This bash script will generate the proper ANSI escape sequences to move the cursor around the screen, make text bold, add colors and do much more. It is designed to help you colorize words and bits of text.

If it helps, you can think of it as a curses / ncurses library for bash, or a tool that helps you using tricks from DOS's ANSI.SYS. Or you might consider this to be your magic highlighter that has always been missing from bash.

Download ansi and put it somewhere in your path. Make sure that it is executable (chmod a+x ansi works well). Bash will need to be present, but it is often installed by default. No external commands are used; this only uses bash's built-in features.

# Download
curl -OL git.io/ansi

# Make executable
chmod 755 ansi

# Copy to somewhere in your path
sudo mv ansi /usr/local/bin/

Not all features will work with all terminals. Your terminal determines if particular codes work. You can override the terminal detection logic and force ansi to output color codes with the environment variable ANSI_FORCE_SUPPORT set to any non-empty value.

This package is also published as a BPM library. This means it can be loaded into other scripts or installed easily. The ansi library does not need any dependencies from BPM in order to work.

To use this as a standalone command, first install BPM and then run: bpm install ansi

To use this as a library, list ansi as a dependency in your bpm.ini file and include these lines at the top of your shell script:

. bpm
bpm::include ansi

Once loaded into the environment, the list of library functions below are available for your use.

The newer version of ansi has reversed an earlier decision about newlines at the end. Previously, calling ansi test would write "test" to the screen without a newline and ansi -n test would add a newline. As of August 2018, this has switched and ansi test will write out "test" with a newline. The -n flag is also switched. Sorry for the inconvenience that the earlier decision has caused and future confusion due to this flag switching. The goal is to align more closely with echo.

ansi [OPTIONS] [TEXT TO DISPLAY]

The OPTIONS are numerous and are detailed below. You can specify as many as you like. Option processing stops at the first unknown option and at --. Options are applied in the order specified on the command line. Colors are reset and attributes are restored to default unless --no-restore is used.

It often helps when one can see how to use a new tool, so here's how this library can be used.

# Write "Tests pass" in green on its own line
ansi --green --newline "Tests pass"

# Change the terminal's title to the working directory and
# do not write anything to the terminal.
ansi --title="$(pwd)" --no-newline

# Reset the terminal colors, reset to the default font, move the cursor
# to row 1 column 1, and show the cursor if it was previously hidden.
# This long line is the same as the --reset option.
ansi --erase-display=2 --position=1,1 --show-cursor \
    --reset-font --reset-color

# Find out how many lines the terminal can display
ansi --report-window-chars | cut -d , -f 1

Need more? Check out the examples/ folder.

When using the ansi command from a shell script or a prompt, there are a plethora of different options you can use. The syntax for using these options is as follows:

ansi [OPTIONS] [TEXT TO DISPLAY]

All options must be placed first. See the Examples section for more information. You can also see the entire list of options by running ansi --help.

The short version of these options comes from the command they are implementing.

• --insert-chars[=N], --insert-char[=N], --ich[=N] - Insert blanks at cursor, shifting the line right.
• --erase-display[=N], --ed[=N] - Erase in display. 0=below, 1=above, 2=all, 3=saved.
• --erase-lines[=N], --erase-line[=N], --el[=N] - Erase in line. 0=right, 1=left, 2=all.
• --insert-lines[=N], --insert-line[=N], --il[=N]
• --delete-lines[=N], --delete-line[=N], --dl[=N]
• --delete-chars[=N], --delete-char[=N], --dch[=N]
• --scroll-up[=N], --su[=N]
• --scroll-down[=N], --sd[=N]
• --erase-chars[=N], --erase-char[=N], --ech[=N]
• --repeat[=N], --rep[=N] - Repeat preceding character N times.

The short version of these options comes from the command they are implementing.

