easily create complex multi-column command-line-interfaces.

var ui = require('cliui')({
  width: 80
})

ui.div('Usage: $0 [command] [options]')

ui.div({
  text: 'Options:',
  padding: [2, 0, 2, 0]
})

ui.div(
  {
    text: "-f, --file",
    width: 20,
    padding: [0, 4, 0, 4]
  },
  {
    text: "the file to load." +
      chalk.green("(if this description is long it wraps).")
    ,
    width: 20
  },
  {
    text: chalk.red("[required]"),
    align: 'right'
  }
)

console.log(ui.toString())

cliui exposes a simple layout DSL:

If you create a single ui.row, passing a string rather than an object:

• \n: characters will be interpreted as new rows.
• \t: characters will be interpreted as new columns.
• \s: characters will be interpreted as padding.

as an example...

var ui = require('./')({
  width: 60
})

ui.div(
  'Usage: node ./bin/foo.js\n' +
  '  <regex>\t  provide a regex\n' +
  '  <glob>\t  provide a glob\t [required]'
)

console.log(ui.toString())

will output:

Usage: node ./bin/foo.js
  <regex>  provide a regex
  <glob>   provide a glob          [required]

cliui = require('cliui')

Specify the maximum width of the UI being generated.

Enable or disable the wrapping of text in a column.

Create a row with any number of columns, a column can either be a string, or an object with the following options:

• width: the width of a column.
• align: alignment, right or center.
• padding: [top, right, bottom, left].
• border: should a border be placed around the div?

Similar to div, except the next row will be appended without a new line being created.