itrm 0.2.2__tar.gz → 1.0.0__tar.gz

itrm-1.0.0/PKG-INFO

@@ -0,0 +1,305 @@
+Metadata-Version: 2.1
+Name: itrm
+Version: 1.0.0
+Summary: Interactive Terminal Utilities
+Home-page: https://gitlab.com/davidwoodburn/itrm
+Author: David Woodburn
+Author-email: david.woodburn@icloud.com
+Classifier: Programming Language :: Python :: 3
+Classifier: License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License
+Classifier: Operating System :: OS Independent
+Requires-Python: >=3.6
+Description-Content-Type: text/markdown
+License-File: LICENSE.txt
+Requires-Dist: numpy
+
+# Interactive Terminal Utilities
+
+```python
+import itrm
+```
+
+This library offers several functions for visualizing data within the terminal.
+This project does not exist just because it is cool. It exists because it fills
+some needs which few other tools do. For many developers, engineers, and
+scientists, the terminal is where much of their time is spent. Having to switch
+contexts every time a plot is generated can be time consuming and annoying.
+Furthermore, most plotting tools have fairly limited analysis capabilities. They
+are great for generating final, beautiful figures, but not great at quickly
+inspecting and understanding the data. Also, if you are working with a remote
+server through SSH, visualizing the data with conventional tools can be very
+tedious: save data to file, transfer data to local machine, write script just to
+read and plot data, plot data, repeat. This library lets you directly visualize
+and interact with the data, skipping all the tedium.
+
+## Configuration
+
+This library will generate a `config.ini` file in the same directory as the
+library's installation. You can either manually modify the settings in that
+file, or you can call the `itrm.config()` function. This function will take the
+following parameters:
+
+| Setting   | Default       | Description                       |
+| --------- | :-----------: | --------------------------------- |
+| `uni`     | `True`        | flag to use Unicode characters    |
+| `cols`    | `60`          | default column width              |
+| `rows`    | `20`          | default row height                |
+| `ar`      | `0.48`        | aspect ratio of characters        |
+| `cmap`    | `spectrum`    | color map                         |
+
+### Unicode
+
+Much of the plotting in the terminal performed by `itrm` relies on Unicode
+characters. However, properly displaying those characters requires having a
+monospace font with those specific glyphs defined. In fact, the default plotting
+mode relies on braille characters, and relatively few fonts define those. If you
+are looking for a good terminal font which supports all the Unicode used by this
+library, try out [JuliaMono][julia]. However, you might not be interested in
+downloading fonts, so this library can also forego all Unicode characters and
+only rely on ASCII characters.
+
+### Columns and Rows
+
+Many terminals provide a means for a Python script to query the current size of
+the terminal window in terms of the number of columns and rows of text. However,
+not all terminals do. In those cases, it is good to have a fallback setting.
+These are defined by the `cols` and `rows` configuration parameters.
+
+### Aspect Ratio
+
+Because all the plotting by this library uses text, the aspect ratio (ratio of
+width to height) of the characters affects the apparent aspect ratio of curves.
+So, a circle might look perfectly round or squashed depending on the font
+chosen. This does not mean you need a new font, you just need to adjust the
+aspect ratio setting, `ar`.
+
+### Color Map
+
+By default, the color map used is `spectrum`, a rainbow of colors. Using the
+`cmap` parameter, you can pick any of the following color maps: `spectrum`,
+`viridis`, `grays`, `reds`, `greens`, `blues`, or `4bit`. All but the last color
+map use platform-independent, 8-bit colors. The last color map, `4bit`, lets use
+control the colors with your terminal settings, instead.
+
+## Interactive Plots
+
+```python
+itrm.iplot(x, y=None, label=None, rows=1, cols=1,
+        lg=None, overlay=False):
+```
+
+### Parameters
+
+The `iplot` function will render all the data points defined by `x` and `y` to
+the terminal. The inputs `x` and `y` can be vectors, matrices, or lists of such
+arrays. Each **row** of a matrix is treated as a separate curve. Note, this is
+different from MatPlotLib, in which each *column* is treated as a separate row.
+(This difference is intentional, as in the author's opinion varying time along
+columns means each column in a matrix can be treated as a vector. This
+arrangement works very well with in linear algebra, especially matrix
+multiplication with a "set" of vectors over time.)
