ANSI Escape Codes

ANSI.md

ANSI Escape Sequences

Standard escape codes are prefixed with Escape:

• Ctrl-Key: ^[
• Octal: \033
• Unicode: \u001b
• Hexadecimal: \x1B
• Decimal: 27

Followed by the command, somtimes delimited by opening square bracket ([), known as a Control Sequence Introducer (CSI), optionally followed by arguments and the command itself.

Arguments are delimeted by semi colon (;).

For example:

\x1b[1;31m  # Set style to bold, red foreground.

Sequences

• ESC - sequence starting with ESC (\x1B)
• CSI - Control Sequence Introducer: sequence starting with ESC [ or CSI (\x9B)
• DCS - Device Control String: sequence starting with ESC P or DCS (\x90)
• OSC - Operating System Command: sequence starting with ESC ] or OSC (\x9D)

Any whitespaces between sequences and arguments should be ignored. They are present for improved readability.

General ASCII Codes

Name	decimal	octal	hex	C-escape	Ctrl-Key	Description
BEL	7	007	0x07	\a	^G	Terminal bell
BS	8	010	0x08	\b	^H	Backspace
HT	9	011	0x09	\t	^I	Horizontal TAB
LF	10	012	0x0A	\n	^J	Linefeed (newline)
VT	11	013	0x0B	\v	^K	Vertical TAB
FF	12	014	0x0C	\f	^L	Formfeed (also: New page NP)
CR	13	015	0x0D	\r	^M	Carriage return
ESC	27	033	0x1B	\e*	^[	Escape character
DEL	127	177	0x7F	<none>	<none>	Delete character

Note: Some control escape sequences, like \e for ESC, are not guaranteed to work in all languages and compilers. It is recommended to use the decimal, octal or hex representation as escape code.

Note: The Ctrl-Key representation is simply associating the non-printable characters from ASCII code 1 with the printable (letter) characters from ASCII code 65 ("A"). ASCII code 1 would be ^A (Ctrl-A), while ASCII code 7 (BEL) would be ^G (Ctrl-G). This is a common representation (and input method) and historically comes from one of the VT series of terminals.

Cursor Controls

ESC Code Sequence	Description
ESC[H	moves cursor to home position (0, 0)
ESC[{line};{column}H ESC[{line};{column}f	moves cursor to line #, column #
ESC[#A	moves cursor up # lines
ESC[#B	moves cursor down # lines
ESC[#C	moves cursor right # columns
ESC[#D	moves cursor left # columns
ESC[#E	moves cursor to beginning of next line, # lines down
ESC[#F	moves cursor to beginning of previous line, # lines up
ESC[#G	moves cursor to column #
ESC[6n	request cursor position (reports as ESC[#;#R)
ESC M	moves cursor one line up, scrolling if needed
ESC 7	save cursor position (DEC)
ESC 8	restores the cursor to the last saved position (DEC)
ESC[s	save cursor position (SCO)
ESC[u	restores the cursor to the last saved position (SCO)

Note: Some sequences, like saving and restoring cursors, are private sequences and are not standardized. While some terminal emulators (i.e. xterm and derived) support both SCO and DEC sequences, they are likely to have different functionality. It is therefore recommended to use DEC sequences.

Erase Functions

ESC Code Sequence	Description
ESC[J	erase in display (same as ESC[0J)
ESC[0J	erase from cursor until end of screen
ESC[1J	erase from cursor to beginning of screen
ESC[2J	erase entire screen
ESC[3J	erase saved lines
ESC[K	erase in line (same as ESC[0K)
ESC[0K	erase from cursor to end of line
ESC[1K	erase start of line to the cursor
ESC[2K	erase the entire line

Note: Erasing the line won't move the cursor, meaning that the cursor will stay at the last position it was at before the line was erased. You can use \r after erasing the line, to return the cursor to the start of the current line.

Colors / Graphics Mode

ESC Code Sequence	Reset Sequence	Description
ESC[1;34;{...}m		Set graphics modes for cell, separated by semicolon (;).
ESC[0m		reset all modes (styles and colors)
ESC[1m	ESC[22m	set bold mode.
ESC[2m	ESC[22m	set dim/faint mode.
ESC[3m	ESC[23m	set italic mode.
ESC[4m	ESC[24m	set underline mode.
ESC[5m	ESC[25m	set blinking mode
ESC[7m	ESC[27m	set inverse/reverse mode
ESC[8m	ESC[28m	set hidden/invisible mode
ESC[9m	ESC[29m	set strikethrough mode.

