Ask

ask asks the user for information and returns their answer as a string.

Overview

Use ask when your program needs the user to type an answer.

name | ask("What is your name? ")

:say("Hello, " + name + "!")

name | ask("What is your name? ")

:say("Hello, " + name + "!")

ask can display a question or instruction before waiting for the user to answer. Their answer is returned as a string.

input is an alias for ask.

Prompt

Pass a string to tell the user what to enter:

destination | ask("Where are you traveling? ")

:say("Preparing a route to " + destination)

destination | ask("Where are you traveling? ")

:say("Preparing a route to " + destination)

The prompt is printed exactly as written. Goblin does not add a space or newline, so include any spacing you want inside the prompt:

answer | ask("Continue? [yes/no] ")

answer | ask("Continue? [yes/no] ")

No Prompt

Call ask without an argument when the program has already explained what to enter:

:say("Enter the order number:")
order_number | ask()

:say("Enter the order number:")
order_number | ask()

No text is printed before Goblin waits for input.

Return Value

ask always returns a string, even when the user enters something that looks like a number or boolean:

age_text | ask("How old are you? ")
age | int(age_text)

age_text | ask("How old are you? ")
age | int(age_text)

Goblin removes trailing whitespace from the entered line, including the line ending and any spaces or tabs at the end. Leading whitespace is preserved.

Input Alias

input behaves exactly like ask:

name | ask("Name: ")
email | input("Email: ")

name | ask("Name: ")
email | input("Email: ")

See Input for the alias page.

Non-Interactive Mode

ask cannot be used when the GOBLIN_NONINTERACTIVE environment variable is set to 1.

name | ask("Name: ")
/// error: R0505 non-interactive

name | ask("Name: ")
/// error: R0505 non-interactive

This prevents automated jobs and server processes from waiting indefinitely for someone to type a response.

Signature

ask()
ask(prompt)

ask()
ask(prompt)

ask returns the entered line as a string.

Errors

The prompt must be a string:

ask(42)
/// error: T0205 type-mismatch

ask(42)
/// error: T0205 type-mismatch

If Goblin cannot receive the user's answer, ask raises an I/O error:

/// error: R0501 io-error

/// error: R0501 io-error

Interactive input is unavailable in non-interactive mode:

/// GOBLIN_NONINTERACTIVE=1
ask("Name: ")
/// error: R0505 non-interactive

/// GOBLIN_NONINTERACTIVE=1
ask("Name: ")
/// error: R0505 non-interactive