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ansis

Colorize text in terminal and console output with ANSI colors & styles

3.0.0
Source
npm

Version published: 8 months ago

Weekly downloads: 615K; increased by0.42%

Maintainers: 1

Weekly downloads

Created: 3 years ago

Source

ANSI Styling

The Node.js library to colorize terminal and console output with ANSI colors & styles

Ansis is a smaller and faster alternative to Chalk with additional useful features and clean syntax.
For example:

green`Succeful!`
red`Error!`
black.bgYellow`Warning!`
hex('#E0115F').bold.underline('Hello World!')

Why yet one lib?
See the features comparison and benchmarks of most popular Node.js libraries:
chalk, colors.js, colorette, picocolors, kleur, ansi-colors, cli-color, colors-cli.

💡 Highlights

Supports both ESM and CommonJS
Supports TypeScript
Supports Bun, Deno, Next.JS runtimes

Standard API compatible with Chalk, switch from Chalk to Ansis without changing your code

- import chalk from 'chalk';
+ import chalk, { red } from 'ansis';

chalk.red.bold('Error!'); // <- the Chalk like syntax works fine with Ansis
red.bold('Error!');       // <- the same result with Ansis
red.bold`Error!`;         // <- the same result with Ansis

Default import
- ESM: import ansis from 'ansis'
- CJS: const ansis = require('ansis')
Named import
- ESM: import { red, green, bold, underline } from 'ansis'
- CJS: const { red, green, bold, underline } = require('ansis')
Chained syntax red.bold.underline('text')
Nested template strings green`GREEN text ${red`RED text`} GREEN text`
ANSI 256 colors and TrueColor (RGB, HEX) rgb(224, 17, 95)`Ruby`, hex('#96C')`Amethyst`
Extending of base colors with named True Colors
ANSI codes as open and close properties `Hello ${red.open}World${red.close}!`
Strip ANSI codes method ansis.strip()
Correct style break at the end of line when used \n in string
Supports environment variables NO_COLOR FORCE_COLOR and flags --no-color --color
Auto detects color spaces support: TrueColor, 256 colors, 16 colors, no color (black & white)
Fallback to supported color space: TrueColor —> 256 colors —> 16 colors —> no colors
Up to x3 faster than Chalk, see benchmarks and code bundle size is only 3.8 KB
Doesn't extend String.prototype
Zero dependencies

🔆 What's New in v3

NEW added detection of supported color space: TrueColor, 256 colors, 16 colors, no color (black & white)
NEW added fallback to supported color space: TrueColor —> 256 colors —> 16 colors —> no colors

⚠️ Warning

The v3 has the BREAKING CHANGES (removed not widely supported styles and deprecated methods).
For details see the changelog.

❓Question / Feature Request / Bug

If you have discovered a bug or have a feature suggestion, feel free to create an issue on GitHub.

Install

npm install ansis

Usage

You can import default module or named colors with ESM or CommonJS syntax.

// ESM default import
import ansis from 'ansis';
// ESM named import
import { red, green, blue } from 'ansis';

// CommonJS default import
const ansis = require('ansis');
// CommonJS named import
const { red, green, blue } = require('ansis');

console.log(ansis.green('Success!'));
console.log(green('Success!'));

// template string
console.log(green`Success!`);

// chained syntax
console.log(green.bold`Success!`);

// nested syntax
console.log(red`The ${blue.underline`file.js`} not found!`);

Basic example Hello World!:

import { red, black, inverse, reset } from 'ansis';

console.log(green`Hello ${inverse`ANSI`} World!
${black.bgYellow`Warning:`} ${cyan`/path/to/file.js`} ${red`not found!`}`);

Output:
screenshot "Hello ANSI World!"

Named import

The ansis supports both the default import and named import.

// default import
import ansis from 'ansis';

ansis.red.bold('text');

You can import named colors, styles and functions. All imported colors and styles are chainable.

// named import
import { red, hex, italic } from 'ansis';

red.bold('text');

Default import and named import can be combined.