Note: Some terminals may not support some of the graphic mode sequences listed above.

Note: Both dim and bold modes are reset with the ESC[22m sequence. The ESC[21m sequence is a non-specified sequence for double underline mode and only work in some terminals and is reset with ESC[24m.

Color codes

Most terminals support 8 and 16 colors, as well as 256 (8-bit) colors. These colors are set by the user, but have commonly defined meanings.

8-16 Colors

Color Name	Foreground Color Code	Background Color Code
Black	30	40
Red	31	41
Green	32	42
Yellow	33	43
Blue	34	44
Magenta	35	45
Cyan	36	46
White	37	47
Default	39	49
Reset	0	0

Note: the Reset color is the reset code that resets all colors and text effects, Use Default color to reset colors only.

Most terminals, apart from the basic set of 8 colors, also support the "bright" or "bold" colors. These have their own set of codes, mirroring the normal colors, but with an additional ;1 in their codes:

# Set style to bold, red foreground.
\x1b[1;31mHello
# Set style to dimmed white foreground with red background.
\x1b[2;37;41mWorld

Terminals that support the aixterm specification provides bright versions of the ISO colors, without the need to use the bold modifier:

Color Name	Foreground Color Code	Background Color Code
Bright Black	90	100
Bright Red	91	101
Bright Green	92	102
Bright Yellow	93	103
Bright Blue	94	104
Bright Magenta	95	105
Bright Cyan	96	106
Bright White	97	107

256 Colors

The following escape codes tells the terminal to use the given color ID:

ESC Code Sequence	Description
ESC[38;5;{ID}m	Set foreground color.
ESC[48;5;{ID}m	Set background color.

Where {ID} should be replaced with the color index from 0 to 255 of the following color table:

The table starts with the original 16 colors (0-15).

The proceeding 216 colors (16-231) or formed by a 3bpc RGB value offset by 16, packed into a single value.

The final 24 colors (232-255) are grayscale starting from a shade slighly lighter than black, ranging up to shade slightly darker than white.

Some emulators interpret these steps as linear increments (256 / 24) on all three channels, although some emulators may explicitly define these values.

RGB Colors

More modern terminals supports Truecolor (24-bit RGB), which allows you to set foreground and background colors using RGB.

These escape sequences are usually not well documented.

ESC Code Sequence	Description
ESC[38;2;{r};{g};{b}m	Set foreground color as RGB.
ESC[48;2;{r};{g};{b}m	Set background color as RGB.

Note that ;38 and ;48 corresponds to the 16 color sequence and is interpreted by the terminal to set the foreground and background color respectively. Where as ;2 and ;5 sets the color format.

Screen Modes

Set Mode

ESC Code Sequence	Description
ESC[={value}h	Changes the screen width or type to the mode specified by value.
ESC[=0h	40 x 25 monochrome (text)
ESC[=1h	40 x 25 color (text)
ESC[=2h	80 x 25 monochrome (text)
ESC[=3h	80 x 25 color (text)
ESC[=4h	320 x 200 4-color (graphics)
ESC[=5h	320 x 200 monochrome (graphics)
ESC[=6h	640 x 200 monochrome (graphics)
ESC[=7h	Enables line wrapping
ESC[=13h	320 x 200 color (graphics)
ESC[=14h	640 x 200 color (16-color graphics)
ESC[=15h	640 x 350 monochrome (2-color graphics)
ESC[=16h	640 x 350 color (16-color graphics)
ESC[=17h	640 x 480 monochrome (2-color graphics)
ESC[=18h	640 x 480 color (16-color graphics)
ESC[=19h	320 x 200 color (256-color graphics)
ESC[={value}l	Resets the mode by using the same values that Set Mode uses, except for 7, which disables line wrapping. The last character in this escape sequence is a lowercase L.

Common Private Modes

These are some examples of private modes, which are not defined by the specification, but are implemented in most terminals.