• --up[=N], --cuu[=N]
• --down[=N], --cud[=N]
• --forward[=N], --cuf[=N]
• --backward[=N], --cub[=N]
• --next-line[=N], --cnl[=N]
• --previous-line[=N], --prev-line[=N], --cpl[=N]
• --column[=N], --cha[=N]
• --position[=[ROW],[COL]], --cup[=[ROW],[COL]]
• --tab-forward[=N] - Move forward N tab stops.
• --tab-backward[=N] - Move backward N tab stops.
• --column-relative[=N], --hpr[=N]
• --line[=N], --vpa[=N]
• --line-relative[=N], --vpr[=N]
• --save-cursor - Saves the cursor position. By default, this will restore the cursor after writing text to the terminal unless you use --no-restore.
• --restore-cursor - This just restores the cursor position. Normally this executes at the end when you use --save-cursor.
• --hide-cursor - This also will show the cursor at the end unless you use --no-restore.
• --show-cursor

All of these options will automatically reset to normal text unless --no-reset is used. Below, the codes are grouped into similar functionality and the flag to disable that attribute is listed with the group it controls, so you can correlate the flags more easily.

• --bold and --faint can be reset with --normal
• --italic and --fraktur can be reset with --plain
• --underline and --double-underline are reset with --no-underline
• --blink and --rapid-blink are reset with --no-blink
• --inverse is removed with --no-inverse
• --invisible is changed back with --visible
• --strike is reset with --no-strike
• --frame and --encircle are reset with --no-border
• --overline is removed with --no-overline
• --ideogram-right, --ideogram-right-double, --ideogram-left, --ideogram-left-double, and --ideogram-stress are all removed with --reset-ideogram
• --font=NUM sets the font. NUM must be a single digit from 0 through 9. Font 0 is the default font.

All of these options will automatically reset to the default color unless --no-reset is used. To preview the colors, use --color-table.

• --black and --black-intense
• --red and --red-intense
• --green and --green-intense
• --yellow and --yellow-intense
• --blue and --blue-intense
• --magenta and --magenta-intense
• --cyan and --cyan-intense
• --white and --white-intense
• --color=CODE lets you use one of 256 codes - preview the codes using --color-codes
• --rgb=R,G,B sets a specific color

All of these options will automatically reset to the default color unless --no-reset is used. To preview the colors, use --color-table.

• --bg-black and --bg-black-intense
• --bg-red and --bg-red-intense
• --bg-green and --bg-green-intense
• --bg-yellow and --bg-yellow-intense
• --bg-blue and --bg-blue-intense
• --bg-magenta and --bg-magenta-intense
• --bg-cyan and --bg-cyan-intense
• --bg-white and --bg-white-intense
• --bg-color=CODE lets you use one of 256 codes - preview the codes using --color-codes
• --bg-rgb=R,G,B sets a specific color

These options force a reset of colors. This is useful if you used --no-reset or are correcting the appearance of a misbehaving terminal.

• --reset-attrib - Reset all attributes
• --reset-foreground - Reset the foreground to default
• --reset-background - Reset the background to default
• --reset-color - Reset all color-related settings
• --reset-font - Reset the font to the primary font

All of these commands send a special code to the terminal. The terminal responds as though someone typed something very fast. In order for these to work, ansi must read from stdin directly. This won't work if you are piping in a file or replace stdin in another way.

The ANSI codes are written to stdout in order that the terminal might respond immediately. The result of the report is written to stdout.

• --report-position - ROW,COL
• --report-window-state - "open" or "iconified"
• --report-window-position - X,Y
• --report-window-pixels - HEIGHT,WIDTH
• --report-window-chars - ROWS,COLS
• --report-screen-chars - ROWS,COLS (this is for the entire screen)
• --report-icon
• --report-title

• --color-table - Display a color table.
• --color-codes - Show all of the 256 color codes.
• --icon=NAME - Set the icon.
• --title=TITLE - Set the title of the terminal.
• --no-restore - Do not issue reset codes when changing colors and saving the cursor. For example, if you use --green then the text will automatically be reset to the default color when the command terminates. With --no-restore set, the text will stay green and subsequent commands that output will keep writing in green until something else changes the terminal.
• -n, --no-newline - Do not add a newline at the end.
• --bell - Add the terminal's bell sequence to the output.
• --reset - Reset all colors, clear the screen, show the cursor, restore the primary font, and move to 1,1.

If you decide to leverage ansi as a Bash library and you load its functions into your environment, you gain access to the following functions. You will notice that they, for the most part, mirror the option names of the command-line program. These functions only do their one task and do not reset the terminal when done. Any exceptions to this are clearly called out.

