Bash Script – Request Input via GUI

guinemoshell-scriptuser input

I'm currently writing a nemo action script in bash, and I need a way to get input from the user.

How?, the terminal isn't showing when running an action script.

is there anyway to popup a query window in the GUI to ask the user for input?

Best Answer

Zenity is a good tool for that.

user_input=$(zenity --entry)

That assigns to variable user_input whatever the user types in the GUI window, unless the user presses cancel, in which case the exit code is not zero.

user_input=$(zenity --entry)
if [ $? = 0 ]; then 
    echo "User has pressed OK. The input was:"
    echo "$user_input"
else
    echo "User has pressed cancel"
fi

Gxmessage is an alternative, with very similar syntax.

user_input=$(gxmessage --entry "Enter your input")

More information in man zenity and man gxmessage.

Related Solutions

Shell – How to ask password by GUI prompt while using sudo in script

You can ask password by means of GUI prompt with the help of -A, --askpass options for sudo.

From the sudo manpage:

-A, --askpass
                 Normally, if sudo requires a password, it will read it from the user's terminal.  If the -A
                 (askpass) option is specified, a (possibly graphical) helper program is executed to read the user's
                 password and output the password to the standard output.  If the SUDO_ASKPASS environment variable
                 is set, it specifies the path to the helper program.  Otherwise, if sudo.conf(5) contains a line
                 specifying the askpass program, that value will be used.  For example:

                     # Path to askpass helper program
                     Path askpass /usr/X11R6/bin/ssh-askpass

                 If no askpass program is available, sudo will exit with an error.

So, you can graphical helper program such as ssh-askpass which prompts a user for a pass-phrase using GNOME:

$ which ssh-askpass
/usr/bin/ssh-askpass

So, Add the following line to /etc/sudo.conf:

# Path to askpass helper program
Path askpass /usr/bin/ssh-askpass

And you will find GUI password prompt:

You can also user other program like zenity for that. Example I use following:

$ cat /etc/sudo.conf
# Path to askpass helper program
Path askpass /usr/local/bin/zenity_passphrase

Where zenity_passphrase is a custom script set to be used directly as command:

$ cat $(which zenity_passphrase)
#!/bin/bash
zenity --password --title="sudo password prompt" --timeout=10

Which works like:

Note:

You can also use gksudo (GTK+ frontend for su and sudo) instead of sudo in the script which asks with GUI prompt (gksu and gksudo are obsolete and abandoned in 2019-2020):
You can also use pkexec (polkit application) with some (for others it needs to be configure) applications/commands:

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Shell – How to ask password by GUI prompt while using sudo in script

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