C-Menu is a fast, modular toolkit for building terminal-based user interfaces on Linux. Its components can be combined to create responsive menus, forms, pick lists, viewers, file-finding workflows, and administrative tools without the overhead of a heavyweight GUI stack.

Written in C and designed for speed, C-Menu works well for developer tools, system administration workflows, kiosk-style interfaces, and resource-constrained environments.

C-Menu Doxygen | C-Menu CHANGELOG | C-Menu Installation Example Applications Menu Guided Tour

Why C-Menu?

C-Menu is built for users who want terminal applications that are:

Fast - optimized C programs with a minimal footprint
Modular - combine small purpose-built components into larger workflows
Script-friendly - easy to integrate with shell scripts and external commands
Interactive - supports keyboard and mouse driven terminal interfaces
Practical - useful for both end-user tools and developer/admin utilities

Instead of treating menus, forms, selection lists, and viewers as separate one-off programs, C-Menu treats them as reusable building blocks that can be assembled into complete applications.

Components

Component	Purpose	Typical Use
menu	Display menus and launch actions	Application navigation, submenus, command dispatch
form	Enter, edit, validate, and process structured data	Data entry, calculations, query/update workflows
pick	Select one or more items from a list	File selection, multi-select actions, command dispatch
view	Display text and command output efficiently	Logs, reports, source code, highlighted output
lf	Regular-expression-based file finder	File discovery, filtering, pipelines
rsh	Privileged shell helper	Controlled administrative workflows
C-Keys	Keyboard and mouse diagnostic utility	Input testing and terminal diagnostics

Quick Start

See BUILD for full build and install instructions.

A typical workflow with C-Menu looks like this:

Write a small menu description file
Launch menu
Dispatch actions to form, pick, view, shell commands, or other C-Menu components

Minimal example:

: APPLICATIONS
:     Edit Current Project C Files
!pick -S "lf -d 5 '.*\.c$'" -T "Project Source" -c nvim %%
:     Open Root Shell
!exec rsh

This example shows one of C-Menu’s core ideas: the menu itself is simple, and the power comes from composing components and external commands.

Core Concepts

C-Menu applications are usually built from plain text description files and command lines.

Menu description files define choices and the commands that run when a choice is selected.
Form description files define labels, input fields, and directives for processing.
Pick reads items from a file or command and lets the user select one or more of them.
View displays files or command output in a fast read-only interface.
lf can generate file lists that feed directly into pick, shell pipelines, or custom scripts.

This makes C-Menu especially effective when you want to combine:

shell commands
external utilities
custom scripts
terminal UI components
low-latency workflows

Examples

Form

form is used for entering, editing, validating, and processing structured data.

A form description file contains text lines and field definitions.

Text example:

T:5:14:Principal Amount

Field example:

F:5:33:14:Currency

Common workflow:

: Installment Loan Calculations

!form iloan.f -i iloan.dat -S iloan -R "view -S \"amort %%\"" -o iloan.dat

This demonstrates a powerful pattern:

load initial values
process them with an external executable
redisplay updated values
optionally hand off results to view

Use form when you need:

data entry
calculations
validation workflows
query/update cycles
integration with external programs

Pick

pick displays a list of items and lets the user select one or more of them.

General form:

!pick [ -n maximum_number_of_selections ][ -m ] \
    [ -i input_file ][ -S executable_provider ] \
    [ -o output_file ][ -c executable %% ]

Example:

: Rustlings Source

!pick -S rust_src -n 1 -T "Rustlings Source - Edit" -c nvim %%

You can also avoid helper scripts when a direct command is sufficient:

: Edit .c Files in Current Directory

!pick -S "lf -d 5 '.*\.c$'" -T "Project Tree - Select File to Edit" -c nvim %%

Use pick when you need:

interactive selection from generated lists
real-time filtering
single- or multi-select workflows
dispatching selected items to external commands

View

view is a fast read-only viewer for files and command output.

It supports:

Unicode
line numbering
regular-expression searching
horizontal scrolling with a large virtual pad
highlighted output from tools such as Tree-sitter, bat, pygments, and source-highlight

Example:

: View C-Menu Source with Tree-Sitter

!pick -S project_src -n 1 -T "Select Project Source to Highlight" -c "view -L 60 -C 85 -S \"tree-sitter highlight %%\""

view is especially useful for:

source browsing
log inspection
highlighted output
large text files
command output that should remain read-only

lf

lf is C-Menu’s regular expression file finder. The name can be read as either list files or lightweight find.

Example:

lf -d 5 -t f -a 2024-01-01 -b 2024-06-01 | xargs ls -l

This makes it easy to generate file sets for:

pick
shell pipelines
batch processing
date-based searches
source filtering

Example integration with pick:

!pick -S "lf -d 5 '.*\.c$'" -T "Project Tree - Select File to Edit" -c nvim %%

For performance notes and additional details, see PERFORMANCE.

rsh

rsh provides a root-shell-oriented administrative workflow intended as an alternative approach to repeatedly invoking su or sudo for certain tasks.

Example use case:

elevate for an administrative operation
run the required command
exit immediately when finished

This can be useful in tightly controlled environments where short-lived privileged sessions are part of an established workflow.

Documentation

Additional documentation is available in the docs directory:

API - developer-facing API documentation
CHANGELOG - project history and notable changes
USER GUIDE - end-user documentation
AUGMENTATION - additional examples and supporting material
FAQ - frequently asked questions
INSTALLATION - build and installation instructions
PERFORMANCE - benchmarks and performance notes
VALGRIND - memory-checking notes
HTML Documentation - published documentation site

Configuration

Many C-Menu options can be set either:

on the command line, or
in the configuration file ~/.minitrc

Command-line options override configuration-file settings.

Examples:

# .minitrc
fill_character=_
brackets=[]

Configuration can be used to control display behavior and tailor the interface to your workflow.

Platform and Requirements

C-Menu is designed for Linux and terminal-based operation.

Typical requirements:

Linux
a standard C library
a terminal with the capabilities needed for the desired interface features

Optional integrations may depend on additional external tools such as:

nvim
bat
Tree-sitter tools
source-highlight
pygments

Refer to INSTALLATION for the exact build and runtime details.

Security Notes

Some C-Menu components can be used in privileged or security-sensitive workflows, especially rsh.

Before using rsh or integrating C-Menu into elevated workflows, make sure you clearly define:

who is allowed to authenticate
how authentication is performed
what level of privilege is granted
what auditing or logging is required
whether the environment is appropriate for passwordless or key-based elevation

Administrative tooling should be reviewed carefully before use in production or multi-user environments.

Why the Design Works

C-Menu’s design is effective because it keeps the UI layer simple and composable.

Rather than forcing a single monolithic framework, it lets you connect:

plain text configuration
terminal-native interaction
Unix pipelines
external executables
lightweight focused tools

That makes it a strong fit for:

custom internal tools
developer utilities
interactive scripts
operations workflows
systems with limited resources

Contributing

If you are exploring C-Menu for the first time, a good path is:

Read BUILD
Read the USER GUIDE
Try a small menu + pick workflow
Expand into form, view, and lf integrations

If you contribute examples, documentation improvements, or fixes, keeping examples small and practical will help new users learn the system quickly.

Why C-Menu?

Components

Quick Start

Core Concepts

Examples

Menu

Form

Pick

View

lf

rsh

Documentation

Configuration

Platform and Requirements

Security Notes

Why the Design Works

Contributing

See also