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opt_select_ncurses

opt_select_ncurses lets you turn any data set into an interactive selection menu in the terminal.

Whenever you have a list of data and need to select one or more items from it, this tool provides a fast, keyboard-driven interface.

🧠 How it works

Any workflow can follow this simple pattern:

  1. Generate a data set
  2. Pass it to opt_select_ncurses
  3. Get user selection
  4. Perform an action

You can also chain multiple scripts together to build your own workflows.

⚡ Key Features

🧭 Vim-style navigation

  • j / k → move up/down
  • gg / G → jump to start/end
  • familiar and fast for developers

🔍 Search within the list

  • / → start search (grep mode)
  • regex-based matching
  • Ctrl+n / Ctrl+p → navigate matches

⚡ Fast navigation for large lists

  • Page Up / Page Down
  • Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u → jump multiple items
  • type a number → jump directly to that option

✅ Multi-select support

  • select multiple items
  • perform actions on batch

⛔ Quick exit

  • Ctrl+C → exit anytime

🧩 Script-friendly

  • works with file input or piped data
  • easy to compose and chain

📸 Examples (Shell Scripts)

These are simple shell scripts built using opt_select_ncurses. Each script follows the pattern: generate data → select → act

1. gcb (Git branch selector)

Description:

Generates a list of Git branches, lets the user select one interactively, and performs the checkout on the selected branch.

Demo:

gcb demo

2. fops (File operations selector)

Description:

Takes one or more files as input, presents a list of possible actions, lets the user choose an operation interactively, and executes it on the selected files.

Flow:

files → select action → execute

Demo:

fops demo

3. vif (Find and perform actions on file)

Description:

Searches for files based on input, lets the user select one if multiple matches are found, and passes the selected file to fops to perform actions on it.

Flow:

find → select file → fops → execute

Demo:

vif demo

4. gsvi (perform selected action on git modified files)

Description:

Lists modified files from Git status, allows the user to select one or more files (multi-select), and passes the selected files to fops to perform the chosen action.

Flow:

git status → select files → fops → execute

Demo:

gsvi demo

5. grepopt (Search and perform actions on results)

Description:

Searches for a given text recursively in the current folder, lets the user select an occurrence, and passes the selected file to fops to perform actions on it.

Flow:

grep → select occurrence → fops → execute

Demo:

grepopt demo

🧠 Possible use cases

This tool can be used anywhere you need to select from a list of data:

  • Select and restart a system service
  • Choose an SSH host to connect to
  • Pick and kill a running process
  • Select a Docker container to inspect or stop
  • Choose a Kubernetes context to switch
  • Select a log file to monitor
  • Select and restore a named screen session

Syntax

opt_select_ncurses [in_file=<input_file>] [out_file=<output_file>] [multi_select=yes] [default=<value>] [from_pipe=yes/no] [udp_dbg_port=<udp_dbg_server_port>] [-h for help]
Option Description
in_file Input options are read from this file
out_file Selected result is written to this file
multi_select Enable multi-select
default Default selected index
from_pipe Read input from pipe
udp_dbg_port Debug logs via UDP (use nc -k -l -u -p <PORT>)
-h Show help

Installation (Build from source - recommended)

git clone https://github.com/shyjun/opt_select_ncurses.git
cd opt_select_ncurses
make
sudo make install

Add to PATH (if needed)

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin

Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc to make it permanent.

Verify installation

which opt_select_ncurses
opt_select_ncurses --help

Dependency

Requires ncurses:

sudo apt install libncurses-dev

Key bindings

Normal Mode

Key Action
j / k Down / Up
Ctrl+n / p Down / Up
gg / G First / Last
Ctrl+d / u Jump
Page Up/Down Scroll
Enter Select
Space Toggle selection
Esc Exit
Ctrl+C Exit anytime

Search Mode (/)

Key Action
/ Start search
Ctrl+n / p Next / Previous match
Esc Exit search

Author

Shyju N (n.shyju@gmail.com)