ANSI Escape sequences

These sequences define functions that change display graphics, control cursor movement, and reassign keys.

ANSI escape sequence is a sequence of ASCII characters, the first two of which are the ASCII "Escape" character 27 (1Bh) and the left-bracket character " [ " (5Bh). The character or characters following the escape and left-bracket characters specify an alphanumeric code that controls a keyboard or display function.

ANSI escape sequences distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters.

Information is also available on .

 

Esc[Line;ColumnH
Esc[Line;Columnf

Cursor Position:
Moves the cursor to the specified position (coordinates).
If you do not specify a position, the cursor moves to the home position at the upper-left corner of the screen (line 0, column 0). This escape sequence works the same way as the following Cursor Position escape sequence.

Esc[ValueA

Cursor Up:
Moves the cursor up by the specified number of lines without changing columns. If the cursor is already on the top line, ANSI.SYS ignores this sequence.

Esc[ValueB

Cursor Down:
Moves the cursor down by the specified number of lines without changing columns. If the cursor is already on the bottom line, ANSI.SYS ignores this sequence.

Esc[ValueC

Cursor Forward:
Moves the cursor forward by the specified number of columns without changing lines. If the cursor is already in the rightmost column, ANSI.SYS ignores this sequence.

Esc[ValueD

Cursor Backward:
Moves the cursor back by the specified number of columns without changing lines. If the cursor is already in the leftmost column, ANSI.SYS ignores this sequence.

Esc[s

Save Cursor Position:
Saves the current cursor position. You can move the cursor to the saved cursor position by using the Restore Cursor Position sequence.

Esc[u

Restore Cursor Position:
Returns the cursor to the position stored by the Save Cursor Position sequence.

Esc[2J

Erase Display:
Clears the screen and moves the cursor to the home position (line 0, column 0).

Esc[K

Erase Line:
Clears all characters from the cursor position to the end of the line (including the character at the cursor position).

Esc[Value;...;Valuem

Set Graphics Mode:
Calls the graphics functions specified by the following values. These specified functions remain active until the next occurrence of this escape sequence. Graphics mode changes the colors and attributes of text (such as bold and underline) displayed on the screen.
 

Text attributes
0	All attributes off
1	Bold on
4	Underscore (on monochrome display adapter only)
5	Blink on
7	Reverse video on
8	Concealed on
Foreground colors
30	Black
31	Red
32	Green
33	Yellow
34	Blue
35	Magenta
36	Cyan
37	White
Background colors
40	Black
41	Red
42	Green
43	Yellow
44	Blue
45	Magenta
46	Cyan
47	White

 
Parameters 30 through 47 meet the ISO 6429 standard.
 

Esc[=Valueh

Set Mode:
Changes the screen width or type to the mode specified by one of the following values:
 

Screen resolution
0	40 x 25 monochrome (text)
1	40 x 25 color (text)
2	80 x 25 monochrome (text)
3	80 x 25 color (text)
4	320 x 200 4-color (graphics)
5	320 x 200 monochrome (graphics)
6	640 x 200 monochrome (graphics)
7	Enables line wrapping
13	320 x 200 color (graphics)
14	640 x 200 color (16-color graphics)
15	640 x 350 monochrome (2-color graphics)
16	640 x 350 color (16-color graphics)
17	640 x 480 monochrome (2-color graphics)
18	640 x 480 color (16-color graphics)
19	320 x 200 color (256-color graphics)

 
 

Esc[=Valuel

Reset Mode:
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).

Esc[Code;String;...p

Set Keyboard Strings:
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.
 

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)	--