ESC Code Sequence	Description
ESC[?25l	make cursor invisible
ESC[?25h	make cursor visible
ESC[?47l	restore screen
ESC[?47h	save screen
ESC[?1049h	enables the alternative buffer
ESC[?1049l	disables the alternative buffer

Refer to the XTerm Control Sequences for a more in-depth list of private modes defined by XTerm.

Note: While these modes may be supported by the most terminals, some may not work in multiplexers like tmux.

Keyboard Strings

ESC[{code};{string};{...}p

Redefines a keyboard key to a specified string.

The parameters for this escape sequence are defined as follows:

• code is one or more of the values listed in the following table. These values represent keyboard keys and key combinations. When using these values in a command, you must type the semicolons shown in this table in addition to the semicolons required by the escape sequence. The codes in parentheses are not available on some keyboards. ANSI.SYS will not interpret the codes in parentheses for those keyboards unless you specify the /X switch in the DEVICE command for ANSI.SYS.

• string is either the ASCII code for a single character or a string contained in quotation marks. For example, both 65 and "A" can be used to represent an uppercase A.

IMPORTANT: Some of the values in the following table are not valid for all computers. Check your computer's documentation for values that are different.

List of keyboard strings

Key	Code	SHIFT+code	CTRL+code	ALT+code
F1	0;59	0;84	0;94	0;104
F2	0;60	0;85	0;95	0;105
F3	0;61	0;86	0;96	0;106
F4	0;62	0;87	0;97	0;107
F5	0;63	0;88	0;98	0;108
F6	0;64	0;89	0;99	0;109
F7	0;65	0;90	0;100	0;110
F8	0;66	0;91	0;101	0;111
F9	0;67	0;92	0;102	0;112
F10	0;68	0;93	0;103	0;113
F11	0;133	0;135	0;137	0;139
F12	0;134	0;136	0;138	0;140
HOME (num keypad)	0;71	55	0;119	--
UP ARROW (num keypad)	0;72	56	(0;141)	--
PAGE UP (num keypad)	0;73	57	0;132	--
LEFT ARROW (num keypad)	0;75	52	0;115	--
RIGHT ARROW (num keypad)	0;77	54	0;116	--
END (num keypad)	0;79	49	0;117	--
DOWN ARROW (num keypad)	0;80	50	(0;145)	--
PAGE DOWN (num keypad)	0;81	51	0;118	--
INSERT (num keypad)	0;82	48	(0;146)	--
DELETE (num keypad)	0;83	46	(0;147)	--
HOME	(224;71)	(224;71)	(224;119)	(224;151)
UP ARROW	(224;72)	(224;72)	(224;141)	(224;152)
PAGE UP	(224;73)	(224;73)	(224;132)	(224;153)
LEFT ARROW	(224;75)	(224;75)	(224;115)	(224;155)
RIGHT ARROW	(224;77)	(224;77)	(224;116)	(224;157)
END	(224;79)	(224;79)	(224;117)	(224;159)
DOWN ARROW	(224;80)	(224;80)	(224;145)	(224;154)
PAGE DOWN	(224;81)	(224;81)	(224;118)	(224;161)
INSERT	(224;82)	(224;82)	(224;146)	(224;162)
DELETE	(224;83)	(224;83)	(224;147)	(224;163)
PRINT SCREEN	--	--	0;114	--
PAUSE/BREAK	--	--	0;0	--
BACKSPACE	8	8	127	(0)
ENTER	13	--	10	(0
TAB	9	0;15	(0;148)	(0;165)
NULL	0;3	--	--	--
A	97	65	1	0;30
B	98	66	2	0;48
C	99	66	3	0;46
D	100	68	4	0;32
E	101	69	5	0;18
F	102	70	6	0;33
G	103	71	7	0;34
H	104	72	8	0;35
I	105	73	9	0;23
J	106	74	10	0;36
K	107	75	11	0;37
L	108	76	12	0;38
M	109	77	13	0;50
N	110	78	14	0;49
O	111	79	15	0;24
P	112	80	16	0;25
Q	113	81	17	0;16
R	114	82	18	0;19
S	115	83	19	0;31
T	116	84	20	0;20
U	117	85	21	0;22
V	118	86	22	0;47
W	119	87	23	0;17
X	120	88	24	0;45
Y	121	89	25	0;21
Z	122	90	26	0;44
1	49	33	--	0;120
2	50	64	0	0;121
3	51	35	--	0;122
4	52	36	--	0;123
5	53	37	--	0;124
6	54	94	30	0;125
7	55	38	--	0;126
8	56	42	--	0;126
9	57	40	--	0;127
0	48	41	--	0;129
-	45	95	31	0;130
=	61	43	---	0;131
[	91	123	27	0;26
]	93	125	29	0;27
	92	124	28	0;43
;	59	58	--	0;39
'	39	34	--	0;40
,	44	60	--	0;51
.	46	62	--	0;52
/	47	63	--	0;53
`	96	126	--	(0;41)
ENTER (keypad)	13	--	10	(0;166)
/ (keypad)	47	47	(0;142)	(0;74)
* (keypad)	42	(0;144)	(0;78)	--
- (keypad)	45	45	(0;149)	(0;164)
+ (keypad)	43	43	(0;150)	(0;55)
5 (keypad)	(0;76)	53	(0;143)	--

