Is there a way in Node.js to display multiple options, kind of like a prompt, but with preset options?

Question

I want the user to be able to have a drop-down and use arrow keys to control their option with enter as the selecting. Kind of like this.

Pick A Color:
Red <
Green
Blue

I want the user to use arrow keys to navigate from red to blue, how do I do this?

Answer 1

There are a few popular prompt libraries you could try:

• https://github.com/enquirer/enquirer
• https://github.com/terkelg/prompts
• https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js

You should read each one's README to see which is easiest for you to setup. I typically use Inquirer but all three are great. With Inquirer, it would look something like this:

npm install @inquirer/select

import select from '@inquirer/select';

const answer = await select({
  message: 'Pick a color:',
  choices: [
    {
      value: 'red',
    },
    {
      value: 'green',
    },
    {
      value: 'blue',
    },
  ],
});

You can read more about this specific select prompt here: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/tree/master/packages/select

If you get an error like this:

import select from "@inquirer/select";
^^^^^^

SyntaxError: Cannot use import statement outside a module

That's because the example I gave uses ESM-style (ES module) imports. You can just add "type": "module", to your package.json to fix it.