Selected ANSI (VT100) ESCape codes
----------------------------------
by Rob Elliott
Illini Data Fido 115/100
These are ESCape codes that will be of most use to people designing VT100
graphics displays. Not all of the codes are listed, just the most useful
ones.
What it does The code
------------ ESC = 27d --------
Cursor up Pn lines `--------> ESC[PnA
Cursor down Pn lines ESC[PnB
Cursor forward (right) Pn lines ESC[PnC
Cursor backward (left) Pn lines ESC[PnD
Cursor sent to line Pl and column Pc ESC[Pl;PcH or
ESC[Pl;Pcf
Cursor position saved ESC7
Cursor position restored ESC8
Change current line to double-height Top half ESC#3
Change current line to double-height Bottom half ESC#4
Change current line to normal size ESC#5
Change current line to double-width ESC#6
Character Attributes ESC[Ps;Ps;Ps;...Psm
Ps = 0 or none All attributes off
1 Bold on
2 Underscore on
5 Blink on
7 Reverse video on
Erase from cursor to end of line ESC[K
Erase from cursor to end of screen ESC[J
Erase from beginning of line to cursor ESC[1K
Erase from beginning of screen to cursor ESC[1J
Erase entire line containing cursor ESC[2K
Erase entire screen ESC[2J
United Kingdom Character Set ESC(A
United States (ASCII) Character Set ESC(B
Special graphics set (line drawing set) ESC(0
Set scrolling from top Pt to bottom Pb ESC[Pt;Pb
Set VT52 mode ESC[?2l
Set 132 column mode ESC[?3h
Set 80 column mode ESC[?3l
Set smooth scroll ESC[?4h
Set jump scroll ESC[?4l
Set reverse screen (light background) ESC[?5h
Set normal screen (dark background) ESC[?5l
Line Drawing Character Set
--------------------------
When the line drawing set is entered, via ESC(0,
-This- -will show-
\ Diamond
a Checkerboard
e Degree sign
g Plus/minus sign
j Lower-right box corner
k Upper-right box corner
l Upper-left box corner
m Lower-left box corner
n Intersecting lines
o Horizontal line - Scan 1 (bottommost)
p Horizontal line - Scan 3
q Horizontal line - Scan 5 (use this to match box corners)
r Horizontal line - Scan 7
s Horizontal line - Scan 9 (topmost)
t Left "T"
u Right "T"
v Top "T" (looks normal)
w Bottom "T" (upside down)
x Vertical bar
y Less than or equal to sign
z Greater than or equal to sign
| Not equal to
( Pi sign
) UK pound sign
~ Centered dot
Window: Line Sloping up: A normal box:
lqwql
x x x lqqqqqqqqk
tqnqu opqrs x x
x x x mqqqqqqqqj
mqvqj
Notes
-----
I highly recommend including the following sequence at the beginning of each
ANSI file:
ESC[?2lESC<
This makes the computer jump in and out of VT52 mode. This resets all the
character sets to G0 designator (especially important) and everything else.
Using this will make sure the character sets show up only when they are
supposed to (no graphics characters when it's a text screen and vice versa).
On IBMs
-------
There are several ways to view these on an IBM PC. To have ANSI codes work
locally (just TYPE the files and the displays appear) you can do several
things.
1. Assign ANSI.SYS (free with PC-DOS) as a device driver. Do this by putting
this line in CONFIG.SYS:
DEVICE=ANSI.SYS
2. Download Fansi-Console (FCONSOLE) from any BBS that has it available,
and install that as specified in the instructions.
To view the codes remotely, it's best to get a VT100 emulating terminal
program. Many commercial programs have this option. PC-VT, in the public
domain, was written explicitly for this emulation. CrossTalk XVI, SmartCom II,
and PTel are some commercial programs with this support.
So...
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Send any questions or comments to Illini Data Fido 115/110.
If you call direct, make sure you're using a VT100 emulator!