Resources

• Wikipedia: ANSI escape code
• Build your own Command Line with ANSI escape codes
• ascii-table: ANSI Escape sequences
• bluesock: ansi codes
• bash-hackers: Terminal Codes (ANSI/VT100) introduction
• XTerm Control Sequences
• VT100 – Various terminal manuals
• xterm.js – Supported Terminal Sequences

Agreed, I recently implemented OSC 8 hyperlinks in my tmux/nvim workflow. It's a huge win to be able to click on a stack trace's code positions and get an editor opened.

Followed by the command, somtimes delimited by opening square bracket ([), known as a Control Sequence Introducer (CSI), optionally followed by arguments and the command itself.

somtimes sometimes

Arguments are delimeted by semi colon (;).

delimeted delimited

I don't quite understand how to receive information about cursor position in, for example, C++ code. Yes, I see the escape sequence ESC[6n but where to put it and how to process it into int is the question.

@vssukharev How can I get position of cursor in terminal?

does anyone know what's the escape code for when i click on a tmux tab with the mouse?

does anyone know what's the escape code for when i click on a tmux tab with the mouse?

tmux mouse actions arent implemented via escape codes. terminal emulators do translate certain mouse events into mouse escape codes, which are a thing, but if you're asking about tmux you have to use tmux's own features and configuration to affect how it handles mouse with respect to "tabs" (tabs arent a thing in tmux. likely you refer to tmux windows, which are collections of terminal panes.) and to do this you would not work with escape codes, even though tmux is understanding your mouse activity through the use of mouse escape codes.

Thank you for this! I'm making a command line program where the user can use colors, is it okay if I include the image of the color ids in my program for their reference? (with credit, of course)

@ashzure-github Sure :)

@ryuukk if you print some of these ansicodes to stdout then you start getting lots of interesting spam about mouse cursor position.

@alt-jero Thanks for the great infographic.

Some additional notes based on experimentation with a colour picker:

• The specific colour values for the first 16 color codes are terminal dependent. That being said, virtual consoles use the CGA colour palette which follows the formula:

  r/g/b_0to255 = r/g/b_1bit*0xAA + (0x55 if high-intensity bit set; else 0)
  

• The colour values for the colour codes in the 6x6x6 cube and the 24 greyscale values are standard across all terminals that I tested (Gnome Terminal, Xterm, Alacritty, Linux console)
• The 6x6x6 cube uses the following 0-5 to 0-255 non-linear mapping into 8x8x8 RGB space

  0 -> 0
  1 -> 95
  2 -> 95 + 1*40
  3 -> 95 + 2*40
  4 -> 95 + 3*40
  5 -> 95 + 4*40
  

• The index i=0...23 of the greyscale code is converted to 0-255 as follows:

  (i+1)*10 - 2
  

  codes 16 and 15+216 are used for absolute black and white

Pseudocode for 0-255 ANSI colour code to 8x8x8 RGB mapping (based on working code):

