val .select = f(.entries) {
    if not isArray(.entries): throw "invalid args"
    if len(.entries) == 0: return ""

    # print the menu
    writeln join "\n", map(f $"\.i:2;: \.e;", .entries, 1..len .entries)

    val .idx = toNumber read(
        "Select entry #: ",
        f(.x) {
            if not matching(RE/^[0-9]+$/, .x): return false
            val .y = toNumber .x
            .y > 0 and .y <= len(.entries)
        },
        "invalid selection\n", -1,
    )

    .entries[.idx]
}

writeln .select(["fee fie", "eat pi", "huff and puff", "tick tock"])