Emacs Shell Ansi Colors
Lorenzo Isella
I often use M-x shell to open a shell within Emacs. Since I miss the
colorized output, I tried to enable ansi-colors in my Emacs shell.
After googling, I found suggestions along the lines of the link pasted below
http://www.grokblok.com/articles/2007/12/13/emacs-shell-ansi-colors/
The problem is that I added those few lines to my .emacs file, but
nothing changed.
I had a look also at:
http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/ansi-color.el
but I did not copy the ansi-color.el file anywhere in my system (in case
it matters, I am running emacs22 on a Debian testing box).
I notice that issuing the command (within emacs shell):
ls --color=yes
give the nice colorized output I am looking for, hence I do not think
there is any substantial problem by default, just it seems that my
output is not colorized by default (though when I type M-x shell I read
the message
Loading ansi-color...done ).
Can anyone help me out with this?
Many thanks
Lorenzo
Thierry Volpiatto
Lorenzo Isella <lorenzo...@gmail.com> writes:
Try that in your .emacs:
,----
| (autoload 'ansi-color-for-comint-mode-on "ansi-color" nil t)
| (add-hook 'shell-mode-hook 'ansi-color-for-comint-mode-on)
`----
--
A + Thierry Volpiatto
Location: Saint-Cyr-Sur-Mer - France
Lorenzo Isella
>
> Am 28.09.2008 um 23:19 schrieb Thierry Volpiatto:
>
>> ,----
>> | (autoload 'ansi-color-for-comint-mode-on "ansi-color" nil t)
>> | (add-hook 'shell-mode-hook 'ansi-color-for-comint-mode-on)
>> `----
>
>
>
> (ansi-color-for-comint-mode-on)
>
> is enough ...
>
> --
> Greetings
>
> Pete
>
> There's no place like ~
> – (UNIX Guru)
>
>
>
>
Hi,
And thanks for your suggestions. I am puzzled since I gave both a try
(actually one of them is precisely the same recommendation from the
wiki page), but the problem stays the same.
From the web
http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/ansi-color.el
I read
;;; Commentary:
;; This file provides a function that takes a string or a region
;; containing Select Graphic Rendition (SGR) control sequences (formerly
;; known as ANSI escape sequences) and tries to translate these into
;; faces.
;;
;; This allows you to run ls --color=yes in shell-mode. In order to
;; test this, proceed as follows:
;;
;; 1. start a shell: M-x shell
;; 2. load this file: M-x load-library RET ansi-color RET
;; 3. activate ansi-color: M-x ansi-color-for-comint-mode-on
;; 4. test ls --color=yes in the *shell* buffer
;;
;; Note that starting your shell from within Emacs might set the TERM
;; environment variable. The new setting might disable the output of
;; SGR control sequences. Using ls --color=yes forces ls to produce
;; these.
;;
;; If you decide you like this, add the following to your .emacs file:
;;
;; (autoload 'ansi-color-for-comint-mode-on "ansi-color" nil t)
;; (add-hook 'shell-mode-hook 'ansi-color-for-comint-mode-on)
So it looks like there could be a problem with the TERM environment
variable (but do not ask me what this stands for).
I suppose (hope?) this is a one-liner for somebody really
knowledgeable about emacs.
Kind Regards
Lorenzo
Thierry Volpiatto
ansi-color.el is part of emacs, it will be loaded with emacs, so you
have nothing to do with that.
Also:
be sure you have something like that in your .bashrc:
,----
| if [[ -f ~/.dir_colors ]]; then
| eval `dircolors -b ~/.dir_colors`
| else
| eval `dircolors -b /etc/DIR_COLORS`
| fi
`----
(Assume you have such a file)
The best is to have a per-user file : "~/.dir_colors"
Just copy it from /etc
You can also add this line in this file:
,----
| TERM dumb
`----
And now with the code i sent in precedent post or the code Peter sent,
it should work.
Lorenzo Isella
I think we are getting to the bottom of this. Apologies in advance for
the long email, but there are several suggestions here about what to
modify (and how), and my knowledge of shell scripting is clearly on a
different league wrt the one of many people on the list.
