Invoke a picker in program code

picker.rb

# How to invoke a picker in your code to select items interactively.

PICKER = 'fzf'
PICKER_OPTS = '-m'              # allow multiple selection

def picker(prog, entries)
  in_ary = entries.map(&:to_s)
  IO.popen(prog, "r+") { |pipe|
    in_ary.each {|e| pipe.puts(e)}
    pipe.close_write
    pipe.readlines.map {|line| entries[in_ary.index(line.chomp)]}
  }
end

# integers
data = [1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21]

selected = picker([PICKER, PICKER_OPTS], data)
pp selected

# strings
data = Dir.glob(File.expand_path("*", "~"))
selected = picker([PICKER, PICKER_OPTS], data)
pp selected

# complex structures
data = [["iMac", 2020], ["Mac mini", 2009], ["iPhone SE", 2020], ["iPad", 2010]]
selected = selected = picker([PICKER, PICKER_OPTS], data)
pp selected