Are there alternative solutions or libraries that can be used to create input masks in a console interface with PHP, aside from ncurses?

To create input masks in a console interface with PHP without using ncurses, you can utilize the readline extension. This extension provides a simple interface for prompting the user for input and controlling the input format. By using readline functions, you can create input masks for various types of input, such as restricting the input to specific characters or formats.

<?php
// Enable readline support
if (!function_exists('readline')) {
    die('The readline extension is not available. Please install it to use input masks.');
}

// Prompt the user for input with a specified mask
$input = readline("Enter a phone number (###-###-####): ");
if (!preg_match('/^\d{3}-\d{3}-\d{4}$/', $input)) {
    echo "Invalid phone number format. Please try again.\n";
    // Prompt the user again or handle the error accordingly
}