+
+The shapes of `x` and `y` do not have to be the same, but they must be
+compatible. So, `x` could be a vector and `y` could be a matrix as long as the
+length of `x` equals the number of columns of `y`.
+
+If only `x` is given, it will be interpreted as the `y` values, and the `x`
+values will be the array of indices.
+
+When the plot is printed, the graph is rendered within a box and the ranges of
+`x` and `y` are listed in the bottom left corner. So,
+
+```
+(0:99, -1.5:1.5)
+```
+
+means that `x` ranges from `0` to `99` and `y` ranges from `-1.5` to `1.5`.
+
+If a `label` is given, this will be printed in the bottom right of the plot box.
+It can also be a list of strings. If the length of the list is the same as the
+number of data sets (each row of a matrix is a different data set), then each
+string in the list will be displayed with the respective data set. If the length
+of the list is one greater, the first string will be displayed for the whole
+plot.
+
+The `rows` and `cols` parameters let you specify the number of terminal text
+rows and columns to use for the plot, respectively. For each of these, if the
+value is less than or equal to 1, it represents a portion of the available space
+to use. For example, if `rows` is `0.5`, then half the number of rows of the
+current terminal window will be used for the plot. If the value is greater than
+1, it represents the absolute number of rows or columns to use. Also, if the
+size of the current terminal cannot be obtained, the available space will
+default to `20` rows and `60` columns.
+
+You can set the x or y axes to logarithmic scaling by setting the `lg` parameter
+to one of `"x"`, `"y"`, or `"xy"`. Note that the values reported for the view
+and the cursor will be in the original scaling, not logarithmic.
+
+To prevent your terminal history from extending each time a new plot is
+rendered, you can print a new plot over a previous plot by setting the `overlay`
+parameter to `True`. This can be especially useful when there are multiple plots
+to render (like for an animation) but you do not want your terminal history to
+fill up quickly.
+
+### Keybindings
+
+The `iplot` function provides interactivity through a vertical cursor. You can
+move the cursor left and right, at normal speed or fast speed. You can zoom in
+and out. And, you can cycle through which rows of the `x` and `y` data to focus
+on. Note, `iplot` is designed for monotonically-increasing `x` values, and,
+consequently, does not support equal axis scaling.
+
+![](https://gitlab.com/davidwoodburn/itrm/-/raw/main/figures/fig_iplot.png)
+
+The following table details the shortcut keys:
+
+| Keys           | Function               |   | Keys           | Function                 |
+| :------------: | ---------------------- | - | :------------: | ------------------------ |
+| `q`, `⌫`, `↵`  | exit interactive plot  |   | `j`, `s`, `↓`  | zoom in                  |
+| `h`, `a`, `←`  | move cursor left       |   | `k`, `w`, `↑`  | zoom out                 |
+| `l`, `d`, `→`  | move cursor right      |   | `J`, `S`, `⇧↓` | zoom in fast             |
+| `H`, `A`, `⇧←` | move cursor left fast  |   | `K`, `W`, `⇧↑` | zoom out fast            |
+| `L`, `D`, `⇧→` | move cursor right fast |   | `n`            | select next data set     |
+| `g`            | move cursor to start   |   | `N`            | select previous data set |
+| `G`            | move cursor to end     |   | `i`            | toggle individual view   |
+| `c`, `z`       | center view on cursor  |   | `v`            | toggle ghost cursor      |
+| `x`            | toggle x log scaling   |   | `f`            | start function           |
+| `y`            | toggle y log scaling   |   | `F`            | restore original data    |
+
+### Individual Data Sets
+
+When many data sets are being plotted simultaneously, it can be helpful to hide
+all other data sets with the `i` key in order to just see the selected data
+set.
+
+### Ghost Cursor
+
+If you want to make a comparison between two points, you can use the ghost
+cursor. First, position the cursor at the start position. Then, press the `v`
+key. Immediately, you should see in the bottom left corner, several metrics:
+the difference in x positions (`dx`), the difference in y positions (`dy`), the
+mean y value (`u`), and the standard deviation of y (`s`). Moving the cursor
+will leave behind a ghost. As the cursor moves, the metrics will update to
+reflect the range of values from the ghost cursor to the current cursor.