To make a long story short, this is the output of your command:
~$ env | grep TERM
TERM=xterm
COLORTERM=gnome-terminal
and this is my .bashrc file (or better: the part about aliases and
colors, which I think is relevant here):
# set a fancy prompt (non-color, unless we know we "want" color)
case "$TERM" in
xterm-color)
PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$
'
;;
*)
PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w\$ '
;;
esac
# Comment in the above and uncomment this below for a color prompt
#PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$
'
# If this is an xterm set the title to user@host:dir
case "$TERM" in
xterm*|rxvt*)
PROMPT_COMMAND='echo -ne "\033]0;${USER}@${HOSTNAME}: ${PWD/$HOME/~}\007"'
;;
*)
;;
esac
# Alias definitions.
# You may want to put all your additions into a separate file like
# ~/.bash_aliases, instead of adding them here directly.
# See /usr/share/doc/bash-doc/examples in the bash-doc package.
#if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
# . ~/.bash_aliases
#fi
# enable color support of ls and also add handy aliases
if [ "$TERM" != "dumb" ]; then
eval "`dircolors -b`"
alias ls='ls --color=auto'
#alias dir='ls --color=auto --format=vertical'
#alias vdir='ls --color=auto --format=long'
fi
# some more ls aliases
#alias ll='ls -l'
#alias la='ls -A'
#alias l='ls -CF'
and this is my /etc/profile file:
# /etc/profile: system-wide .profile file for the Bourne shell (sh(1))
# and Bourne compatible shells (bash(1), ksh(1), ash(1), ...).
if [ "`id -u`" -eq 0 ]; then
PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11"
else
PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games"
fi
if [ "$PS1" ]; then
if [ "$BASH" ]; then
PS1='\u@\h:\w\$ '
else
if [ "`id -u`" -eq 0 ]; then
PS1='# '
else
PS1='$ '
fi
fi
fi
export PATH
umask 022
As to your suggestion:
> in case you need a drop-in solution for emacs, you can use the lines
> below.
>
> (comint-send-string (current-buffer) "alias ls='ls --color'")
> then do a
> (comint-send-input)
please, do not laugh, but I am a bit at a loss about the way I should
put this into my .emacs file. The part dealing with the shell is now:
(require 'shell-command)
(shell-command-completion-mode)
;; ;;Now I add another customization for the shell-mode
(autoload 'ansi-color-for-comint-mode-on "ansi-color" nil t)
(add-hook 'shell-mode-hook 'ansi-color-for-comint-mode-on)
(custom-set-variables
'(comint-scroll-to-bottom-on-input t) ; always insert at the bottom
'(comint-scroll-to-bottom-on-output t) ; always add output at the bottom
'(comint-scroll-show-maximum-output t) ; scroll to show max possible output
'(comint-completion-autolist t) ; show completion list when ambiguous
'(comint-input-ignoredups t) ; no duplicates in command history
'(comint-completion-addsuffix t) ; insert space/slash after
file completion
)
; make completion buffers disappear after 3 seconds.
(add-hook 'completion-setup-hook
(lambda () (run-at-time 3 nil
(lambda () (delete-windows-on "*Completions*")))))
(add-hook 'shell-mode-hook '(lambda () (toggle-truncate-lines 1)))
(setq comint-prompt-read-only t)
What should I actually add to this?
Hope this is the conclusion, thanks again to everybody.
Cheers
Lorenzo
2008/9/29 Paul R <paul...@gmail.com>:
>
> Lorenzo> So it looks like there could be a problem with the TERM
> Lorenzo> environment variable (but do not ask me what this stands
> Lorenzo> for). I suppose (hope?) this is a one-liner for somebody
> Lorenzo> really knowledgeable about emacs. Kind Regards
>
> in case you need a drop-in solution for emacs, you can use the lines
> below.
>
> (comint-send-string (current-buffer) "alias ls='ls --color'")
> then do a
> (comint-send-input)
>
> --
> Paul
>
--
It is hard to want something you cannot describe.
Paul R
Lorenzo> So it looks like there could be a problem with the TERM
Lorenzo> environment variable (but do not ask me what this stands
Lorenzo> for). I suppose (hope?) this is a one-liner for somebody
Lorenzo> really knowledgeable about emacs. Kind Regards
Yes, probably. Just read your ~/.bashrc and /etc/profile. Both files
are source'd when your shell starts. I suspect something like an alias
from 'ls' to 'ls --color' to be set in a conditionnal switch. If your
term is dumb (env | grep TERM), the alias is not made. Just ensure by
the mean you want that this alias occurs even in emacs shell mode.
--
Paul
Paul R
Lorenzo> So it looks like there could be a problem with the TERM
Lorenzo> environment variable (but do not ask me what this stands
Lorenzo> for). I suppose (hope?) this is a one-liner for somebody
Lorenzo> really knowledgeable about emacs. Kind Regards
in case you need a drop-in solution for emacs, you can use the lines
Andreas Politz
Leave your .emacs as it is and create a file '~/.emacs_bash', insert
the following lines, save and you should have colors.
PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$
eval "`dircolors -b`"
alias ls='ls --color=auto'
-ap
Paul R
Lorenzo> ~$ env | grep TERM TERM=xterm COLORTERM=gnome-terminal
I guess this is the output of the command run from within
gnome-terminal, not from emacs shell mode :)
Run it from shell mode you should read that the term is dumb.
Lorenzo> [ "$TERM" != "dumb" ]; then eval "`dircolors -b`" alias
Lorenzo> ls='ls --color=auto' #alias
Here we go. Emacs comint shell is dumb so the alias won't happen.
Lorenzo> please, do not laugh, but I am a bit at a loss about the way
Lorenzo> I should put this into my .emacs file. The part dealing with
Lorenzo> the shell is now:
I don't use M-x shell at all so I have hard time helping you more.
Reading shell.el code yield :
,---- see lines starting with !!!
| (interactive
| (list
| (and current-prefix-arg
| (read-buffer "Shell buffer: "
| (generate-new-buffer-name "*shell*")))))
| (setq buffer (get-buffer-create (or buffer "*shell*")))
| ;; Pop to buffer, so that the buffer's window will be correctly set
| ;; when we call comint (so that comint sets the COLUMNS env var properly).
| (pop-to-buffer buffer)
| (unless (comint-check-proc buffer)
| (let* ((prog (or explicit-shell-file-name
| (getenv "ESHELL") shell-file-name))
| (name (file-name-nondirectory prog))
|!!!!! NOTICE BELOW
| (startfile (concat "~/.emacs_" name))
| (xargs-name (intern-soft (concat "explicit-" name "-args"))))
| (unless (file-exists-p startfile)
| (setq startfile (concat "~/.emacs.d/init_" name ".sh")))
| (apply 'make-comint-in-buffer "shell" buffer prog
| (if (file-exists-p startfile) startfile)
| (if (and xargs-name (boundp xargs-name))
| (symbol-value xargs-name)
| '("-i")))
| (shell-mode)))
| buffer)
`----
So what we read here is that shell will try to evaluate (with your
shell) the file ~/.emacs_bash or ~/.emacs.d/init_bash.sh
So just drop in either file
alias ls='ls --color'
followed by a blank line (thx comint) and it should work
automagically.
By the way, have you tried eshell ? In most cases, it just works.
--
Paul
Richard Riley
I just noticed that I have the alias for my ls --color=auto in my bashrc
but the emacs shell does not pick it up in debian. So maybe another rc
file needs this stuff?
Richard Riley
I am not sure .bashrc is sourced when you start "shell". It doesnt seem
to be here on my debian system. I think you need a .emacs_bash. Which is
different from a few years ago. Maybe someone more knowledgeable can
comment.
Lorenzo Isella
$ env | grep TERM
TERM=dumb
TERMCAP=
COLORTERM=gnome-terminal
This time ran from within emacs.
I had neither file ~/.emacs_bash nor ~/.emacs.d/init_bash.sh, but
creating ~/.emacs.d/init_bash.sh with the only content
alias ls='ls --color'
followed by a blank line (precisely as you said) got the job done.
Thanks again to the people on the list.
Cheers
Lorenzo
2008/9/29 Paul R <paul...@gmail.com>:
--
Paul R
Richard> I am not sure .bashrc is sourced when you start "shell". It
Richard> doesnt seem to be here on my debian system. I think you need
Richard> a .emacs_bash. Which is different from a few years ago. Maybe
Richard> someone more knowledgeable can comment.
It is sourced here on my box with default settings, but as written
above, your alias statement it probably bypassed because of dumb
terminal.
--
Paul
Peter Dyballa
Am 29.09.2008 um 15:32 schrieb Andreas Politz:
> Leave your .emacs as it is and create a file '~/.emacs_bash', insert
> the following lines, save and you should have colors.
>
> PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033
> [00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$
> eval "`dircolors -b`"
> alias ls='ls --color=auto'
This is only bash code – don't you think you need to prepare GNU
Emacs to *execute* the ANSI codes GNU ls will be emitting? This is
true for my GNU Emacs 22.3. Your example of a shell prompt can cause
problems in *shell* buffer – such a prompt is not easy to find, which
means that older commands also are not easy to find or recognised.
You can customise instead the variable comint-highlight-prompt.
There are also other versions of ls around that for example make
colourisation depending on terminal capabilities. Anyway, it's good
to know that a file ~/.emacs_<shell interpreter> exists that can be
used to setup *shell* buffer, for example switch off what's working
in xterm or such. Or switch on.
--
Mit friedvollen Grüßen
Pete <]
o __o |__ o HPV, the real
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