anser

What is anser?

The 'anser' npm package is a library that allows you to convert ANSI escape codes into HTML. This is particularly useful for rendering terminal output in web applications, where you want to preserve the color and style formatting.

What are anser's main functionalities?

Convert ANSI to HTML

This feature allows you to convert a string containing ANSI escape codes into an HTML string with equivalent styling. The example converts a red-colored 'Hello, World!' from ANSI to HTML.

const anser = require('anser');
const ansiString = '\u001b[31mHello, World!\u001b[0m';
const htmlString = anser.toHtml(ansiString);
console.log(htmlString); // Outputs: <span style="color:#E34C26;">Hello, World!</span>

Strip ANSI codes

This feature allows you to strip ANSI escape codes from a string, leaving just the plain text. The example removes the red color formatting from 'Hello, World!'.

const anser = require('anser');
const ansiString = '\u001b[31mHello, World!\u001b[0m';
const plainString = anser.ansiToText(ansiString);
console.log(plainString); // Outputs: Hello, World!

Escape for HTML

This feature escapes HTML special characters in a string containing ANSI escape codes. The example converts '<' and '>' to their HTML entities.

const anser = require('anser');
const ansiString = '\u001b[31mHello, <World>!\u001b[0m';
const escapedHtmlString = anser.escapeForHtml(ansiString);
console.log(escapedHtmlString); // Outputs: \u001b[31mHello, &lt;World&gt;!\u001b[0m

Other packages similar to anser

chalk

Chalk is a popular library for styling terminal strings in Node.js. Unlike 'anser', which focuses on converting ANSI codes to HTML, Chalk is primarily used for creating styled terminal output. It supports various styles and colors but does not provide HTML conversion.

ansi-to-html

The 'ansi-to-html' package is similar to 'anser' in that it converts ANSI escape codes to HTML. However, 'anser' offers more features like stripping ANSI codes and escaping for HTML, making it a more versatile choice for handling ANSI codes.

strip-ansi

The 'strip-ansi' package is a simple utility for removing ANSI escape codes from strings. While it performs a similar function to 'anser's' ansiToText method, it lacks the additional features like HTML conversion and escaping.

README

anser

A low level parser for ANSI sequences.

:rocket: Features

• Converts text containing ANSI color escape codes into equivalent HTML elements.
• Allows converting the input into JSON output.
• HTML escaping
• Converts links into HTML elements
• Friendly APIs to use with virtual dom libraries

:cloud: Installation

$ npm i --save anser

:clipboard: Example

const Anser = require("anser");

const txt = "\u001b[38;5;196mHello\u001b[39m \u001b[48;5;226mWorld\u001b[49m";

console.log(Anser.ansiToHtml(txt));
// <span style="color:rgb(255, 0, 0)">Hello</span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 0)">World</span>

console.log(Anser.ansiToHtml(txt, { use_classes: true }));
// <span class="ansi-palette-196-fg">Hello</span> <span class="ansi-palette-226-bg">World</span>

console.log(Anser.ansiToJson(txt));
// [ { content: '',
//     fg: null,
//     bg: null,
//     fg_truecolor: null,
//     bg_truecolor: null,
//     clearLine: undefined,
//     decoration: null,
//     was_processed: false,
//     isEmpty: [Function: isEmpty] },
//   { content: 'Hello',
//     fg: '255, 0, 0',
//     bg: null,
//     fg_truecolor: null,
//     bg_truecolor: null,
//     clearLine: false,
//     decoration: null,
//     was_processed: true,
//     isEmpty: [Function: isEmpty] },
//   { content: ' ',
//     fg: null,
//     bg: null,
//     fg_truecolor: null,
//     bg_truecolor: null,
//     clearLine: false,
//     decoration: null,
//     was_processed: false,
//     isEmpty: [Function: isEmpty] },
//   { content: 'World',
//     fg: null,
//     bg: '255, 255, 0',
//     fg_truecolor: null,
//     bg_truecolor: null,
//     clearLine: false,
//     decoration: null,
//     was_processed: true,
//     isEmpty: [Function: isEmpty] },
//   { content: '',
//     fg: null,
//     bg: null,
//     fg_truecolor: null,
//     bg_truecolor: null,
//     clearLine: false,
//     decoration: null,
//     was_processed: false,
//     isEmpty: [Function: isEmpty] } ]

:memo: Documentation

Anser.escapeForHtml(txt)

Escape the input HTML.

This does the minimum escaping of text to make it compliant with HTML. In particular, the '&','<', and '>' characters are escaped. This should be run prior to ansiToHtml.

Params

• String txt: The input text (containing the ANSI snippets).

Return

• String The escaped html.