In order to source ansi into the environment you will have to use one of a few different methods.

Loading via BPM, after you add ansi to your dependencies in your bpm.ini file.

. bpm
bpm::include ansi

Loading when ansi is installed manually into your path somewhere. Coincidentally, this also works when you use BPM to install the tool globally.

. ansi

Loading when you include ansi in your project.

. path/to/the/file/ansi

When using this to change the color or perform terminal manipulation, make sure to send the reset codes.

ansi::green
echo "This is green text"

# You must manually reset the colors
ansi::resetForeground

All of the functions write to stdout except ansi::report. That one uses stderr to query the terminal and its result will go into the ANSI_REPORT environment variable.

None of the functions care if the terminal supports ANSI unless otherwise noted. They will happily write out ANSI codes even if the terminal will not recognize them.

The short version of these options comes from the command they are implementing.

• ansi::insertChars - Inserts blanks at the cursor, shifting the line right. Takes an optional argument for the number of characters.
• ansi::eraseDisplay - Takes an optional argument where 0 is below, 1 is above, 2 is all, and 3 is saved.
• ansi::eraseLine - Erase within a line. Takes an optional argument where 0 is right, 1 is left, and 2 is all.
• ansi::insertLines - Inserts lines at the cursor. Takes an optional argument for the number of lines.
• ansi::deleteLines - Takes an optional argument for the number of lines.
• ansi::deleteChars - Takes an optional argument for the number of characters.
• ansi::scrollUp - Takes an optional argument for the number of lines.
• ansi::scrollDown - Takes an optional argument for the number of lines.
• ansi::eraseChars - Takes an optional argument for the number of characters.
• ansi::repeat - Takes an optional argument for the number of times to repeat the preceding character.

The short version of these options comes from the command they are implementing.

• ansi::up - Moves the cursor up. Takes an optional argument for the number of lines.
• ansi::down - Moves the cursor down. Takes an optional argument for the number of lines.
• ansi::forward - Moves the cursor forwards. Takes an optional argument for the number of characters.
• ansi::backward - Moves the cursor backwards. Takes an optional argument for the number of characters.
• ansi::nextLine - Takes an optional argument for the number of lines.
• ansi::previousLine - Takes an optional argument for the number of lines.
• ansi::column - Moves to a column. Takes an optional argument for which column.
• ansi::position - Moves to a specific position. Takes an optional argument for the rows and columns in the format R,C. Both the row and the column are also optional.
• ansi::tabForward - Moves forward a number of tab stops. Takes an optional argument for the number of tab stops.
• ansi::tabBackward - Moves backward a number of tab stops. Takes an optional argument for the number of tab stops.
• ansi::columnRelative - Moves the cursor left or right a number of columns. Takes an optional argument for the number of columns.
• ansi::line - Moves the cursor to a specific line. Takes an optional argument for the line number.
• ansi::lineRelative Moves the cursor up or down a number of lines. Takes an optional argument for the number of lines.
• ansi::saveCursor - Saves the cursor position.
• ansi::restoreCursor - Restores the cursor position.
• ansi::hideCursor - Makes the cursor invisible.
• ansi::showCursor - Restores the normal cursor to the screen.

All of these options will automatically reset to normal text unless --no-reset is used. Below, the codes are grouped into similar functionality and the flag to disable that attribute is listed with the group it controls, so you can correlate the flags more easily.

• ansi::bold and ansi::faint can be reset with ansi::normal
• ansi::italic and ansi::fraktur can be reset with ansi::plain
• ansi::underline and ansi::double-underline are reset with ansi::noUnderline
• ansi::blink and ansi::rapidBlink are reset with ansi::noBlink
• ansi::inverse is removed with ansi::noInverse
• ansi::invisible is changed back with ansi::visible
• ansi::strike is reset with ansi::noStrike
• ansi::frame and ansi::encircle are reset with ansi::noBorder
• ansi::overline is removed with ansi::noOverline
• ansi::ideogramRight, ansi::ideogramRightDouble, ansi::ideogramLeft, ansi::ideogramLeftDouble, and ansi::ideogramStress are all removed with ansi::resetIdeogram
• ansi::font sets the font. It takes an optional argument that must be a single digit from 0 through 9. Font 0 is the default font.

