How do you make a Node.js CLI program interactive?
Node.js since version 7 provides the readline module to do exactly this: get input from a readable stream such as the process.stdin stream, which during the execution of a Node.js program is the terminal input, one line at a time.
import readline from 'node:readline';
const rl = readline.createInterface({
input: process.stdin,
output: process.stdout,
});
rl.question(`What's your name?`, name => {
console.log(`Hi ${name}!`);
rl.close();
});
const readline = require('node:readline');
const rl = readline.createInterface({
input: process.stdin,
output: process.stdout,
});
rl.question(`What's your name?`, name => {
console.log(`Hi ${name}!`);
rl.close();
});
question() method shows the first parameter (a question) and waits for user input. It calls the callback function once enter is pressed. In this callback function, the readline interface is closed.
If you need to prompt for a password, it’s best not to echo it back, but instead show a * symbol.