// default and named import
import ansis, { red } from 'ansis';

const redText = red('text'); // colorized ANSI string
const text = ansis.strip(redText); // pure string without ANSI codes

Template literals

The ansis supports both the function syntax red('error') and template literals red`error`.

The template literals allow you to make a complex template more readable and shorter.
The function syntax can be used to colorize a variable.

import { red } from 'ansis';

let message = 'error';

red(message);
red`text`;
red`text ${message} text`;

Chained syntax

All colors, styles and functions are chainable. Each color or style can be combined in any order.

import { red, bold, italic, hex } from 'ansis';

red.bold`text`;
hex('#FF75D1').bgCyan.bold`text`;
bold.bgHex('#FF75D1').cyan`text`;
italic.bold.yellow.bgMagentaBright`text`;

Nested syntax

You can nest functions and template strings within each other. None of the other libraries (chalk, kleur, colorette, colors.js etc.) support nested template strings.

Nested template strings:

import { red, green } from 'ansis';

red`red ${green`green`} red`;

Deep nested chained styles:

import { red, green, cyan, magenta, yellow, italic, underline } from 'ansis';

red(`red ${italic(`red italic ${underline(`red italic underline`)}`)} red`);

// deep nested chained styles
green(
  `green ${yellow(
    `yellow ${magenta(
      `magenta ${cyan(
        `cyan ${red.italic.underline`red italic underline`} cyan`,
      )} magenta`,
    )} yellow`,
  )} green`,
);

Output:
screenshot nested styles

Multiline nested template strings:

import { red, green, hex, visible, inverse } from 'ansis';

// defined a TrueColor as the constant
const orange = hex('#FFAB40');

let cpu = 33;
let ram = 44;
let disk = 55;

// normal colors
visible`
CPU:  ${red`${cpu}%`}
RAM:  ${green`${ram}%`}
DISK: ${orange`${disk}%`}
`;

// inversed colors
inverse`
CPU:  ${red`${cpu}%`}
RAM:  ${green`${ram}%`}
DISK: ${orange`${disk}%`}
`;

Output:
screenshot multiline nested

Base colors and styles

Colors and styles have standard names used by many popular libraries, such as chalk, colorette, kleur.

Foreground colors	Background colors	Styles
`black`	`bgBlack`	`dim`
`red`	`bgRed`	`bold`
`green`	`bgGreen`	`italic`
`yellow`	`bgYellow`	`underline`
`blue`	`bgBlue`	~~`strikethrough`~~ (alias `strike`)
`magenta`	`bgMagenta`	`inverse`
`cyan`	`bgCyan`	`visible`
`white`	`bgWhite`	`hidden`
`gray` (alias `grey`)	`bgGray` (alias `bgGrey`)	`reset`
`blackBright`	`bgBlackBright`
`redBright`	`bgRedBright`
`greenBright`	`bgGreenBright`
`yellowBright`	`bgYellowBright`
`blueBright`	`bgBlueBright`
`magentaBright`	`bgMagentaBright`
`cyanBright`	`bgCyanBright`
`whiteBright`	`bgWhiteBright`

Extend base colors

Defaults, the imported ansis instance contains base styles and colors. To extend base colors with custom color names for TrueColor use the ansis.extend() method.

import ansis from 'ansis';

// extend base colors
ansis.extend({
  pink: '#FF75D1',
  orange: '#FFAB40',
});

// the custom colors are available under namespace `ansis`
ansis.pink('text');
ansis.orange('text');

Usage example with TypeScript:

import ansis, { AnsiColorsExtend } from 'ansis';

// extend base colors
ansis.extend({
  pink: '#FF75D1',
  orange: '#FFAB40',
});

const write = (style: AnsiColorsExtend<'pink' | 'orange'>, message: string) => {
  console.log(ansis[style](message));
}

write('red', 'message'); // base color OK
write('pink', 'message'); // extended color OK
write('orange', 'message'); // extended color OK
write('unknown', 'message'); // TypeScript Error

ANSI 256 colors

The pre-defined set of 256 colors.