All of these options will automatically reset to the default color unless --no-reset is used. To preview the colors, use --color-table.

• ansi::black and ansi::blackIntense
• ansi::red and ansi::redIntense
• ansi::green and ansi::greenIntense
• ansi::yellow and ansi::yellowIntense
• ansi::blue and ansi::blueIntense
• ansi::magenta and ansi::magentaIntense
• ansi::cyan and ansi::cyanIntense
• ansi::white and ansi::whiteIntense
• ansi::color - Takes a required argument of a color code, which is a number from 0 through 255. Preview the codes using ansi::colorCodes or running ansi --color-codes.
• ansi::rgb - Takes three required arguments of the red, green and blue color values. Each are numbers from 0 through 255.

All of these options will automatically reset to the default color unless --no-reset is used. To preview the colors, use --color-table.

• ansi::bgBlack and ansi::bgBlackIntense
• ansi::bgRed and ansi::bgRedIntense
• ansi::bgGreen and ansi::bgGreenIntense
• ansi::bgYellow and ansi::bgYellowIntense
• ansi::bgBlue and ansi::bgBlueIntense
• ansi::bgMagenta and ansi::bgMagentaIntense
• ansi::bgCyan and ansi::bgCyanIntense
• ansi::bgWhite and ansi::bgWhiteIntense
• ansi::bgColor - Takes a required argument of a color code, which is a number from 0 through 255. Preview the codes using ansi::colorCodes or running ansi --color-codes.
• ansi::bgRgb - Takes three required arguments of the red, green and blue color values. Each are numbers from 0 through 255.

These options force a reset of colors. This is useful if you used --no-reset or are correcting the appearance of a misbehaving terminal.

• ansi::resetAttributes - Reset all attributes
• ansi::resetForeground - Reset the foreground to default
• ansi::resetBackground - Reset the background to default
• ansi::resetColor - Reset all color-related settings
• ansi::resetFont - Reset the font to the primary font

All of these commands send a special code to the terminal. The terminal responds as though someone typed something very fast. In order for these to work, ansi must read from stdin directly. This won't work if you are piping in a file or replace stdin in another way.

The ANSI codes are written to stdout in order that the terminal might respond immediately. The result of the report is written to stdout.

• ansi::report - Helper function to assist with querying the terminal for information. Writes a query to stderr (file descriptor 2), listens for information from stdin (file descriptor 0) and returns the result through the environment variable ANSI_REPORT.
• ansi::reportPosition - ROW,COL
• ansi::reportWindowState - "open" or "iconified"
• ansi::reportWindowPosition - X,Y
• ansi::reportWindowPixels - HEIGHT,WIDTH
• ansi::reportWindowChars - ROWS,COLS
• ansi::reportScreenChars - ROWS,COLS (this is for the entire screen)
• ansi::reportIcon
• ansi::reportTitle

• ansi::colorTable - Display a color table.
• ansi::colorCodes - Show all of the 256 color codes.
• ansi::icon - Set the icon. Takes an optional argument of the icon to set.
• ansi::title - Set the title of the terminal. Takes an optional argument of the title to set.
• ansi::bell - Send the bell character to the terminal. The terminal may beep, ding, or produce no sound.
• ansi::reset - Reset all colors, clear the screen, show the cursor and move to 1,1.
• ansi::colorCodes - Show a table of the available color codes.
• ansi::colorCodePatch - Helper function to show a patch of color. Internal use only.
• ansi::colorTable - Show a table of the different standard colors, text attributes, and similar things.
• ansi::colorTableLine - Helper function to show a line of colors.
• ansi::isAnsiSupported - Returns true (0) when ANSI is supported. Tries checking using tools, falls back to querying the terminal.
• ansi::showHelp - Shows the help for the ansi command.
• ansi - This function will act identically to the ansi command. Calling ansi once the library has been sourced will not spawn a subshell and instead will call functions only, greatly increasing the speed.

When setting the icon and the title, make sure to quote the value correctly so spaces are sent within the argument.

# This will not work and instead just sets the title to "Tests"
ansi::title Tests are running

# This will work because everything is sent as a single argument
ansi::title "Tests are running"

This project is licensed under a MIT style license with an additional non-advertising clause. See LICENSE.md for more information.