promptpy

A Python command-line input and validation library.

promptpy prompts for and validates a range of different data types on the command line. Out of the box it supports limited character sets, integers, floats, dates, yes/no, choices, lists, passwords and single-character commands:

from promptpy import Prompt

prompt = Prompt()
choice = prompt.integer("Pick a number", min=1, max=10, default=7)
# Prompt is displayed as:
# Pick a number (1-10) [7]:

The user will be reprompted with context-specific error messages until a valid integer is entered.

It is easy to add other types of prompt and validation by creating custom validators.

For more detail see the documentation.

Installation

Requires Python 3.12 or later.

(.venv) $ pip install promptpy

Examples

Options

from promptpy import Prompt

prompt = Prompt()
options = {
    's': 'to solve',
    'p': 'to play',
    'q': 'to quit',
}
choice = prompt.options(options, default='s')
# Prompt is displayed as:
# Enter S to solve, P to play, Q to quit [S]:

Yes/No

from promptpy import Prompt

prompt = Prompt()
choice = prompt.yes_no("Again", default="y")
# Prompt is displayed as:
# Again (Y/N)? [Y]:

Date

import datetime
from promptpy import Prompt

prompt = Prompt()
date = prompt.date('Enter a date (dd/mm/yyyy)', '%d/%m/%Y', default=datetime.date(2024, 1, 1))
# Prompt is displayed as:
# Enter a date (dd/mm/yyyy) [01/01/2024]:

Password

from promptpy import Prompt
from promptpy.validators import PasswordRulesValidator

prompt = Prompt()
password = prompt.password(
    toggle_visibility=True,
    confirm=True,
    validators=[PasswordRulesValidator(min_length=12, digit=True)],
)
# Prompt is displayed as:
# Enter password (V to toggle visibility):

Commands

Single-letter commands are accepted in place of the main input and returned as upper-case strings, so check the type of the result:

from promptpy import Prompt

prompt = Prompt()
value = prompt.integer("Pick a number", min=1, max=10, commands="q")
# Prompt is displayed as:
# Pick a number (1-10):
if value == "Q":
    print("Goodbye")

See the Usage section of the documentation for a full list of methods, or the prompt module for details of methods and parameters.