Code range	Description
0 - 7	standard colors
8 - 15	bright colors
16 - 231	6 × 6 × 6 cube (216 colors)
232 - 255	grayscale from black to white in 24 steps

Foreground function: ansi256(code) has short alias fg(code)
Background function: bgAnsi256(code) has short alias bg(code)

The ansi256() and bgAnsi256() methods are implemented for compatibility with the chalk API.

See ANSI color codes.

import { bold, ansi256, fg, bgAnsi256, bg } from 'ansis';

// foreground color
ansi256(96)`Bright Cyan`;
fg(96)`Bright Cyan`;

// background color
bgAnsi256(105)`Bright Magenta`;
bg(105)`Bright Magenta`;

// function is chainable
ansi256(96).bold`bold Bright Cyan`;

// function is avaliable in each style
bold.ansi256(96).underline`bold underline Bright Cyan`;

// you can combine the functions and styles in any order
bgAnsi256(105).ansi256(96)`cyan text on magenta background`
bg(105).fg(96)`cyan text on magenta background`

TrueColor

You can use the hex or rgb format.

Foreground function: hex() rgb()
Background function: bgHex() bgRgb()

import { bold, hex, rgb, bgHex, bgRgb } from 'ansis';

// foreground color
hex('#E0115F').bold`bold Ruby`;
hex('#96C')`Amethyst`;
rgb(224, 17, 95).italic`italic Ruby`;

// background color
bgHex('#E0115F')`Ruby`;
bgHex('#96C')`Amethyst`;
bgRgb(224, 17, 95)`Ruby`;

// you can combine the functions and styles in any order
bold.hex('#E0115F').bgHex('#96C')`ruby bold text on amethyst background`

Fallback

The ansis supports fallback to supported color space.

TrueColor —> 256 colors —> 16 colors —> no colors (black & white)

If you use the hex(), rgb() or ansis256() functions in a terminal not supported TrueColor or 256 colors, then colors will be interpolated.

output

Use ANSI codes

You can use the ANSI escape codes with open and close properties for each style.

import { red, bold } from 'ansis';

// each style has `open` and `close` properties
console.log(`Hello ${red.open}ANSI${red.close} World!`);

// you can defiene own style which will have the `open` and `close` properties
const myStyle = bold.italic.black.bgHex('#E0115F');

console.log(`Hello ${myStyle.open}ANSI${myStyle.close} World!`);

Strip ANSI codes

The Ansis class contains the method strip() to remove all ANSI codes from string.

import ansis from 'ansis';

const ansiString = ansis.green`Hello World!`;
const string = ansis.strip(ansiString);

The variable string will contain the pure string without ANSI codes.

New lines

Supports correct style break at the end of line.

import { bgGreen } from 'ansis';

console.log(bgGreen`\nAnsis\nNew Line\nNext New Line\n`);

output

Shortcuts / Themes

Define your own themes:

import ansis from 'ansis';

const theme = {
  error: ansis.red.bold,
  info: ansis.cyan.italic,
  warning: ansis.black.bgYellowBright,
  ruby: ansis.hex('#E0115F'),
};

theme.error('error');
theme.info('info');
theme.warning('warning');
theme.ruby('Ruby color');

CLI

Defaults, the output in terminal console is colored and output in a file is uncolored.

Environment variables

To force disable or enable colored output use environment variables NO_COLOR and FORCE_COLOR.

The NO_COLOR variable should be presents with any not empty value. The value is not important, e.g., NO_COLOR=1 NO_COLOR=true disable colors. See standard description by NO_COLOR.

The FORCE_COLOR variable should be presents with one of values:
FORCE_COLOR=0 force disable colors
FORCE_COLOR=1 force enable colors

For example, app.js:

import { red } from 'ansis';

console.log(red`red color`);

Execute the script in a terminal:

$ node app.js           # colored output in terminal
$ node app.js > log.txt # output in file without ANSI codes

$ NO_COLOR=1 node app.js              # force disable colors, non colored output in terminal
$ FORCE_COLOR=0 node app.js           # force disable colors, non colored output in terminal
$ FORCE_COLOR=1 node app.js > log.txt # force enable colors, output in file with ANSI codes

CLI arguments

Use arguments --no-color or --color=false to disable colors and --color to enable ones.

