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Create Single Choice Poll

A single choice poll is a type of poll that only allows users to select one option. This type of poll does not include a note or correct answer.

Poll Syntax​

To send polls to Telegram, use the p: keyword to define the poll section. Let's explain the syntax:

╭────────── The start of the poll section
|          ╭────────── The poll question
|          |
|  ╭────────────────╮
p: How are you today?
    Amazing    ╮
    Good       |
    Bad        |────────── The poll options
    Horrible   |
               ╯ 
╰──╯─────╮
         |
         ╰───────── An indentation to identify the options

You must follow these rules:

  1. The poll question length must be between 1 and 255 characters.
  2. Each option length must be between 1 and 100 characters.
  3. The number of options must be between 2 and 10.
  4. Prefix the options with indentation.
  5. The section header must not contain spaces before p:.

Example​

Create a file named poll.mcq (it must have the .mcq extension) and write:

poll.mcq
p: How are you today?
    Amazing
    Good
    Bad
    Horrible

p: What is your favorite programming language
    1. C/C++
    2. Rust
    3. Go
    4. Python
    5. JavaScript
    6. Ruby
    7. C#
    8. PHP

You can add as many polls as you want. After writing, check the syntax using:

mcqp check poll.mcq

You will see a message like this:

[INFO] @parser - found 2/poll and 0/question and 0/message
[INFO] @checker - Everything looks good.
note

You don't need to check every time - syntax checking is performed by default before sending to Telegram.

To send the file to Telegram, use:

mcqp send poll.mcq

This command will check the syntax and then send the poll.mcq file to your bot on Telegram.

Common Errors​

Let's look at some common errors and their explanations.

Commented Section Start​

poll_errors.mcq
// p: Do you know Rust?
    a. Yes
    b. No

If we try to check this file poll_errors.mcq, it will throw an error in line 2 because the parser does not recognize what a. means.

Section Ended with Comment​

poll_errors.mcq
p: Do you know Rust?
    a. Yes
// in this comment we ended the poll section
    b. No

If we try to check this file poll_errors.mcq, it will throw an error in line 4 because the parser does not recognize what b. means. The poll section ends at the comment line, and the parser treats b. No as a new section, but b. is not a valid keyword.

Not an Error​

poll_errors.mcq
p: Do you know Rust?
    a. Yes
    // This is NOT a comment! This is part of the options
    b. No

This will NOT throw an error because comments within the indentation block are treated as part of the options.

Missing Poll Question​

poll_errors.mcq
p: 
    a. Yes
    b. No

If we try to check this file poll_errors.mcq, it will throw an error in line 1 because the poll question length is 0, and it must be between 1 and 255 characters.

No Options​

poll_errors.mcq
p: Do you know Rust?

If we try to check this file poll_errors.mcq, it will throw an error in line 1 because there are no options, and you must have between 2 and 10 options.