Creating a messagebox using commandline

Question

How can I create a message box using command-line to show a text‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌?

What do you mean by "message box"? A graphic alert box, a popup message box? Something else? — polym, 2 days ago

polym · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-16 19:21:05Z

For a standard "box around a message", use boxes:

echo 'This is a test' | boxes

boxes will look like this (First one. Second one is a custom like cowsay):

enter image description here

If you mean an alert box, use notify-send:

notify-send 'title' 'message'

notify-send looks like this:

enter image description here

You also can use zenity for a popup window:

zenity --error --text="An error occurred\!" --title="Warning\!"

Zenity is more graphical and has more options, like having the window appear as q question, using:

zenity --question --text="Do you wish to continue/?"

or even progress bars, using:

find /usr | zenity --progress --pulsate --auto-close --auto-kill --text="Working..."

zenity looks like this:

enter image description here

Or use dialog, for a command-line only message box:

dialog --checklist "Choose OS:" 15 40 5 \
1 Linux off \
2 Solaris on \
3 'HP UX' off \
4 AIX off

dialog looks like this:

enter image description here

Another option is whiptail:

whiptail --title "Example Dialog" --msgbox "This is an example of a message box. You must hit OK to continue." 8 78

whiptail looks like this:

enter image description here

And if you are truly crazy, use toilet:

toilet -F border -F gay "CRAZY"

toilet looks like this:

enter image description here

HBruijn · Answer 2 · 2014-07-16 22:13:08Z

And then just because @polym's completely over the top answer missed the classic messaging:

write <username> [<terminal>] - send a message to another user. Either interactively or as part of a pipe with echo "message" | write username

write

And the complement to write, wall to send a message to all users

wall

2 Answers 2