ANSI sequences

This page discusses the use of ANSI.SYS in COMMAND.COM, both native in MS-DOS.

Unfortunately, ANSI.SYS is not available in Windows NT4..8.1.

Windows NT4..8.1's COLOR command can only be used to set the text and background color for the entire console, other ANSI.SYS features require third party utilities in Windows NT4..8.1's CMD.EXE.

In Windows 10, ANSI functionality is built in CMD.EXE by default, without requiring to load ANSI.SYS.

Use ANSI sequences to:

• control screen colors,
• set text attributes,
• position the cursor,
• clear a line or screen,
• adjust the video mode (MS-DOS only),
• create keyboard shortcuts (MS-DOS only),
• or even create colored, animated screens;
• ANSI.SYS alternatives.

You can use ANSI sequences to creaty fancy prompts or text screens or even text mode animated screens (though it may take several days to create one ANSI animated screen).

For ANSI sequences to be shown, they have to be sent to the screen. You may use either TYPE, ECHO or a combination of PROMPT and ECHO OFF, or even any combination of these methods within a single batch file.

The only requirement to use ANSI sequences is the line:
DEVICE=ANSI.SYS
in your CONFIG.SYS, at least for DOS systems.
Or use some other ANSI "interpreter", like ANSI.COM, by Michael J. Mefford.

OS/2 command prompts do not need ANSI.SYS, since the ANSI functions are built in the command processor. To use ANSI sequences on DOS command prompts in OS/2 you'll still need to load ANSI.SYS in CONFIG.SYS.
It is possible to disable ANSI in OS/2 with the command ANSI OFF
Likewise you may enable it again with ANSI ON

Windows NT doesn't support ANSI by default.
Check out George Roettger's home page for help on running ANSI.SYS in NT (plus many more NT tips).

Windows 10's CMD.EXE supports ANSI sequences without the need to load an ANSI driver.

Replace <Esc> with ASCII character 27 (see note) in text on screen (e.g. TYPEd files or ECHOed strings) or with $E in PROMPT strings.
Most DOS based editors will display the Escape character as a left arrow.
Most Windows based editors will display the escape character as a square.

You may combine as many text attributes as you see fit.

<Esc>[5m will give different results in different situations:
In plain DOS and in full screen OS/2 text mode it will result in blinking text.
In OS/2 and DOS windows it will result in a bright background.

For PROMPT strings some extra ANSI sequeunces are available.

Text color:

Other text attributes:

Cursor positioning:

Clear text area:

Set video mode:

(MS-DOS only)

Keyboard macro's:

(MS-DOS only)

General usage:

<Esc>[inkey;outstringp

ANSI Art

Take a look at ANSIDEMO.BAT for some examples of cursor positioning and text attributes.

Shown below is a picture of the ANSI screen output for AN_APPLE.ANS, a fine example of ANSI art by Chris Blanton:

View it in text mode by changing to the right directory and using the following command:

TYPE AN_APPLE.ANS

Thanks Chris

Robert Van Etta found out that ANSI functionality is back in Windows 10.
To demonstrate it, he wrote Snake.bat, a "bouncing snake":

Take a closer look at this demo code, Robert has used a clever way to generate the Escape characters using FORFILES.

Thanks Robert

ANSI.SYS Alternatives

Unfortunately, ANSI.SYS is no longer available in Windows NT 4..Windows 8.1's CMD.EXE (NT 4 and later).
Using ANSI-like features in these environments will require third party utilities.
In Windows 10, ANSI was reintroduced and made available by default in the console, without the need to load a driver.

Whereas ANSI.SYS could be used to set the color for a selection of the console text, NT's COLOR command will set the colors of the entire console.
So I wrote KOLOR.EXE to get or set the colors for a selection of text. It can be used in 32-bit and 64-bit environments.

Carlos M. wrote BG. Initially intended for Batch Games, it can be used to colorize console windows of any type.
It is a modern replacement for BATCHMAN, and unlike BATCHMAN it will even work in 64-bit environments.

When you want ANSI functionality for text "enhancements", have a look at Norman De Forest's EKKO, an ECHO enhancement that can process almost every PROMPT function including coloured text (even without ANSI driver).
And the best part is, it works just as well in Windows NT.