+
+### Functions
+
+Without writing any code, you can run a number of functions on the data and see
+the results. First, press the `f` key. If you want the derivative or integral
+of the data, press the `d` or `i` key, respectively. If you want to see the
+Fourier transform, press the `f` key again. To smooth the data with a
+triangular weighted moving average, enter the half width of the window and
+press the `a` key. You can de-trend the data by entering the order of fitting
+polynomial and then pressing the `d` key. Other functions are planned for the
+future. 
+
+When one of the functions have been applied, the sides of the plotting box will
+be rendered gray.
+
+You can restore the original data by pressing the `F` key.
+
+## Plots
+
+```python
+itrm.plot(x, y=None, label=None, rows=1, cols=1,
+        ea=0, lg=None, overlay=False):
+```
+
+The `plot` function is a non-interactive version of the `iplot` function. All
+of the same parameters are provided, with the addition of the equal-axes (`ea`)
+parameter.
+
+| Single curve    | Multiple curves |
+| --------------- | --------------- |
+| ![](https://gitlab.com/davidwoodburn/itrm/-/raw/main/figures/fig_plot_1.png) | ![](https://gitlab.com/davidwoodburn/itrm/-/raw/main/figures/fig_plot_6.png) |
+
+## Bars
+
+```python
+itrm.bars(x, labels=None, cols=1, fat=False)
+```
+
+It can be convenient to plot a simple bar graph. The `x` input is the vector of
+values. The `labels` input is a list of strings corresponding to the labels to
+print before the bar of each value in `x`. If the `cols` input is greater than
+1, it is the total width of characters including the labels. If it is less than
+or equal to 1, it is the portion of the terminal window width which will be used
+for the graph. If the `fat` input is set to `True`, the bars will be thick.
+
+```
+ apples |=========                                         |
+oranges |=========================================         |
+bananas |==================================================|
+  pears |====================                              |
+ grapes |============================                      |
+```
+
+## Heat maps
+
+```python
+itrm.heat(matrix)
+```
+
+The `heat` function will generate a heat map of the `matrix` input using 24
+shades of gray. Black is used for the lowest value and white for the highest
+value. If `itrm.config.uni` is `True`, half-block characters from the Unicode
+table will be used. If it is `False`, two spaces per element of the matrix will
+be used.
+
+| With Unicode      | Without Unicode     |
+| ----------------- | ------------------- |
+| ![](https://gitlab.com/davidwoodburn/itrm/-/raw/main/figures/fig_heat_uni.png) | ![](https://gitlab.com/davidwoodburn/itrm/-/raw/main/figures/fig_heat_ascii.png) |
+
+## Tables
+
+```python
+itrm.table(matrix, head=None, left=None, width=10, sep='  ')
+```
+
+You can print a nicely spaced table of the `matrix` data. The `head` and `left`
+inputs are lists of header and left-most column labels, respectively, to print
+around the `matrix`.
+
+```
+           |      Set 1       Set 2       Set 3
+---------- | ----------  ----------  ----------
+    apples | 0.65802165  0.20015677  0.51074794
+   bananas | 0.42184098  0.46774988  0.39589918
+     pears | 0.79159879  0.89324181  0.57347394
+   oranges | 0.25932644  0.29973433  0.90646047
+    grapes |  0.2751687  0.40117769  0.58233234
+```
+
+## Sparsity
+
+```python
+itrm.spy(matrix)
+```
+
+If all you want to see is the sparsity of a matrix, use this function.
+
+| With Unicode          | Without Unicode         |
+| --------------------- | ----------------------- |
+| ![](https://gitlab.com/davidwoodburn/itrm/-/raw/main/figures/fig_sparsity_uni.png) | ![](https://gitlab.com/davidwoodburn/itrm/-/raw/main/figures/fig_sparsity_ascii.png) |
+
+## Progress bars
+
+```python
+bar = itrm.Progress(K, cols=1)
+bar.update(k)
+```
+
+There are many progress bar libraries available for Python. But, many of them
+seem to be extremely over-complicated. TQDM, for example, includes over 20
+source files. This library's implementation of a progress bar is a single,
+one-page function. The `k` input is the counter of whatever for loop the
+progress bar is reporting on. The `K` input is one greater than the largest
+possible value of `k`, as in `for k in range(K):`. When the process is
+completed, the total elapsed time will be displayed. If `cols` is not provided,
+the full width of the current terminal window will be used.
