NAME

ansiecho - Echo command with ANSI terminal code

VERSION

Version 0.02

SYNOPSIS

ansiecho -c R Red -c M/551 Magenta/Yellow -c FSDB BlinkReverseBoldBlue

ansiecho -f '[ %12s ]' -c SR -f '%+06d' 123

ansiecho -C '555/(132,0,41)' d i g i t a l

DESCRIPTION

ECHO

ansiecho print arguments with ANSI terminal escape sequence according to the given color specification.

In a simple case, ansiecho behave exactly same as echo command.

ansiecho a b c

Like echo command, option -n disables to print newline at the end. Option -j (or --join) removes white space between arguments.

COLOR

You can specify color of each argument by preceding with -c option:

ansiecho -c R a -c GI b -c BD c

This command print strings a, b and c according to the color spec of R (Red), GI (Green Italic) and BD (Blue Bold) respectively.

Foreground/Background color can be specified by 8+8 standard colors, 24 gray scales, 6x6x6 216 colors, RGB values or color names, with special effects such as I (Italic), D (Double-struck; Bold), S (Stand-out; Reverse Video) and such.

Color example:

RGB  6x6x6    12bit      24bit           color name
===  =======  =========  =============  ==================
B    005      #00F       (0,0,255)      <blue>
 /M     /505      /#F0F   /(255,0,255)  /<magenta>
K/W  000/555  #000/#FFF  000000/FFFFFF  <black>/<white>
R/G  500/050  #F00/#0F0  FF0000/00FF00  <red>/<green>
W/w  L03/L20  #333/#ccc  303030/c6c6c6  <dimgrey>/<lightgrey>

More information is described in "COLOR SPEC" section.

12bit/24bit colors are converted to 216 colors because most terminal can not display them. If you are using full-color terminal, such as iTerm2 on Mac, use --rgb24 option or set GETOPTEX_RGB24 environment variable to produce full-color sequence.

FORMAT

Format string can be specified with -f option, and it behaves like a printf command.

ansiecho -f '[ %5s : %5s : %5s ]' -c R RED -c G GREEN -c B BLUE

You can use backslash escape characters in the format string. See "STRING LITERAL" section.

Formatted result becomes a single argument, and can be a subject of other operation. In next example, numbers are formatted, colored, and gave to other format.

ansiecho -f '\N{ALARM CLOCK} %s' -c KF/544 -f ' %02d:%02d:%02d ' 1 2 3

Formatting is done by Perl sprintf function. See "sprintf" in perlfunc for detail.

ANSI SEQUENCE

With normal usage, ansiecho print given argument with introducer and reset sequences.

To get just a desired sequence, use -s option. Next example produce ANSI terminal sequence to indicate deeppink color with lightyellow background.

ansiecho -n -s '<deeppink>/<lightyellow>'

You will get the next result with 256-color terminal:

^[[38;5;198;48;5;230m

and the next with full-color terminal:

^[[38;2;255;20;147;48;2;255;255;224m

Option -z does almost same thing, but it append a sequence to the final argument. Next two commands are equivalent.

ansiecho -c R Red
ansiecho -s R Red -z ZE

Color spec ZE produces RESET and ERASE LINE sequence.

Because -s and -z does not produce RESET sequence, you can use them to accumulate the effects.

ansiecho -s R R -s U RU -s I RUI -s S RUIS -s F RUISF -z Z

OPTIONS

In general, argument strings can include backslash escaped characters. For example, \n stands for a new line. As for normal argument other than option parameter, option --escape can control this behavior. See "STRING LITERAL" section.

• -n

  Do not print newline at the end.

• -e, --[-no]escape

  Enable interpretation of backslash escapes in the normal string argument. This option is enabled by default, unlink normal echo(1) command. Use --no-escape to disable it.

• -j, --join

  Do not print space between arguments.

• -c spec string

  Print string in a color given by spec.

• -f format args ...

  Print args in a given format.

  The result of -f sequence ends up to a single argument, and can be a subject of other -c or -f option.

  Number of arguments are calculated from the number of % characters in the format string except %%. Variable width and precision parameter * can be used like %*s or %*.*s.

  Format string also can be made by -f option. Next command works, but second one is better.

    ansiecho -f -f '%%%ds' 16 hello
  
    ansiecho -f '%*s' 16 hello
  

• -C spec

  Option -C set permanent color which is applied to all following arguments until option -E found.

  Next command prints only a word Yellow in yellow, but second one print Yellow, Brick, and Road in yellow.

    ansiecho Follow the -cYS Yellow Brick Road
  
    ansiecho Follow the -CYS Yellow Brick Road
  

  You may want to color the phrase instead.

    ansiecho Follow the -cYS "Yellow Brick Road"
  

  Option -C can be used multiple times mixed with -F option. See below.

