Interactive command to let user change directory in bash

Question

I am looking for a CURSES-based way (bash, c, doesn't really matter) of letting a user choose a folder or even a file in roughly the same way that they would do using Midnight Commander.

I envisage using up/down for moving the cursor, esc to cancel, and enter to select the item under the cursor. If the item is a file, then return the full path to that file, if the item is a folder, change into that folder.

Does anyone know of one that exists?

If not, how would I go about writing one? I'm mainly a Java programmer, so I could use JavaCurses, but it feels a bit like overkill.

Answer 1

You can use dialog which has --fselect for choosing file and directory names.

--fselect filepath height width
The fselect (file-selection) dialog displays a text-entry window in which you can type a filename (or directory), and above that two windows with directory names and filenames.

You should note, however, that a script to change directories for the interactive shell would have to be sourced or in a function since changing directories is scoped to the current shell. In other words, when a regular script exits, any cd done within is lost.