console-control-strings

What is console-control-strings?

The console-control-strings package provides utilities for manipulating the terminal/console using control strings. It allows developers to perform various terminal operations such as moving the cursor, clearing lines, and changing text styles without manually writing ANSI escape codes.

What are console-control-strings's main functionalities?

Cursor Movement

Moves the cursor up by one line. The package provides methods for moving the cursor in various directions.

const ccs = require('console-control-strings');
console.log(ccs.cursorUp(1));

Clearing Lines

Clears the current line where the cursor is located. There are also functions to clear the entire screen or parts of it.

const ccs = require('console-control-strings');
console.log(ccs.eraseLine());

Text Styling

Changes the text color to red and then resets it back to the default. The package includes various text styling options such as colors, bold, underline, etc.

const ccs = require('console-control-strings');
console.log(ccs.color('red') + 'This text will be red' + ccs.color('reset'));

Other packages similar to console-control-strings

chalk

Chalk is a popular npm package that allows for styling terminal strings. It provides an easier and more readable API compared to console-control-strings, with support for template literals and chaining styles.

ansi-escapes

ansi-escapes focuses on providing ANSI escape codes for manipulating the terminal. It offers a similar level of control to console-control-strings but with a different API design.

cli-cursor

cli-cursor specifically targets cursor visibility control in the terminal. While it has a narrower focus compared to console-control-strings, it provides a simple and straightforward API for showing and hiding the cursor.

README

Console Control Strings

A library of cross-platform tested terminal/console command strings for doing things like color and cursor positioning. This is a subset of both ansi and vt100. All control codes included work on both Windows & Unix-like OSes, except where noted.

Usage

var consoleControl = require('console-control-strings')

console.log(consoleControl.color('blue','bgRed', 'bold') + 'hi there' + consoleControl.color('reset'))
process.stdout.write(consoleControl.goto(75, 10))

Why Another?

There are tons of libraries similar to this one. I wanted one that was:

1. Very clear about compatibility goals.
2. Could emit, for instance, a start color code without an end one.
3. Returned strings w/o writing to streams.
4. Was not weighed down with other unrelated baggage.

Functions

var code = consoleControl.up(num = 1)

Returns the escape sequence to move num lines up.

var code = consoleControl.down(num = 1)

Returns the escape sequence to move num lines down.

var code = consoleControl.forward(num = 1)

Returns the escape sequence to move num lines righ.

var code = consoleControl.back(num = 1)

Returns the escape sequence to move num lines left.

var code = consoleControl.nextLine(num = 1)

Returns the escape sequence to move num lines down and to the beginning of the line.

var code = consoleControl.previousLine(num = 1)

Returns the escape sequence to move num lines up and to the beginning of the line.

var code = consoleControl.eraseData()

Returns the escape sequence to erase everything from the current cursor position to the bottom right of the screen. This is line based, so it erases the remainder of the current line and all following lines.

var code = consoleControl.eraseLine()

Returns the escape sequence to erase to the end of the current line.

var code = consoleControl.goto(x, y)

Returns the escape sequence to move the cursor to the designated position. Note that the origin is 1, 1 not 0, 0.

var code = consoleControl.gotoSOL()

Returns the escape sequence to move the cursor to the beginning of the current line. (That is, it returns a carriage return, \r.)

var code = consoleControl.beep()

Returns the escape sequence to cause the termianl to beep. (That is, it returns unicode character \x0007, a Control-G.)

var code = consoleControl.hideCursor()

Returns the escape sequence to hide the cursor.

var code = consoleControl.showCursor()

Returns the escape sequence to show the cursor.

var code = consoleControl.color(colors = [])

var code = consoleControl.color(color1, color2, …, colorn)

Returns the escape sequence to set the current terminal display attributes (mostly colors). Arguments can either be a list of attributes or an array of attributes. The difference between passing in an array or list of colors and calling .color separately for each one, is that in the former case a single escape sequence will be produced where as in the latter each change will have its own distinct escape sequence. Each attribute can be one of:

• Reset:
  • reset – Reset all attributes to the terminal default.
• Styles:
  • bold – Display text as bold. In some terminals this means using a bold font, in others this means changing the color. In some it means both.
  • italic – Display text as italic. This is not available in most Windows terminals.
  • underline – Underline text. This is not available in most Windows Terminals.
  • inverse – Invert the foreground and background colors.
  • stopBold – Do not display text as bold.
  • stopItalic – Do not display text as italic.
  • stopUnderline – Do not underline text.
  • stopInverse – Do not invert foreground and background.
• Colors:
  • white
  • black
  • blue
  • cyan
  • green
  • magenta
  • red
  • yellow
  • grey / brightBlack
  • brightRed
  • brightGreen
  • brightYellow
  • brightBlue
  • brightMagenta
  • brightCyan
  • brightWhite
• Background Colors:
  • bgWhite
  • bgBlack
  • bgBlue
  • bgCyan
  • bgGreen
  • bgMagenta
  • bgRed
  • bgYellow
  • bgGrey / bgBrightBlack
  • bgBrightRed
  • bgBrightGreen
  • bgBrightYellow
  • bgBrightBlue
  • bgBrightMagenta
  • bgBrightCyan
  • bgBrightWhite