ANSI Escape Codes Generator - Format Terminal Output

Generate and understand ANSI escape codes to format your terminal output with colors, styles, and backgrounds. A free tool for developers to enhance command-line interfaces.

ANSI Escape Codes

Understanding ANSI Escape Codes for Terminal Formatting

ANSI escape codes are a standard for controlling text formatting and cursor position in text terminals. They allow you to add color, style (like bold or underline), and even control the cursor's movement, making your command-line output more readable and visually appealing. This tool provides a comprehensive list of common ANSI escape codes for various formatting options.

Common ANSI Escape Code Categories

Text Formatting Codes

These codes modify the appearance of the text itself, such as its color or boldness.

Background Color Codes

These codes set the background color behind the text.

Style and Intensity Codes

These codes apply styles like underline or high intensity to the text.

Reset Code

The reset code is crucial for returning the terminal to its default state after applying formatting.

# Reset
Color_Off='\e[0m'       # Text Reset

# Regular Colors
Black='\e[0;30m'        # Black
Red='\e[0;31m'          # Red
Green='\e[0;32m'        # Green
Yellow='\e[0;33m'       # Yellow
Blue='\e[0;34m'         # Blue
Purple='\e[0;35m'       # Purple
Cyan='\e[0;36m'         # Cyan
White='\e[0;37m'        # White

# Bold
BBlack='\e[1;30m'       # Black
BRed='\e[1;31m'         # Red
BGreen='\e[1;32m'       # Green
BYellow='\e[1;33m'      # Yellow
BBlue='\e[1;34m'        # Blue
BPurple='\e[1;35m'      # Purple
BCyan='\e[1;36m'        # Cyan
BWhite='\e[1;37m'       # White

# Underline
UBlack='\e[4;30m'       # Black
URed='\e[4;31m'         # Red
UGreen='\e[4;32m'       # Green
UYellow='\e[4;33m'      # Yellow
UBlue='\e[4;34m'        # Blue
UPurple='\e[4;35m'      # Purple
UCyan='\e[4;36m'        # Cyan
UWhite='\e[4;37m'       # White

# Background
On_Black='\e[40m'       # Black
On_Red='\e[41m'         # Red
On_Green='\e[42m'       # Green
On_Yellow='\e[43m'      # Yellow
On_Blue='\e[44m'        # Blue
On_Purple='\e[45m'      # Purple
On_Cyan='\e[46m'        # Cyan
On_White='\e[47m'       # White

# High Intensity
IBlack='\e[0;90m'       # Black
IRed='\e[0;91m'         # Red
IGreen='\e[0;92m'       # Green
IYellow='\e[0;93m'      # Yellow
IBlue='\e[0;94m'        # Blue
IPurple='\e[0;95m'      # Purple
ICyan='\e[0;96m'        # Cyan
IWhite='\e[0;97m'       # White

# Bold High Intensity
BIBlack='\e[1;90m'      # Black
BIRed='\e[1;91m'        # Red
BIGreen='\e[1;92m'      # Green
BIYellow='\e[1;93m'     # Yellow
BIBlue='\e[1;94m'       # Blue
BIPurple='\e[1;95m'     # Purple
BICyan='\e[1;96m'       # Cyan
BIWhite='\e[1;97m'      # White

# High Intensity backgrounds
On_IBlack='\e[0;100m'   # Black
On_IRed='\e[0;101m'     # Red
On_IGreen='\e[0;102m'   # Green
On_IYellow='\e[0;103m'  # Yellow
On_IBlue='\e[0;104m'    # Blue
On_IPurple='\e[0;105m'  # Purple
On_ICyan='\e[0;106m'    # Cyan
On_IWhite='\e[0;107m'   # White

How to Use ANSI Escape Codes

To use these codes in your shell scripts or applications, you typically embed them within strings. For example, to print "Hello, World!" in red, you would use something like:

echo -e "\e[31mHello, World!\e[0m"

The -e flag for the echo command enables the interpretation of backslash escapes. The \e[31m sets the color to red, and \e[0m resets it. Experiment with different codes to create vibrant and informative terminal outputs.

External Resources