+
+```
+ 44% ======================----------------------------- -00:00:02.1
+```
+
+[julia]: https://juliamono.netlify.app/

itrm-1.0.0/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,290 @@
+# Interactive Terminal Utilities
+
+```python
+import itrm
+```
+
+This library offers several functions for visualizing data within the terminal.
+This project does not exist just because it is cool. It exists because it fills
+some needs which few other tools do. For many developers, engineers, and
+scientists, the terminal is where much of their time is spent. Having to switch
+contexts every time a plot is generated can be time consuming and annoying.
+Furthermore, most plotting tools have fairly limited analysis capabilities. They
+are great for generating final, beautiful figures, but not great at quickly
+inspecting and understanding the data. Also, if you are working with a remote
+server through SSH, visualizing the data with conventional tools can be very
+tedious: save data to file, transfer data to local machine, write script just to
+read and plot data, plot data, repeat. This library lets you directly visualize
+and interact with the data, skipping all the tedium.
+
+## Configuration
+
+This library will generate a `config.ini` file in the same directory as the
+library's installation. You can either manually modify the settings in that
+file, or you can call the `itrm.config()` function. This function will take the
+following parameters:
+
+| Setting   | Default       | Description                       |
+| --------- | :-----------: | --------------------------------- |
+| `uni`     | `True`        | flag to use Unicode characters    |
+| `cols`    | `60`          | default column width              |
+| `rows`    | `20`          | default row height                |
+| `ar`      | `0.48`        | aspect ratio of characters        |
+| `cmap`    | `spectrum`    | color map                         |
+
+### Unicode
+
+Much of the plotting in the terminal performed by `itrm` relies on Unicode
+characters. However, properly displaying those characters requires having a
+monospace font with those specific glyphs defined. In fact, the default plotting
+mode relies on braille characters, and relatively few fonts define those. If you
+are looking for a good terminal font which supports all the Unicode used by this
+library, try out [JuliaMono][julia]. However, you might not be interested in
+downloading fonts, so this library can also forego all Unicode characters and
+only rely on ASCII characters.
+
+### Columns and Rows
+
+Many terminals provide a means for a Python script to query the current size of
+the terminal window in terms of the number of columns and rows of text. However,
+not all terminals do. In those cases, it is good to have a fallback setting.
+These are defined by the `cols` and `rows` configuration parameters.
+
+### Aspect Ratio
+
+Because all the plotting by this library uses text, the aspect ratio (ratio of
+width to height) of the characters affects the apparent aspect ratio of curves.
+So, a circle might look perfectly round or squashed depending on the font
+chosen. This does not mean you need a new font, you just need to adjust the
+aspect ratio setting, `ar`.
+
+### Color Map
+
+By default, the color map used is `spectrum`, a rainbow of colors. Using the
+`cmap` parameter, you can pick any of the following color maps: `spectrum`,
+`viridis`, `grays`, `reds`, `greens`, `blues`, or `4bit`. All but the last color
+map use platform-independent, 8-bit colors. The last color map, `4bit`, lets use
+control the colors with your terminal settings, instead.
+
+## Interactive Plots
+
+```python
+itrm.iplot(x, y=None, label=None, rows=1, cols=1,
+        lg=None, overlay=False):
+```
+
+### Parameters
+
+The `iplot` function will render all the data points defined by `x` and `y` to
+the terminal. The inputs `x` and `y` can be vectors, matrices, or lists of such
+arrays. Each **row** of a matrix is treated as a separate curve. Note, this is
+different from MatPlotLib, in which each *column* is treated as a separate row.
+(This difference is intentional, as in the author's opinion varying time along
+columns means each column in a matrix can be treated as a vector. This
+arrangement works very well with in linear algebra, especially matrix
+multiplication with a "set" of vectors over time.)
+
+The shapes of `x` and `y` do not have to be the same, but they must be
+compatible. So, `x` could be a vector and `y` could be a matrix as long as the
+length of `x` equals the number of columns of `y`.
+
+If only `x` is given, it will be interpreted as the `y` values, and the `x`
+values will be the array of indices.
+
+When the plot is printed, the graph is rendered within a box and the ranges of
+`x` and `y` are listed in the bottom left corner. So,
+
+```
+(0:99, -1.5:1.5)
+```
+
+means that `x` ranges from `0` to `99` and `y` ranges from `-1.5` to `1.5`.
