Python. How to print text to console as hyperlink?

Question

I'm working on a console application. My application uses urwid lib. In some cases, I need to show very long hyperlinks as short text inside table columns. I want to open links in the browser when I click on the text inside the column.

So, my question is:

It is possible to print text as a hyperlink to the console?

Can you provide a small example of how to print text as a hyperlink using python?

That depends on your console, it has nothing to do with Python. FWIW, konsole, the standard KDE console, supports hyperlinks. If you print a URL to the console, it will get underlined if you hover over it, and if you right-click on it a menu pops up, and one of the menu options is "Open link". — PM 2Ring
– PM 2Ring, Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 9:38
You just print it syntactically correct. To identify the hyperlink is the job of the terminal application. — Klaus D.
– Klaus D., Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 9:38

WayToDoor · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-01 13:33:06Z

27

A bit late, but there totally is a way to do that now, without curses or anything, just pure text and collaboration from your terminal emulator.

def link(uri, label=None):
    if label is None: 
        label = uri
    parameters = ''

    # OSC 8 ; params ; URI ST <name> OSC 8 ;; ST 
    escape_mask = '\033]8;{};{}\033\\{}\033]8;;\033\\'

    return escape_mask.format(parameters, uri, label)

Call that function with link('https://example.com/') to get a simple, clickable link, or link('https://example.com/', 'example') for a custom label.

Note that links are faintly underlined in your terminal, and not all of them support the feature.

answered Mar 1, 2022 at 13:33

WayToDoor

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2 Comments

nikicat Mar 2 at 11:20

What are available values for parameters ?

WayToDoor Mar 3 at 14:08

Check this gist out: gist.github.com/egmontkob/eb114294efbcd5adb1944c9f3cb5feda The only parameter is id=someID that allows the emulators to highlight correctly a link that would be "broken" in multiple places, such as by tmux or a windowed text editor

Loïc · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-04 10:00:32Z

4

Yes, using some tools, like gNewt or Curses, you could create a button and 'on click' do an action (like open a browser to a given url).

gNewt : http://gnewt.sourceforge.net/

nCurses : https://docs.python.org/3.7/library/curses.html

Otherwise, it's the terminal application that will manage the text you give it, and if it doesn't implement uri's recognition your program won't work as you'd like.

edited Nov 4, 2016 at 10:00

answered Nov 4, 2016 at 9:52

Loïc

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2 Comments

Loïc Over a year ago

It should be! Using widgets : urwid.org/reference/widget.html see set_text() and mouse_event()

Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Over a year ago

Did gNewt get a new website? The sourceforge link is broken.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:32:39Z

1

No, some consoles do recognize urls and convert them to a clickable hyperlink. All you can do is make it easy to recognize for console applications by putting a http:// in your url.

Also see How does bash recognize a link?

edited May 23, 2017 at 10:32

CommunityBot

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answered Nov 4, 2016 at 9:43

vriesdemichael

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