For example, an executable script app.js:

#!/usr/bin/env node
import { red } from 'ansis';

console.log(red`red color`);

Execute the script in a terminal:

$ ./app.js                        # colored output in terminal
$ ./app.js --no-color             # non colored output in terminal
$ ./app.js --color=false          # non colored output in terminal

$ ./app.js > log.txt              # output in file without ANSI codes
$ ./app.js --color > log.txt      # output in file with ANSI codes
$ ./app.js --color=true > log.txt # output in file with ANSI codes

Warning

The command line arguments have a higher priority than environment variable.

Color support

There is no standard way to detect which color space is supported. The most common way to detect color support is to check the TERM and COLORTERM environment variables. CI systems can be detected by checking for the existence of the CI and other specifically environment variables. Combine that with the knowledge about which operating system the program is running on, and we have a decent enough way to detect colors.

Name	ANSI 16 colors	ANSI 256 colors	True Color	$TERM	$COLORTERM	specifically ENV variable
Azure CI	✅	❌	❌	dumb		$TF_BUILD $AGENT_NAME
GitHub CI	✅	✅	✅	dumb		$CI $GITHUB_ACTIONS
GitTea CI	✅	✅	✅	dumb		$CI $GITEA_ACTIONS
GitLab CI	✅	❌	❌	dumb		$CI $GITLAB_CI
Travis CI	✅	❌	❌	dumb		$TRAVIS
JetBrains TeamCity >=2020.1.1	✅	✅	❌			$TEAMCITY_VERSION
JetBrains IDEA	✅	✅	✅	xterm-256color		$TERMINAL_EMULATOR='JetBrains-JediTerm'
VS Code	✅	✅	✅	xterm-256color	truecolor
Windows Terminal	✅	✅	✅*
Windows PowerShell	✅	✅	✅*
macOS Terminal	✅	✅	❌	xterm-256color
iTerm	✅	✅	✅	xterm-256color	truecolor
Terminal emulator Kitty	✅	✅	✅	xterm-kitty

*The Windows terminal supports true color since Windows 10 revision 14931 (2016-09-21).

Used reference: So you want to render colors in your terminal.

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Comparison of most popular libraries

Run the command to see the support of some features by various libraries:

npm run compare

Library ______________ - name - code size - named import	Naming base colors	ANSI 256 colors	True Color	Chained syntax	Nested template strings	New Line	Supports CLI params
`colors.js` 18.1KB `❌ named import`	non-standard `16` colors	❌	❌	✅	❌	✅	only `FORCE_COLOR` `--no-color` `--color`
`colors-cli` 8.6KB `❌ named import`	non-standard `16` colors	✅	❌	✅	❌	✅	only `--no-color` `--color`
`cli-color` `❌ named import`	standard `16` colors	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	only `NO_COLOR`
`ansi-colors` 5.8KB `❌ named import`	standard `16` colors	❌	❌	✅	❌	✅	only `FORCE_COLOR`
`colorette` 3.3KB `✅ named import`	standard `16` colors	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	`NO_COLOR` `FORCE_COLOR` `--no-color` `--color`
`picocolors` 2.6KB `❌ named import`	standard `8` colors	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	`NO_COLOR` `FORCE_COLOR` `--no-color` `--color`
`kleur` 2.7KB `✅ named import`	standard `8` colors	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	only `NO_COLOR` `FORCE_COLOR`
`chalk` 15KB `❌ named import`	standard `16` colors	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅	`NO_COLOR` `FORCE_COLOR` `--no-color` `--color`
`ansis` 3.8KB `✅ named import`	standard `16` colors	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	`NO_COLOR` `FORCE_COLOR` `--no-color` `--color`

Note

Code size
The size of distributed code that will be loaded via require or import into your app. It's not a package size.

