ANSICON provides ANSI escape sequences for Windows console programs. It
provides much the same functionality as ANSI.SYS does for MS-DOS.
- 32-bit: Windows 2000 Professional or later (it won't work with NT or 9X).
- 64-bit: Vista or later (it won't work with XP64).
Add x86 (if your OS is 32-bit) or x64 (if 64-bit) to your PATH, or copy
the relevant files to a directory already in the PATH.
Alternatively, use option -i (or -I, if permitted) to install it
permanently, by adding an entry to CMD.EXE's AutoRun registry value (current
user or local machine, respectively).
- Delete
ANSI.dll, it has been replaced withANSI32.dll. - Delete
ANSI-LLA.exeandANSI-LLW.exe, they are no longer used. - Uninstall a pre-1.50 version and reinstall with this version.
Uninstall simply involves closing any programs that are currently using it;
running with -u (and/or -U) to remove it from AutoRun, removing the
directory from PATH, and deleting the files. No other changes are made
(although you may have created custom environment variables).
Running ANSICON with no arguments will start a new instance of the command
processor (the program defined by the ComSpec environment variable, typically
CMD.EXE), or display standard input if it is redirected. Any argument will be
treated as a program and its arguments.
Options (case-sensitive):
-l Log to `%TEMP%\ansicon.log`.
-p Enable the parent process (i.e. the command shell used to run
ANSICON) to recognise escapes.
-m Set the current (and default) attribute to grey on black
(`monochrome`), or the attribute following the `m` (please
use `COLOR /?` for attribute values).
-e Echo the command line - a space or tab after the `e` is
ignored, the remainder is displayed verbatim.
-E Like `e`, but no newline is added.
-t Display ("type") each file (or standard input if none or the
name is `-`) as though they are a single file.
-T Display `==> FILE NAME <==`, a blank line (or an error
message), the file and another blank line.
For example, to display file.ans using black on cyan as the default color:
ansicon -m30 -t file.ans
The attribute may start with - to permanently reverse the foreground and
background colors (but not when using -p).
For example, to use reversed black on white as the default (i.e. white on black, with foreground sequences changing the background):
ansicon -m-f0 -t file.log
If you experience trouble with certain programs, the log may help in finding the
cause; it can be found at %TEMP%\ansicon.log. A number should follow the l:
0 No logging
1 Log process start and end
2 Above, plus log modules used by the process
3 Above, plus log functions that are hooked
4 Log console output (add to any of the above)
8 Append to the existing file (add to any of the above)
16 Log all imported modules (add to any of the above)
The log option will not work with -p; set the environment variable
ANSICON_LOG instead. The variable is only read once when a new process is
started; changing it won't affect running processes. If you identify a module
that causes problems, add it to the ANSICON_EXC environment variable (see
ANSICON_API below, but the extension is required).
E.g.: ansicon -l5 will start a new command processor, logging every process it
starts along with their output.
Once installed, the ANSICON environment variable will be created. This variable
is of the form WxH (wxh), where W & H are the width and height of the
buffer and w & h are the width and height of the window. The variable is
updated whenever a program reads it directly (i.e. as an individual request, not
as part of the entire environment block). For example, set an will not update
it, but echo %ansicon% will.
Also created is ANSICON_VER, which contains the version without the point
(1.50 becomes 150). This variable does not exist as part of the environment
block (set an will not show it).
If installed, GUI programs will not be hooked. Either start the program
directly with ansicon, or add it to the ANSICON_GUI variable (see
ANSICON_API below).
Using ansicon after install will always start with the default attributes,
restoring the originals on exit; all other programs will use the current
attributes. The shift state is always reset for a new process.
The Windows API WriteFile and WriteConsoleA functions will set the number of
characters written, not the number of bytes. When using a multibyte character
set, this results in a smaller number (since multiple bytes are used to
represent a single character). Some programs recognise this as a reduced write
and will inadvertently repeat previous characters. If you discover such a
program, use the ANSICON_API environment variable to record it and override
the API, returning the original byte count. Ruby (prior to 1.9.3) is an example
of such a program, so use set ANSICON_API=ruby to avoid the repitition. The
full syntax is:
ANSICON_API=[!]program;program;program...
PROGRAM is the name of the program, with no path and extension. The leading exclamation inverts the usage, meaning the API will always be overridden, unless the program is in the list. The variable can be made permanent by going to System Properties, selecting the Advanced tab (with Vista onwards, this can be done by running "SystemPropertiesAdvanced") and clicking Environment Variables.
-
The entire console buffer is used, not just the visible window.
-
There's a conflict with NVIDIA's drivers, requiring the setting of the Environment Variable:
ANSICON_EXC=nvd3d9wrap.dll;nvd3d9wrapx.dll
The following escape sequences are recognised.
