REXX Tips & Tricks, Version 2.80

0.9b (c) 1995 Peter Childs

ANSI ESC Sequences

ANSI ESC Sequences - also called ANSI commands - are useful for doing some 
display I/O control in REXX. 

To use ANSI commands the OS/2 ANSI support must be active. To activate the 
ANSI support use the OS/2 command ANSI ON and to deactivate the ANSI 
support use the OS/2 command ANSI OFF. To get the current status of the 
ANSI support use the OS/2 command ANSI without a parameter. The default 
for the ANSI support is ON. (see Check if ANSI is active - 1 - or Check if 
ANSI is active - 2 - for REXX source to detect if ANSI support is active 
from within a REXX program) 

Each ANSI command begins with the sequence ESC[. where ESC represents the 
ASCII code 1Bh (= 27 decimal). If there is more than one parameter for an 
ANSI command, use a semicolon (;) to separate the parameter. 

To output ANSI commands you can use the functions <LINEOUT and <CHAROUT or 
the statement <SAY. Example: 

 
  say "1B"x || "[30;41m" || "This text is black on red"

  call lineOut , "1B"x || "[31;40m" || "This text is red on black"

  call charOut , "1B"x || "[0m" || "This text is in default color"

(see Using ANSI sequences for some sample code using ANSI sequences and 
RxLBox - menu routine in REXX is a menu program using only ANSI sequences 
to implement the navigation with cursor keys and function keys)   

Note:  To use the ANSI commands to set or get the cursor position you must 
       use the function <CHAROUT! (see SysCls for another minor 
       restriction) 

 Further Note:  Almost all ANSI Control Characters are documented in the 
                command reference of WARP version 9.99 (Merlin Beta). 

 ANSI Commands 

 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |Command             |Function                                   |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[colsA           |Cursor up # lines                          |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[colsB           |Cursor down # lines                        |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[rowsC           |Cursor right # columns                     |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[rowsD           |Cursor left # columns                      |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[row;colH        |Position the cursor (the upper left corner |
 |                    |is 1,1)                                    |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[2J              |Clear the whole screen                     |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[K               |Clear the rest of the line                 |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[6n              |Get the current cursor position (see Get   |
 |                    |the current cursor position)               |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[row;colf        |Position the cursor (like "H")             |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[row;colR        |Report current cursor line and column (*)  |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[=modeh          |Set the display mode (see below)           |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[=model          |Set the display mode (see below)           |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[attr;attr;..m   |Set the color attribute (see below)        |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[key;"str"p      |Redefine the key "key" with the string     |
 |                    |"str" (see Key redefinitions and Key Codes |
 |                    |for key redefinitions)                     |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[s               |Save the current cursor position (nested   |
 |                    |calls are not allowed)                     |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 |ESC[u               |Restore the cursor position (nested calls  |
 |                    |are not allowed)                           |
 +--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
 

 Display attributes 

 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |Attribute |Description                             |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |0         |all attributes off (white on black)     |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |1         |bold                                    |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |2         |normal                                  |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |4         |underline (only on b/w displays)        |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |5         |blink                                   |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |7         |reverse video                           |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |8         |invisible                               |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |30-37     |set the foreground color:               |
 |          |30=Black, 31=Red, 32=Green, 33=Yellow   |
 |          |34=Blue, 35=Magenta, 36=Cyan, 37=White  |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |40-47     |set the background color:               |
 |          |40=Black, 41=Red, 42=Green, 43=Yellow   |
 |          |44=Blue, 45=Magenta, 46=Cyan, 47=White  |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 

 Display modes 

 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |Mode      |Description                             |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |0         |Text 40x25 monochrome                   |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |1         |Text 40x25 color                        |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |2         |Text 80x25 monochrome                   |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |3         |Text 80x25 color                        |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |4         |Graphics 320x200 4 colors               |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |5         |Graphics 320x200 2 color                |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |6         |Graphics 640x200 2-color                |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 |7         |cursor wrap off (7l) or on (7h)         |
 +----------+----------------------------------------+
 

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