MS-DOS and Windows command line ansi.sys command
The ansi.sys defines functions that change display graphics, control cursor movement and reassign keys. The ANSI.SYS device driver supports ANSI (American National Standards Institute) terminal emulation of escape sequences to control your system's screen and keyboard.
An ANSI escape sequence is a sequence of ASCII characters; the first two are the escape character (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; for example, "A" and "a" have completely different meanings.
Availability
The ansi.sys command is external file and is available in the following Microsoft operating systems.
How to load
Use device or devicehigh command in your config.sys file.
To load this file in Windows 95 or 98, the config.sys must have the following line.
device=c:\windows\command\ansi.sys
To load this file in Windows 3.x or Windows NT, use the following line.
device=c:\dos\ansi.sys
Ansi.sys syntax
Syntax
Device=[drive:][path]ANSI.SYS [/x] [/k] [/r]
Parameters
The [drive:][path] specifies the location of the Ansi.sys file. Additional [drive:][path] specifies the location of the Ansi.sys file. Additional information on where to load these files is in the how to load section.
Switches
| /x | Remaps extended keys independently on 101-key keyboards. |
| /k | Causes ANSI.SYS to treat a 101-key keyboard like an 84-key keyboard. Equivalent to the command SWITCHES=/k. If you usually use the SWITCHES=/k command, use the /k switch with ANSI.SYS. |
| /r | Adjusts line scrolling to improve readability when ANSI.SYS is used with screen-reading programs (which makes computers more accessible to people with disabilities). |
Parameters
| Pn | Numeric parameter. Specifies a decimal number. |
| Ps | Selective parameter. Specifies a decimal number used to select a function. Specify more than one function by separating the parameters with semicolons. |
| PL | Line parameter. Specifies a decimal number that represents one of the lines on your display or on another device. |
| Pc | Column parameter. Specifies a decimal number that represents one of the columns on your screen or on another device. |
Escape sequences
ANSI escape sequences for cursor movement, graphics, and keyboard settings
In the below list of ANSI escape sequences, the abbreviation ESC represents the ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) escape character 27 (1Bh), which appears at the beginning of each escape sequence.
| ESC[PL;PcH | Cursor position: moves the cursor to the specified position (coordinates). If you do not specify a position, the cursor moves to the home position — the upper-left corner of the screen (line 0, column 0). This escape sequence works the same way as the below cursor position escape sequence. |
| ESC[PL;Pcf | Cursor position: works the same way as the preceding cursor position escape sequence. |
| ESC[PnA | 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[PnB | 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[PnC | 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[PnD | 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. Move the cursor to the saved cursor position with 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[Ps;...;Psm | Set graphics mode: calls the graphics functions specified by the below 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[=Psh
Set Mode: Changes the screen width or type to the mode specified by one of the below values:
| 0 | 40 x 148 x 25 monochrome (text) |
| 1 | 40 x 148 x 25 color (text) |
| 2 | 80 x 148 x 25 monochrome (text) |
| 3 | 80 x 148 x 25 color (text) |
| 4 | 320 x 148 x 200 4-color (graphics) |
| 5 | 320 x 148 x 200 monochrome (graphics) |
| 6 | 640 x 148 x 200 monochrome (graphics) |
| 7 | Enables line wrapping |
| 13 | 320 x 148 x 200 color (graphics) |
| 14 | 640 x 148 x 200 color (16-color graphics) |
| 15 | 640 x 148 x 350 monochrome (2-color graphics) |
| 16 | 640 x 148 x 350 color (16-color graphics) |
| 17 | 640 x 148 x 480 monochrome (2-color graphics) |
| 18 | 640 x 148 x 480 color (16-color graphics) |
| 19 | 320 x 148 x 200 color (256-color graphics) |
Reset Mode: resets the mode with 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" letter.
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 below 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 represent an uppercase "A" letter.
Some values in the table below are not valid for all computers. Check your computer's documentation for values that are different.
ASCII key codes
| 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 | 0 | 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 | 5 | 0;18 |
| 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 |
| - (minus) | 45 | 95 | 31 | 0;130 |
| = (equals) | 61 | 43 | - | 0;131 |
| ] (close bracket) | 91 | 123 | 27 | 0;26 |
| [ (open bracket) | 93 | 125 | 29 | 0;27 |
| 92 | 124 | 28 | 0;43 | |
| ; (semicolon) | 59 | 58 | - | 0;39 |
| ' (single quote) | 39 | 34 | - | 0;40 |
| . (period) | 46 | 60 | - | 0;51 |
| / (forward slash) | 47 | 63 | - | 0;53 |
| ` (back quote) | 39 | 34 | - | 0;40 |
| Enter (keypad) | 13 | - | 10 | (0;116) |
| / (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) | - |