+
+If a `label` is given, this will be printed in the bottom right of the plot box.
+It can also be a list of strings. If the length of the list is the same as the
+number of data sets (each row of a matrix is a different data set), then each
+string in the list will be displayed with the respective data set. If the length
+of the list is one greater, the first string will be displayed for the whole
+plot.
+
+The `rows` and `cols` parameters let you specify the number of terminal text
+rows and columns to use for the plot, respectively. For each of these, if the
+value is less than or equal to 1, it represents a portion of the available space
+to use. For example, if `rows` is `0.5`, then half the number of rows of the
+current terminal window will be used for the plot. If the value is greater than
+1, it represents the absolute number of rows or columns to use. Also, if the
+size of the current terminal cannot be obtained, the available space will
+default to `20` rows and `60` columns.
+
+You can set the x or y axes to logarithmic scaling by setting the `lg` parameter
+to one of `"x"`, `"y"`, or `"xy"`. Note that the values reported for the view
+and the cursor will be in the original scaling, not logarithmic.
+
+To prevent your terminal history from extending each time a new plot is
+rendered, you can print a new plot over a previous plot by setting the `overlay`
+parameter to `True`. This can be especially useful when there are multiple plots
+to render (like for an animation) but you do not want your terminal history to
+fill up quickly.
+
+### Keybindings
+
+The `iplot` function provides interactivity through a vertical cursor. You can
+move the cursor left and right, at normal speed or fast speed. You can zoom in
+and out. And, you can cycle through which rows of the `x` and `y` data to focus
+on. Note, `iplot` is designed for monotonically-increasing `x` values, and,
+consequently, does not support equal axis scaling.
+
+![](https://gitlab.com/davidwoodburn/itrm/-/raw/main/figures/fig_iplot.png)
+
+The following table details the shortcut keys:
+
+| Keys           | Function               |   | Keys           | Function                 |
+| :------------: | ---------------------- | - | :------------: | ------------------------ |
+| `q`, `⌫`, `↵`  | exit interactive plot  |   | `j`, `s`, `↓`  | zoom in                  |
+| `h`, `a`, `←`  | move cursor left       |   | `k`, `w`, `↑`  | zoom out                 |
+| `l`, `d`, `→`  | move cursor right      |   | `J`, `S`, `⇧↓` | zoom in fast             |
+| `H`, `A`, `⇧←` | move cursor left fast  |   | `K`, `W`, `⇧↑` | zoom out fast            |
+| `L`, `D`, `⇧→` | move cursor right fast |   | `n`            | select next data set     |
+| `g`            | move cursor to start   |   | `N`            | select previous data set |
+| `G`            | move cursor to end     |   | `i`            | toggle individual view   |
+| `c`, `z`       | center view on cursor  |   | `v`            | toggle ghost cursor      |
+| `x`            | toggle x log scaling   |   | `f`            | start function           |
+| `y`            | toggle y log scaling   |   | `F`            | restore original data    |
+
+### Individual Data Sets
+
+When many data sets are being plotted simultaneously, it can be helpful to hide
+all other data sets with the `i` key in order to just see the selected data
+set.
+
+### Ghost Cursor
+
+If you want to make a comparison between two points, you can use the ghost
+cursor. First, position the cursor at the start position. Then, press the `v`
+key. Immediately, you should see in the bottom left corner, several metrics:
+the difference in x positions (`dx`), the difference in y positions (`dy`), the
+mean y value (`u`), and the standard deviation of y (`s`). Moving the cursor
+will leave behind a ghost. As the cursor moves, the metrics will update to
+reflect the range of values from the ghost cursor to the current cursor.
+
+### Functions
+
+Without writing any code, you can run a number of functions on the data and see
+the results. First, press the `f` key. If you want the derivative or integral
+of the data, press the `d` or `i` key, respectively. If you want to see the
+Fourier transform, press the `f` key again. To smooth the data with a
+triangular weighted moving average, enter the half width of the window and
+press the `a` key. You can de-trend the data by entering the order of fitting
+polynomial and then pressing the `d` key. Other functions are planned for the
+future. 
+
+When one of the functions have been applied, the sides of the plotting box will
+be rendered gray.
