pmenu

Sleek dmenu alternative written in Python and powered by curses.

pip install pmenu-lib

This package provides both a command-line tool and a Python library for creating interactive terminal menus.

Usage

Library Usage

The pmenu(list_of_options) function displays a menu and returns the selected option as a str, or None if the menu is closed without selecting an option.

from pmenu_lib import pmenu

options = ["Option 1", "Option 2", "Option 3"]
selected_option = pmenu(options)

if selected_option:
    print(f"You selected: {selected_option}")
else:
    print("No option selected")

CLI Usage

After installation, you can use pmenu from the command line:

pmenu "line1\nline2\nline3..."

Or pass multiple arguments:

pmenu "option1" "option2" "option3"

The selected option will be written to /tmp/pmenu (or equivalent temp directory on Windows).

Exit Codes

• 0: Option selected successfully
• 1: Menu closed without selection (ESC pressed)
• 2: Invalid usage (no arguments provided)

Menu Bindings

• Up arrow: Highlight the previous menu entry
• Down arrow: Highlight the next menu entry
• Type to search: Filter options in real-time
• Backspace: Delete search characters
• Enter: Select the highlighted entry
• Esc: Close the menu without selecting

pmenu_fm: A Practical Use Case (Linux)

The pmenu_fm script included in this repository is an example of how pmenu can be integrated into a bash script to implement a simple file selector.

It uses lsd, a modern ls replacement, to get the list of files in the current directory and their associated icons. The list is then passed to pmenu, which displays a menu in the terminal window.

You can highlight a directory with the Up and Down keys, and change to the selected directory or xdg-open the selected file with the Enter key. The menu can be closed with the Esc key.