Dialog is an application used in shell scripts which displays text user interface widgets.

Dialog was created by Savio Lam (first reported version 0.3 was in 1994).

[5] At least one fork exists, a FreeBSD-only split into application and library in late 1994.

[6][7] One might also consider lxdialog (part of menuconfig), except that it has been reduced to fragments that can no longer run dialog scripts.

There are several programs inspired by dialog; not all read the same scripts.