\e]0;titleBEL Set (xterm) window's title (and icon)
\e[21t Report (xterm) window's title
\e[s Save Cursor
\e[u Restore Cursor
\e[#G CHA Cursor Character Absolute
\e[#E CNL Cursor Next Line
\e[#F CPL Cursor Preceding Line
\e[#D CUB Cursor Left
\e[#B CUD Cursor Down
\e[#C CUF Cursor Right
\e[#;#H CUP Cursor Position
\e[#A CUU Cursor Up
\e[#P DCH Delete Character
\e[?25h DECTCEM DEC Text Cursor Enable Mode (show cursor)
\e[?25l DECTCEM DEC Text Cursor Enable Mode (hide cursor)
\e[#M DL Delete Line
\e[#n DSR Device Status Report
\e[#X ECH Erase Character
\e[#J ED Erase In Page
\e[#K EL Erase In Line
\e[#` HPA Character Position Absolute
\e[#j HPB Character Position Backward
\e[#a HPR Character Position Forward
\e[#;#f HVP Character And Line Position
\e[#@ ICH Insert Character
\e[#L IL Insert Line
SI LS0 Locking-shift Zero (see below)
SO LS1 Locking-shift One
\e[#;#;#m SGR Select Graphic Rendition
\e[#d VPA Line Position Absolute
\e[#k VPB Line Position Backward
\e[#e VPR Line Position Forward
\erepresents the escape character (ASCII 27).#represents a decimal number (optional, in most cases defaulting to 1).- BEL, SO, and SI are ASCII 7, 14 and 15.
- Regarding SGR: bold will set the foreground intensity; blink and underline
will set the background intensity; conceal uses background as foreground.
See
sequences.txtfor a more complete description.
I make a distinction between \e[m and \e[0;...m. Both will restore the
original foreground/background colors (so 0 should be the first parameter);
the former will also restore the original bold and underline attributes, whilst
the latter will explicitly reset them. The environment variable ANSICON_DEF
can be used to change the default colors (same value as -m; setting the
variable does not change the current colors).
The following escape sequences are explicitly ignored.
\e(? Designate G0 character set ('?' is any character).
\e)? Designate G1 character set ('?' is any character).
\e[?... Private sequence
\e[>... Private sequence
The G0 character set is always ASCII; the G1 character set is always the DEC Special Graphics Character Set.
This is my interpretation of the set, as shown by http://vt100.net/docs/vt220-rm/table2-4.html.
Char Unicode Code Point & Name
---- -------------------------
_ U+0020 Space (blank)
` U+2666 Black Diamond Suit
a U+2592 Medium Shade
b U+2409 Symbol For Horizontal Tabulation
c U+240C Symbol For Form Feed
d U+240D Symbol For Carriage Return
e U+240A Symbol For Line Feed
f U+00B0 Degree Sign
g U+00B1 Plus-Minus Sign
h U+2424 Symbol For Newline
i U+240B Symbol For Vertical Tabulation
j U+2518 Box Drawings Light Up And Left
k U+2510 Box Drawings Light Down And Left
l U+250C Box Drawings Light Down And Right
m U+2514 Box Drawings Light Up And Right
n U+253C Box Drawings Light Vertical And Horizontal
o U+00AF Macron (SCAN 1)
p U+25AC Black Rectangle (SCAN 3)
q U+2500 Box Drawings Light Horizontal (SCAN 5)
r U+005F Low Line (SCAN 7)
s U+005F Low Line (SCAN 9)
t U+251C Box Drawings Light Vertical And Right
u U+2524 Box Drawings Light Vertical And Left
v U+2534 Box Drawings Light Up And Horizontal
w U+252C Box Drawings Light Down And Horizontal
x U+2502 Box Drawings Light Vertical
y U+2264 Less-Than Or Equal To
z U+2265 Greater-Than Or Equal To
{ U+03C0 Greek Small Letter Pi
| U+2260 Not Equal To
} U+00A3 Pound Sign
~ U+00B7 Middle Dot
G1.txt is a Unicode file to view the glyphs "externally". G1.bat is a batch
file (using x86\ansicon) to show the glyphs in the console. The characters
will appear as they should using Lucida (other than the Symbols), but code page
will influence them when using a raster font (but of particular interest, 437
and 850 both show the Box Drawings).
-
Jean-Louis Morel, for his Perl package
Win32::Console::ANSI. It provided the basis ofANSI.dll. -
Sergey Oblomov (hoopoepg), for Console Manager. It provided the basis of
ansicon.exe. -
Anton Bassov's article "Process-wide API spying - an ultimate hack" in "The Code Project".
-
Richard Quadling - his persistence in finding bugs has made ANSICON what it is today.
-
Dmitry Menshikov, Marko Bozikovic and Philippe Villiers, for their assistance in making the 64-bit version a reality.
-
Luis Lavena and the Ruby people for additional improvements.
-
Leigh Hebblethwaite for documentation tweaks.
-
Vincent Fatica for pointing out
\e[Kwas not right.
mailto:[email protected]
http://ansicon.adoxa.vze.com/
https://github.com/adoxa/ansicon
The original zipfile can be freely distributed, by any means. However, I would like to be informed if it is placed on a CD-ROM (other than an archive compilation; permission is granted, I'd just like to know).
Modified versions may be distributed, provided it is indicated as such in the version text and a source diff is made available.
In particular, the supplied binaries are freely redistributable.
A formal license (zlib) is available in LICENSE.txt.
Copyright 2005-2014 Jason Hood