0TO5_TO_0TO255_MAPPING = [0, 95, 95+40, 95+80, 95+120, 95+160]
function term_colour_code_to_rgb(code) {
   if code < 16 {
         is_high_intensity =  code>>3
         r_1bit            =  code    &1
         g_1bit            = (code>>1)&1
         b_1bit            = (code>>2)&1
         if terminal uses CGA palette {
              r = r_1bit*0xAA + (is_high_intensity*0x55)
              g = g_1bit*0xAA + (is_high_intensity*0x55)
              b = b_1bit*0xAA + (is_high_intensity*0x55)
         }
    } else if code < 16+216 {
         code -= 16
         b_0to5 = code%6
         code /= 6
         g_0to5 = code%6
         code /= 6
         r_0to5 = code%6
         
         r = 0TO5_TO_0TO255_MAPPING[r_0to5]
         b = 0TO5_TO_0TO255_MAPPING[b_0to5]
         g = 0TO5_TO_0TO255_MAPPING[g_0to5]
    } else { // greyscale colour codes
         grey_i = code - 216 - 16
         r = g = b = (grey_i+1)*10 - 2
    }
    return [r, g, b]
}

Terminal output of test script, using CGA Palette for 0-15 colour codes:

Corrections to my previous comment:

• The outlined logic does not work on the text terminals shown by my monitors (Linux console without desktop environment). The monitors can only display "pure" RGBCMYKW. On the text terminal the first 16 colour codes repeat KRGYBMCW twice. The 6x6x6 216 colour cube uses a threshold value below which the r/g/b channel is always 0 and above which the channel is always 255. The first 12 in the greyscale block are 0 on the text terminal and the last 12 are 255.
• The CGA palette makes Standard/"low-intensity" yellow more brown by using the colour #AA5500, instead of #AAAA00, so if code == 3 { g -= 0x55 } needs to be added to the logic

The following escape codes can be used to change the cursor shape

ESC Code Sequence	Description
ESC[0 q	changes cursor shape to steady block
ESC[1 q	changes cursor shape to steady block also
ESC[2 q	changes cursor shape to blinking block
ESC[3 q	changes cursor shape to steady underline
ESC[4 q	changes cursor shape to blinking underline
ESC[5 q	changes cursor shape to steady bar
ESC[6 q	changes cursor shape to blinking bar

On some terminals the steady and blinking are reversed for some reason, but the shape is correct

Taken from https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4416909/anyway-change-the-cursor-vertical-line-instead-of-a-box909/anyway-change-the-cursor-vertical-line-instead-of-a-box

I've made a Python HEX to ANSI converter, hope to be of help to anyone!

^{The modifiers logic is still WIP}

https://github.com/v-amorim/hex_to_ansi

Does anyone know which terminals support RGB?
I’ve tried it on Replit, but it doesn’t register as a colour code.

Does anyone know which terminals support RGB? I’ve tried it on Replit, but it doesn’t register as a colour code.

Never mind. In python “Esc” is replaced by “\u001b” for some reason.

Does anyone know which terminals support RGB? I’ve tried it on Replit, but it doesn’t register as a colour code.

Never mind. In python “Esc” is replaced by “\u001b” for some reason.

You can also use \x1b or \033 instead, same effect but a bit shorter!

Ah, I just came across KKP. I think this might come in handy here as well.

You have a typo in Colors / Graphics Mode
There should be ESC[21m, not ESC[22m in Reset Sequence for bold mode

You have a typo in Colors / Graphics Mode There should be ESC[21m, not ESC[22m in Reset Sequence for bold mode

Both work, historically Bold and Dim / Bright have overlapped in certain implementation so they use the same unsetter.

You have a typo in Colors / Graphics Mode There should be ESC[21m, not ESC[22m in Reset Sequence for bold mode

Both work, historically Bold and Dim / Bright have overlapped in certain implementation so they use the same unsetter.

Oh, didn’t know that, thanks for the clarification, probably missed notes below :/

No reference is complete, but you really need the RGB cursor colors

Like i'm having a default cursor color and changing it to red/green depending on script success and such

I invite you to explore the madness here:

https://github.com/ClaireCJS/clairecjs_bat/blob/main/BAT-and-UTIL-files/set-ansi.bat

There is also Line Drawing Mode:

• Enable: ESC + (0
• Disable: ESC + (B

See also: Line/Box Drawing Characters.

TTY blinking rate

echo -e '\e[16;500]' > /dev/tty0 # every 500ms

Bock cursor

• Enable: \e[?12h
• Disable: \e[?12l

Please add ESCc / \ec / \x1bc to this list. It's used to clear the screen.