• -F format

  As with the -C option, -F defines a format which is applied to all arguments until option -E found. Format string have to include single %s placeholder.

    ansiecho Follow the -CYS -F ' %s ' Yellow Brick Road
  

  Option -C and -F can be used repeatedly, and they will take effect in the reverse order of their appearance.

  Next command show argument A in underline/bold with blinking red arrow.

    ansiecho -cRF -f'->%s' -cUD A B C
  

  Next one does the same thing for all arguments.

    ansiecho -CRF -F'->%s' -CUD A B C
  

• -E spec

  Terminate -C and -F effects.

• -s spec

• -z spec

  Add raw ANSI sequence given by spec. Option -s add the sequence to the new argument, while -z add to the final argument. There are no difference when used with -j option or with single-or-less argument.

• -r string (raw)

  Append next string to the final argument with backslash escape interpretation.

  This option can be used to stringify the option argument. Next example does not work without -r.

    ansiecho -c R -r -c
  
    ansiecho -f %s -r -c
  

  In these cases, be aware that string -c is mixed up with next argument.

• --separate string

  Set separator string between each arguments. Option -j is a short-cut for --separate ''.

• --[no]rgb24

  Produce 24bit full-color sequence for 12bit/24bit specified colors. They are converted to 216 colors by default.

STRING LITERAL

This is a backslash escape samples described in "Quote and Quote-like Operators" in perlop.

Sequence     Description
\t           tab               (HT, TAB)
\n           newline           (NL)
\r           return            (CR)
\f           form feed         (FF)
\b           backspace         (BS)
\a           alarm (bell)      (BEL)
\e           escape            (ESC)
\x{263A}     hex char          (example: SMILEY)
\x1b         restricted range hex char (example: ESC)
\N{name}     named Unicode character or character sequence
\N{U+263D}   Unicode character (example: FIRST QUARTER MOON)
\c[          control char      (example: chr(27))
\o{23072}    octal char        (example: SMILEY)
\033         restricted range octal char  (example: ESC)

COLOR SPEC

This is a brief summary. Read "COLOR SPEC" in Getopt::EX::Colormap for complete description.

Color specification is a combination of single uppercase character representing 8 colors, and alternative (usually brighter) colors in lowercase :

R  r  Red
G  g  Green
B  b  Blue
C  c  Cyan
M  m  Magenta
Y  y  Yellow
K  k  Black
W  w  White

or RGB values and 24 grey levels if using ANSI 256 or full color terminal :

(255,255,255)      : 24bit decimal RGB colors
#000000 .. #FFFFFF : 24bit hex RGB colors
#000    .. #FFF    : 12bit hex RGB 4096 colors
000 .. 555         : 6x6x6 RGB 216 colors
L00 .. L25         : Black (L00), 24 grey levels, White (L25)

or color names enclosed by angle bracket :

<red> <blue> <green> <cyan> <magenta> <yellow>
<aliceblue> <honeydue> <hotpink> <mooccasin>
<medium_aqua_marine>

with other special effects :

N    None
Z  0 Zero (reset)
D  1 Double-struck (boldface)
P  2 Pale (dark)
I  3 Italic
U  4 Underline
F  5 Flash (blink: slow)
Q  6 Quick (blink: rapid)
S  7 Stand-out (reverse video)
V  8 Vanish (concealed)
X  9 Crossed out

E    Erase Line

;    No effect
/    Toggle foreground/background
^    Reset to foreground
~    Cancel following effect

Samples:

RGB  6x6x6    12bit      24bit           color name
===  =======  =========  =============  ==================
B    005      #00F       (0,0,255)      <blue>
 /M     /505      /#F0F   /(255,0,255)  /<magenta>
K/W  000/555  #000/#FFF  000000/FFFFFF  <black>/<white>
R/G  500/050  #F00/#0F0  FF0000/00FF00  <red>/<green>
W/w  L03/L20  #333/#ccc  303030/c6c6c6  <dimgrey>/<lightgrey>

INSTALL

CPANMINUS

From CPAN archive:

$ cpanm App::ansiecho
or
$ curl -sL http://cpanmin.us | perl - App::ansiecho

From GIT repository:

cpanm https://github.com/kaz-utashiro/App-ansiecho.git

SEE ALSO

"Quote and Quote-like Operators" in perlop

Getopt::EX::Colormap

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code

Graphics::ColorNames::X

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names

App::ansifold, App::ansicolumn

AUTHOR

Kazumasa Utashiro

LICENSE

Copyright 2021 Kazumasa Utashiro.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.