Intro

ANSI Escape sequences are used to perform special operations on the terminal, such as changing the output color, making it bold, printing at a specified coordinate etc.

The sequences

Wherever you see ‘#’, that should be replaced by the appropriate number.

Cursor Controls:

ESC[#;#H or ESC[#;#f (Moves cusor 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 & 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

• 00 for normal display (or just 0)
• 01 for bold on (or just 1)
• 02 faint (or just 2)
• 03 standout (or just 3)
• 04 underline (or just 4)
• 05 blink on (or just 5)
• 07 reverse video on (or just 7)
• 08 nondisplayed (invisible) ( or just 8 )
• 22 normal
• 23 no-standout
• 24 no-underline
• 25 no-blink
• 27 no-reverse
• 30 black foreground
• 31 red foreground
• 32 green foreground
• 33 yellow foreground
• 34 blue foreground
• 35 magenta foreground
• 36 cyan foreground
• 37 white foreground
• 39 default 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
• 49 default background

 

ESC[=#;7h or (Put screen in indicated mode where # is)
ESC[=h or (0 for 40 x 25 black & white)


ESC[=0h or (1 for 40 x 25 color)


ESC[?7h (2 for 80 x 25 b&w)

• 3 for 80 x 25 color
• 4 for 320 x 200 color graphics
• 5 for 320 x 200 b & w graphics
• 6 for 640 x 200 b & w graphics
• 7 to wrap at end of line

ESC[=#;7l or ESC[=l or (Resets mode # set with above command)
ESC[=0l or ESC[?7l

Keyboard Reassignments:
ESC[#;#;…p (Keyboard reassignment. The first ASCII)


or ESC[”string”p (code defines which code is to be)


or ESC[#;”string”;#; (changed. The remaining codes define)


#;”string”;#p (what it is to be changed to)

E.g. Reassign the Q and q keys to the A and a keys (and vice versa).
ESC [65;81p (A becomes Q)


ESC [97;113p (a becomes q)


ESC [81;65p (Q becomes A)


ESC [113;97p (q becomes a)

E.g. Reassign the F10 key to a DIR command.

ESC [0;68;”dir”;13p (The 0;68 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,F4=62,F5=63
F6=64,F7=65,F8=66,F9=67,F10=68