

Installation

$ pip install pick

Optional: `blessed` backend

pick uses the curses backend by default. If you prefer using blessed, install the optional extra:

$ pip install "pick[blessed]"

Then pass backend="blessed" to pick(...).

Usage

pick comes with a simple api:

>>> from pick import pick

>>> title = 'Please choose your favorite programming language: '
>>> options = ['Java', 'JavaScript', 'Python', 'PHP', 'C++', 'Erlang', 'Haskell']
>>> option, index = pick(options, title)
>>> print(option)
>>> print(index)

outputs:

>>> C++
>>> 4

pick multiselect example:

>>> from pick import pick

>>> title = 'Please choose your favorite programming language (press SPACE to mark, ENTER to continue): '
>>> options = ['Java', 'JavaScript', 'Python', 'PHP', 'C++', 'Erlang', 'Haskell']
>>> selected = pick(options, title, multiselect=True, min_selection_count=1)
>>> print(selected)

outputs:

>>> [('Java', 0), ('C++', 4)]

Options

options: a list of options to choose from
title: (optional) a title above options list
indicator: (optional) custom the selection indicator, defaults to *
default_index: (optional) set this if the default selected option is not the first one
multiselect: (optional), if set to True its possible to select multiple items by hitting SPACE
min_selection_count: (optional) for multi select feature to dictate a minimum of selected items before continuing
screen: (optional), if you are using pick within an existing curses application set this to your existing screen object. It is assumed this has initialised in the standard way (e.g. via curses.wrapper(), or curses.noecho(); curses.cbreak(); screen.kepad(True))
position: (optional), if you are using pick within an existing curses application use this to set the first position to write to. e.g., position=pick.Position(y=1, x=1)
quit_keys: (optional), if you want to quit early, you can pass a key codes. If the corresponding key are pressed, it will quit the menu.
backend: (optional), the rendering backend to use. Accepts "curses" (default), "blessed" (requires pip install pick[blessed]), or a custom Backend instance.

Community Projects

pickpack: A fork of pick to select tree data.

Metadata

Release files for pick 2.6.0

For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.

Source distribution (sdist)

Source distribution for pick 2.6.0
File	Size	Uploaded
pick-2.6.0.tar.gz	6.3 kB	Feb 28, 2026	Details

Built distribution (wheel)

Table of built distributions (wheels) for pick 2.6.0
File	Interpreter	ABI	Platform	Reset
pick-2.6.0-py3-none-any.whl 7.9 kB Feb 28, 2026	Python 3	none	any	Details

Total release size: 14.2 kB

Release files / pick-2.6.0.tar.gz

Download URL	pick-2.6.0.tar.gz
Size	6.3 kB
Tags	Source
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`f24434a845ae9265ebf7657fc224b9a203ac75aa576b568e061484a72e27be82`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`b6f9450cc44b21190d99b86df3e59f7573d85f3ef2c4f7670ce4f65cb2def3b4`
Upload date	Feb 28, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/6.2.0 CPython/3.14.2`

Release files / pick-2.6.0-py3-none-any.whl

Download URL	pick-2.6.0-py3-none-any.whl
Size	7.9 kB
Tags	Python 3
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`2acd5cad09be96398fba3b8be89454929de7b05362e01c69d94a05801820871f`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`a593704982e09f3481d2055cf8ef7372445dc8ea6c883daf60f0816deb9e362c`
Upload date	Feb 28, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/6.2.0 CPython/3.14.2`