Re: [Discussion] Native terminal helpers for PHP CLI

Hi Derick, Thanks, that makes sense. I moved the package in that direction now. The current v0.3.0 API uses Terminal\Terminal with camelCase methods, plus Terminal\Backend, Terminal\Stream, and Terminal\Key enums: https://github.com/prateekbhujel/php-terminal/releases/tag/v0.3.0 I also removed the old procedural API instead of keeping compatibility around it. Since this is still pre-1.0 and not something people should be depending on yet, it felt better to make the shape cleaner now. For readKey(), special keys now return Terminal\Key cases, while printable input still returns a string. For Unicode, it currently returns the next encoded code point from the terminal, not a full grapheme cluster. That seemed like the clearer low-level primitive to me, but I am happy to adjust that if core would prefer a different contract. Thanks again for looking at it. Pratik Bhujel On Tue, Jun 2, 2026 at 2:27 PM Derick Rethans <derick@php.net> wrote: > On Sun, 24 May 2026, Pratik Bhujel wrote: > > > The goal is to expose a small cross-platform CLI terminal layer for > > the pieces that are currently awkward to normalize in userland, > > especially on Windows: > > > > - checking whether stdin/stdout/stderr are TTYs > > - reading terminal size > > - enabling/restoring raw mode safely > > - reading a single key with normalized names > > - writing directly to stdout/stderr > > I think that this is something useful to have. > > > The extension is still alpha, and I am not proposing it for core right > > now. I mainly want feedback on whether this API shape makes sense from > > a PHP CLI/runtime point of view, and whether this is better kept as > > PECL/ecosystem work first. > > I have had a look at the API, and from my point of view, I think I would > like to see, with in mind a possible introduction into PHP core: > > - All functions to be part of a Terminal\Terminal class — we have > guidelines for this in place: > > https://github.com/php/policies/blob/main/coding-standards-and-naming.rst#bundled-extensions > > - The getBackend() method should return an enum, as there are > (currently) only two possible values: windows, and posix. > > - Reading a key returns either a string containing a character, or a > sequence of characters describing an action (up, down, etc). I think, > because both of these are strings, this is awkward. Perhaps it would > be better for actual characters to return strings, and again, the > special key-presses to be case of an Enum. > > In addition, would it return Unicode graphemes (think emojis), or just > code points? > > - The stream names (STDOUT, STDIN, and STDERR) again should probably an > Enum. > > cheers, > Derick > > -- > https://derickrethans.nl | > https://xdebug.org | > https://xdebug.cloud > Author of Xdebug. Like it? Consider supporting me: > https://xdebug.org/support > mastodon: @derickr@phpc.social @xdebug@phpc.social