Named import
import { red, green, blue } from 'lib';
or
const { red, green, blue } = require('lib');

Naming colors

standard: colors have standard names, e.g.: red, redBright, bgRed, bgRedBright
non-standard: colors have lib-specific names, e.g.: brightRed, bgBrightRed, red_b, red_btt

ANSI 256 colors

The method names:

colors-cli: x<n>
cli-color: xterm(n)
chalk: ansi256(n) bgAnsi256(n)
ansis: ansi256(n) bgAnsi256(n) fg(n) bg(n)

TrueColor

The method names:

chalk: hex() rgb()
ansis: hex() rgb()

Chained syntax
lib.red.bold('text')

Nested template strings
lib.red`text ${lib.cyan`nested`} text`

New line
Correct break styles at end-of-line.
lib.bgGreen(`First Line
Next Line`);

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Show ANSI demo

git clone https://github.com/webdiscus/ansis.git
cd ./ansis
npm i
npm run demo

Run benchmark

git clone https://github.com/webdiscus/ansis.git
cd ./ansis
npm i
npm run bench

Tested on

MacBook Pro 16" M1 Max 64GB
macOS Monterey 12.1
Node.js v16.13.1
Terminal iTerm2

Colorette bench

The benchmark used in colorette.

c.red(`${c.bold(`${c.cyan(`${c.yellow('yellow')}cyan`)}`)}red`);

+  colorette           4,572,582 ops/sec   very fast
   picocolors          3,841,124 ops/sec   very fast
-> ansis               2,725,758 ops/sec   fast
   chalk               2,287,146 ops/sec   fast
   kleur/colors        2,281,415 ops/sec   fast
   kleur               2,228,639 ops/sec   fast
   ansi-colors         1,265,615 ops/sec   slow
   colors.js           1,158,572 ops/sec   slow
   cli-color             470,320 ops/sec   too slow
   colors-cli            109,811 ops/sec   too slow

Base colors

const colors = ['black', 'red', 'green', 'yellow', 'blue', 'magenta', 'cyan', 'white'];
colors.forEach((color) => c[color]('foo'));

+  picocolors          8,265,628 ops/sec  very fast
-> ansis               6,197,754 ops/sec  fast
   kleur               5,455,121 ops/sec  fast
   chalk               4,428,884 ops/sec  fast
   kleur/colors        2,074,111 ops/sec  slow
   colorette           1,874,506 ops/sec  slow
   ansi-colors         1,010,628 ops/sec  slow
   colors.js             640,101 ops/sec  too slow
   cli-color             305,690 ops/sec  too slow
   colors-cli            104,962 ops/sec  too slow

Chained styles

const colors = ['black', 'red', 'green', 'yellow', 'blue', 'magenta', 'cyan', 'white'];
colors.forEach((color) => c[color].bold.underline.italic('foo'));

+  ansis               5,515,868 ops/sec  very fast
   chalk               1,234,573 ops/sec  fast
   kleur                 514,035 ops/sec  slow
   ansi-colors           158,921 ops/sec  too slow
   cli-color             144,837 ops/sec  too slow
   colors.js             138,219 ops/sec  too slow
   colors-cli             52,732 ops/sec  too slow
   kleur/colors        (not supported)
   colorette           (not supported)
   picocolors          (not supported)

Nested calls

const colors = ['black', 'red', 'green', 'yellow', 'blue', 'magenta', 'cyan', 'white'];
colors.forEach((color) => c[color](c.bold(c.underline(c.italic('foo')))));

+  picocolors            942,592 ops/sec  very fast
   colorette             695,350 ops/sec  fast
   kleur                 648,195 ops/sec  fast
   kleur/colors          561,111 ops/sec  fast
-> ansis                 558,575 ops/sec  fast
   chalk                 497,292 ops/sec  fast
   ansi-colors           260,316 ops/sec  slow
   colors.js             166,425 ops/sec  slow
   cli-color              65,561 ops/sec  too slow
   colors-cli             13,800 ops/sec  too slow

