Interface

NOTE: According to the documentation:

Instances of the readline.Interface class are constructed using the readline.createInterface() method.

NOTE: According to the documentation:

Instances of the readline.Interface class are constructed using the readline.createInterface() method.

The cursor position relative to rl.line.

This will track where the current cursor lands in the input string, when reading input from a TTY stream. The position of cursor determines the portion of the input string that will be modified as input is processed, as well as the column where the terminal caret will be rendered.

The current input data being processed by node.

This can be used when collecting input from a TTY stream to retrieve the current value that has been processed thus far, prior to the line event being emitted. Once the line event has been emitted, this property will be an empty string.

Be aware that modifying the value during the instance runtime may have unintended consequences if rl.cursor is not also controlled.

If not using a TTY stream for input, use the 'line' event.

One possible use case would be as follows:

const values = ['lorem ipsum', 'dolor sit amet'];
const rl = readline.createInterface(process.stdin);
const showResults = debounce(() => {
  console.log(
    '\n',
    values.filter((val) => val.startsWith(rl.line)).join(' '),
  );
}, 300);
process.stdin.on('keypress', (c, k) => {
  showResults();
});

events.EventEmitter

1. close
2. line
3. pause
4. resume
5. SIGCONT
6. SIGINT
7. SIGTSTP
8. history

The rl.close() method closes the Interface instance and relinquishes control over the input and output streams. When called, the 'close' event will be emitted.

Calling rl.close() does not immediately stop other events (including 'line') from being emitted by the Interface instance.

Returns the real position of the cursor in relation to the input prompt + string. Long input (wrapping) strings, as well as multiple line prompts are included in the calculations.

The rl.getPrompt() method returns the current prompt used by rl.prompt().

The rl.pause() method pauses the input stream, allowing it to be resumed later if necessary.

Calling rl.pause() does not immediately pause other events (including 'line') from being emitted by the Interface instance.

The rl.prompt() method writes the Interface instances configuredprompt to a new line in output in order to provide a user with a new location at which to provide input.

When called, rl.prompt() will resume the input stream if it has been paused.

If the Interface was created with output set to null or undefined the prompt is not written.

The rl.question() method displays the query by writing it to the output, waits for user input to be provided on input, then invokes the callback function passing the provided input as the first argument.

When called, rl.question() will resume the input stream if it has been paused.

If the Interface was created with output set to null or undefined the query is not written.

The callback function passed to rl.question() does not follow the typical pattern of accepting an Error object or null as the first argument. The callback is called with the provided answer as the only argument.

An error will be thrown if calling rl.question() after rl.close().

Example usage:

rl.question('What is your favorite food? ', (answer) => {
  console.log(`Oh, so your favorite food is ${answer}`);
});

Using an AbortController to cancel a question.

const ac = new AbortController();
const signal = ac.signal;

rl.question('What is your favorite food? ', { signal }, (answer) => {
  console.log(`Oh, so your favorite food is ${answer}`);
});

signal.addEventListener('abort', () => {
  console.log('The food question timed out');
}, { once: true });

setTimeout(() => ac.abort(), 10000);

The rl.resume() method resumes the input stream if it has been paused.

The rl.setPrompt() method sets the prompt that will be written to output whenever rl.prompt() is called.

The rl.write() method will write either data or a key sequence identified by key to the output. The key argument is supported only if output is a TTY text terminal. See TTY keybindings for a list of key combinations.

If key is specified, data is ignored.

When called, rl.write() will resume the input stream if it has been paused.

If the Interface was created with output set to null or undefined the data and key are not written.

rl.write('Delete this!');
// Simulate Ctrl+U to delete the line written previously
rl.write(null, { ctrl: true, name: 'u' });

The rl.write() method will write the data to the readline Interface's input as if it were provided by the user.