(5.12) ANSI Escape Sequences

What ANSI escape sequences can be used?

ANSI escape sequences provide cursor and screen control in OS/2 Warp character mode sessions. By default ANSI support is turned ON (although it may be turned off with the command ANSI OFF). ANSI support is also available in DOS sessions if the device driver ANSI.SYS is loaded. See the online Command Reference for details.

The following ANSI escape sequences are available:

Key

ESC

Refers to ASCII code 27 (i.e. the Escape key)

#

Replace with the appropriate number

....

Replace with additional attributes, if desired

Escape Code Sequence

Function

Cursor Controls

ESC[#;#H or ESC[#;#f

Moves cursor to line #, column #

ESC[#A

Moves cursor up # lines

ESC[#B

Moves cursor down # lines

ESC[#C

Moves cursor forward # spaces

ESC[#D

Moves cursor back # spaces

ESC[#;#R

Reports current cursor line and column

ESC[s

Saves cursor position for recall later

ESC[u

Return to saved cursor position

Erase Functions

ESC[2J

Clear screen and home cursor

ESC[K

Clear to end of line

Set Graphics Rendition

ESC[#;#;....;#m

Set display attributes where # is

0 for normal display

1 bold on

4 underline (mono only)

5 blink on

7 reverse video on

8 nondisplayed (invisible)

30 black foreground

31 red foreground

32 green foreground

33 yellow foreground

34 blue foreground

35 magenta foreground

36 cyan foreground

37 white foreground

40 black background

41 red background

42 green background

43 yellow background

44 blue background

45 magenta background

46 cyan background

47 white background

ESC[=#;7h

Put screen in indicated mode where # is

0 for 40x25 black and white

1 40x25 color

2 80x25 black and white

3 80x25 color

4 320x200 color graphics

5 320x200 black and white graphics

6 640x200 black and white graphics

7 to wrap at end of line

ESC[=#;7l

Resets mode # set with above command

Keyboard Reassignments

ESC[#;#;....#p

The first ASCII code defines what is to be changed; the remaining codes define what it is to be changed to; strings are permitted.

Examples:

ESC[65;81p - A becomes Q

ESC[81;65p - Q becomes A

ESC[0;68;"dir";13p - Assign the F10 key to a DIR command.

The 0;68 portion is the extended ASCII code for the F10 key and 13 is the ASCII code for a carriage return.

Other function key codes: F1=59, F2=60, F3=61, ... F10=68.

You can use ANSI escape sequences in the PROMPT environment variable to create complex command line prompts. See the online Command Reference (under PROMPT) for details.

For example, if you have a color monitor, try editing your CONFIG.SYS file so that

SET PROMPT=$e[32;40m$e[1m[$P]$e[0m

to obtain a more colorful OS/2 Warp command line prompt. (Case is significant in the example given.) You can do the same for your DOS sessions if you edit PROMPT in AUTOEXEC.BAT, assuming you have ANSI.SYS loaded. Note that the $i portion of your PROMPT will enable the help line at the top of the window or screen. It is not included in the example above.

Related information:

(5.10) Clever Tricks