Anser.linkify(txt)

Adds the links in the HTML.

This replaces any links in the text with anchor tags that display the link. The links should have at least one whitespace character surrounding it. Also, you should apply this after you have run ansiToHtml on the text.

Params

• String txt: The input text.

Return

• String The HTML containing the tags (unescaped).

Anser.ansiToHtml(txt, options)

This replaces ANSI terminal escape codes with SPAN tags that wrap the content.

This function only interprets ANSI SGR (Select Graphic Rendition) codes that can be represented in HTML. For example, cursor movement codes are ignored and hidden from output. The default style uses colors that are very close to the prescribed standard. The standard assumes that the text will have a black background. These colors are set as inline styles on the SPAN tags.

Another option is to set use_classes: true in the options argument. This will instead set classes on the spans so the colors can be set via CSS. The class names used are of the format ansi-*-fg/bg and ansi-bright-*-fg/bg where * is the color name, i.e black/red/green/yellow/blue/magenta/cyan/white.

Params

• String txt: The input text.
• Object options: The options passed to the ansiToHTML method.

Return

• String The HTML output.

Anser.ansiToJson(txt, options)

Converts ANSI input into JSON output.

Params

• String txt: The input text.
• Object options: The options passed to the ansiToHTML method.

Return

• String The HTML output.

Anser.ansiToText(txt)

Converts ANSI input into text output.

Params

• String txt: The input text.

Return

• String The text output.

Anser()

The Anser class.

Return

• Anser

setupPalette()

Sets up the palette.

escapeForHtml(txt)

Escapes the input text.

Params

• String txt: The input text.

Return

• String The escpaed HTML output.

linkify(txt)

Adds HTML link elements.

Params

• String txt: The input text.

Return

• String The HTML output containing link elements.

ansiToHtml(txt, options)

Converts ANSI input into HTML output.

Params

• String txt: The input text.
• Object options: The options passed ot the process method.

Return

• String The HTML output.

ansiToJson(txt, options)

Converts ANSI input into HTML output.

Params

• String txt: The input text.
• Object options: The options passed ot the process method.

Return

• String The JSON output.

ansiToText(txt)

Converts ANSI input into HTML output.

Params

• String txt: The input text.

Return

• String The text output.

process(txt, options, markup)

Processes the input.

Params

• String txt: The input text.
• Object options: An object passed to processChunk method, extended with:
• json (Boolean): If true, the result will be an object.
• use_classes (Boolean): If true, HTML classes will be appended to the HTML output.
• Boolean markup:

processChunkJson(text, options, markup)

Processes the current chunk into json output.

Params

• String text: The input text.
• Object options: An object containing the following fields:
• json (Boolean): If true, the result will be an object.
• use_classes (Boolean): If true, HTML classes will be appended to the HTML output.
• Boolean markup: If false, the colors will not be parsed.

Return

• Object The result object:
• content (String): The text.
• fg (String|null): The foreground color.
• bg (String|null): The background color.
• fg_truecolor (String|null): The foreground true color (if 16m color is enabled).
• bg_truecolor (String|null): The background true color (if 16m color is enabled).
• clearLine (Boolean): true if a carriageReturn \r was fount at end of line.
• was_processed (Bolean): true if the colors were processed, false otherwise.
• isEmpty (Function): A function returning true if the content is empty, or false otherwise.

processChunk(text, options, markup)

Processes the current chunk of text.

Params

• String text: The input text.
• Object options: An object containing the following fields:
• json (Boolean): If true, the result will be an object.
• use_classes (Boolean): If true, HTML classes will be appended to the HTML output.
• Boolean markup: If false, the colors will not be parsed.

Return

• Object|String The result (object if json is wanted back or string otherwise).

:yum: How to contribute

Have an idea? Found a bug? See how to contribute.

:moneybag: Donations

Another way to support the development of my open-source modules is to set up a recurring donation, via Patreon. :rocket:

PayPal donations are appreciated too! Each dollar helps.

Thanks! :heart:

:cake: Thanks

This project is highly based on ansi_up, by @drudru. Thanks! :cake:

:dizzy: Where is this library used?

If you are using this library in one of your projects, add it in this list. :sparkles:

• ansi-to-json—Convert ANSI strings into JSON output.
• ansi-to-react (by Kyle Kelley)—ANSI to React Elements
• ansi-to-react-with-classes (by Kyle Kelley)—ANSI to React Elements
• nterm (by Darius Huntly)—A Node Terminal
• singularityui-tailer (by Danny Wolf)—A robust log tailer
• timer-react-dev-utils—Webpack utilities used by Create React App
• transformime (by nteract)—Transforms MIMEtypes to HTML Elements

:scroll: License

MIT © Ionică Bizău