Nested styles

c.red(
  `a red ${c.white('white')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.cyan('cyan')} red ${c.black('black')} red ${c.red('red')} red
  ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red
  ${c.green('green')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.yellow('yellow')} red ${c.blue('blue')} red ${c.red('red')} red
  ${c.magenta('magenta')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red
  ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red
  ${c.black('black')} red ${c.yellow('yellow')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red
  ${c.yellow('yellow')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red
  ${c.green('green')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red
  ${c.magenta('magenta')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.cyan('cyan')} red ${c.red('red')} red
  ${c.cyan('cyan')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red ${c.red('red')} red message`
);

+  picocolors            243,975 ops/sec  very fast
   colorette             243,139 ops/sec  very fast
   kleur/colors          234,132 ops/sec  very fast
   kleur                 221,446 ops/sec  very fast
-> ansis                 211,868 ops/sec  very fast
   chalk                 189,960 ops/sec  fast
   ansi-colors           121,451 ops/sec  slow
   colors.js              89,633 ops/sec  too slow
   cli-color              41,657 ops/sec  too slow
   colors-cli             14,264 ops/sec  too slow

Deep nested styles

c.green(
  `green ${c.cyan(
    `cyan ${c.red(
      `red ${c.yellow(
        `yellow ${c.blue(
          `blue ${c.magenta(`magenta ${c.underline(`underline ${c.italic(`italic`)} underline`)} magenta`)} blue`
        )} yellow`
      )} red`
    )} cyan`
  )} green`
);

+  colorette           1,131,757 ops/sec  very fast
   picocolors          1,002,649 ops/sec  very fast
-> ansis                 882,220 ops/sec  very fast
   chalk                 565,965 ops/sec  fast
   kleur/colors          478,547 ops/sec  fast
   kleur                 464,004 ops/sec  fast
   colors.js             451,592 ops/sec  fast
   ansi-colors           362,733 ops/sec  slow
   cli-color             213,441 ops/sec  slow
   colors-cli             40,340 ops/sec  too slow

HEX colors

Only two libraries support TrueColor: ansis and chalk

c.hex('#FBA')('foo');

+  ansis               4,944,572 ops/sec  very fast
   chalk               2,891,684 ops/sec  fast
   colors.js           (not supported)
   colorette           (not supported)
   picocolors          (not supported)
   cli-color           (not supported)
   colors-cli          (not supported)
   ansi-colors         (not supported)
   kleur/colors        (not supported)
   kleur               (not supported)

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Testing

npm run test will run the unit and integration tests.
npm run test:coverage will run the tests with coverage.

Also See

Most popular ANSI libraries for Node.js:

License

ISC

3.0.0 (2024-03-29)

feat: add detection of color spaces support: TrueColor, 256 colors, 16 colors, no color
feat: add fallback for supported color space: truecolor —> 256 colors —> 16 colors —> no colors
perform: improve performance for hex() function
chore: size increased from 3.2 KB to 3.8 KB as new features were added
test: switch from jest to vitest
test: add tests for new features
docs: update readme for color spaces support

BREAKING CHANGE

In the new major version 3.x are removed unused styles and methods.

⚠️ Warning

Before update, please check your code whether is used deleted styles and methods.

Keywords

FAQs

What is ansis?

Is ansis popular?

Is ansis well maintained?

Package last updated on 29 Mar 2024

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Install

ansis

💡 Highlights

🔆 What's New in v3

⚠️ Warning

❓Question / Feature Request / Bug

Install

Usage

Named import

Template literals

Chained syntax

Nested syntax

Base colors and styles

Extend base colors

ANSI 256 colors

TrueColor

Fallback

Use ANSI codes

Strip ANSI codes

New lines

Shortcuts / Themes

CLI

Environment variables

CLI arguments

Color support

Comparison of most popular libraries

Show ANSI demo

Run benchmark

Tested on

Colorette bench

Base colors

Chained styles

Nested calls

Nested styles

Deep nested styles

HEX colors

Testing

Also See

License

3.0.0 (2024-03-29)

BREAKING CHANGE

Keywords

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