+
+You can restore the original data by pressing the `F` key.
+
+## Plots
+
+```python
+itrm.plot(x, y=None, label=None, rows=1, cols=1,
+        ea=0, lg=None, overlay=False):
+```
+
+The `plot` function is a non-interactive version of the `iplot` function. All
+of the same parameters are provided, with the addition of the equal-axes (`ea`)
+parameter.
+
+| Single curve    | Multiple curves |
+| --------------- | --------------- |
+| ![](https://gitlab.com/davidwoodburn/itrm/-/raw/main/figures/fig_plot_1.png) | ![](https://gitlab.com/davidwoodburn/itrm/-/raw/main/figures/fig_plot_6.png) |
+
+## Bars
+
+```python
+itrm.bars(x, labels=None, cols=1, fat=False)
+```
+
+It can be convenient to plot a simple bar graph. The `x` input is the vector of
+values. The `labels` input is a list of strings corresponding to the labels to
+print before the bar of each value in `x`. If the `cols` input is greater than
+1, it is the total width of characters including the labels. If it is less than
+or equal to 1, it is the portion of the terminal window width which will be used
+for the graph. If the `fat` input is set to `True`, the bars will be thick.
+
+```
+ apples |=========                                         |
+oranges |=========================================         |
+bananas |==================================================|
+  pears |====================                              |
+ grapes |============================                      |
+```
+
+## Heat maps
+
+```python
+itrm.heat(matrix)
+```
+
+The `heat` function will generate a heat map of the `matrix` input using 24
+shades of gray. Black is used for the lowest value and white for the highest
+value. If `itrm.config.uni` is `True`, half-block characters from the Unicode
+table will be used. If it is `False`, two spaces per element of the matrix will
+be used.
+
+| With Unicode      | Without Unicode     |
+| ----------------- | ------------------- |
+| ![](https://gitlab.com/davidwoodburn/itrm/-/raw/main/figures/fig_heat_uni.png) | ![](https://gitlab.com/davidwoodburn/itrm/-/raw/main/figures/fig_heat_ascii.png) |
+
+## Tables
+
+```python
+itrm.table(matrix, head=None, left=None, width=10, sep='  ')
+```
+
+You can print a nicely spaced table of the `matrix` data. The `head` and `left`
+inputs are lists of header and left-most column labels, respectively, to print
+around the `matrix`.
+
+```
+           |      Set 1       Set 2       Set 3
+---------- | ----------  ----------  ----------
+    apples | 0.65802165  0.20015677  0.51074794
+   bananas | 0.42184098  0.46774988  0.39589918
+     pears | 0.79159879  0.89324181  0.57347394
+   oranges | 0.25932644  0.29973433  0.90646047
+    grapes |  0.2751687  0.40117769  0.58233234
+```
+
+## Sparsity
+
+```python
+itrm.spy(matrix)
+```
+
+If all you want to see is the sparsity of a matrix, use this function.
+
+| With Unicode          | Without Unicode         |
+| --------------------- | ----------------------- |
+| ![](https://gitlab.com/davidwoodburn/itrm/-/raw/main/figures/fig_sparsity_uni.png) | ![](https://gitlab.com/davidwoodburn/itrm/-/raw/main/figures/fig_sparsity_ascii.png) |
+
+## Progress bars
+
+```python
+bar = itrm.Progress(K, cols=1)
+bar.update(k)
+```
+
+There are many progress bar libraries available for Python. But, many of them
+seem to be extremely over-complicated. TQDM, for example, includes over 20
+source files. This library's implementation of a progress bar is a single,
+one-page function. The `k` input is the counter of whatever for loop the
+progress bar is reporting on. The `K` input is one greater than the largest
+possible value of `k`, as in `for k in range(K):`. When the process is
+completed, the total elapsed time will be displayed. If `cols` is not provided,
+the full width of the current terminal window will be used.
+
+```
+ 44% ======================----------------------------- -00:00:02.1
+```
+
+[julia]: https://juliamono.netlify.app/

{itrm-0.2.2 → itrm-1.0.0}/setup.cfg

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [metadata]
 name = itrm
-version = 0.2.2
+version = 1.0.0
 author = David Woodburn
 author_email = david.woodburn@icloud.com
 description = Interactive Terminal Utilities