Make Your 'Boring' Java Console App Stand Out👨‍🎓🏫

Introduction 👋

As a college student learning Java, I've spent countless hours on simple console applications. While the main goal is to grasp the underlying logic, I often wished I could make the "user interface" more exciting. That's when I discovered ANSI escape codes. If you want to make your console apps pop, these codes might be just what you need.

ANSI Escape Sequence

ANSI escape codes control text formatting, colors, and other options on text terminals. Each ANSI escape sequence consists of four parts:

1. Escape Character (\033 in octal)

2. Control Sequence Introducer ([)

3. Parameter (specifies what we want to change - text style, text color, background color)

4. Final Byte (m specifies that the preceding numbers are related to graphic rendering modes)

For example, an ANSI escape sequence to change the text color to red looks like this: \033[31m

As you'll see, the only part we'll be changing is the parameter, which represents the changes in appearance we want to apply.

Basic Syntax

System.out.println(ANSI_CODE + "This text is colored" + ANSI_RESET);

• ANSI_CODE is the ANSI escape sequence

• ANSI_RESET is a "special" ANSI escape sequence (\033[0m) that turns off all ANSI attributes, returning the console to its default appearance (white text on a black background).

Text Style ⌨️

Before we start playing with colors, let's try to change the style of the text. Here are the styles we can choose from:

• Bold: \033[1m

• Italicized: \033[3m

• Underline: \033[4m

public class TextStyles {
    public static final String ANSI_RESET = "\033[0m";
    public static final String TEXT_BOLD = "\033[1m";
    public static final String TEXT_ITALIC = "\033[3m";
    public static final String TEXT_UNDERLINE = "\033[4m";

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println(TEXT_BOLD + "Hello World" + ANSI_RESET);
        System.out.println(TEXT_ITALIC + "Hello World" + ANSI_RESET);
        System.out.println(TEXT_UNDERLINE + "Hello World" + ANSI_RESET);
    }
}

💡 We could write the ANSI escape sequences directly into the 'Hello World' string, but I prefer to store them as constants. It makes the code easier to read and understand.

Colors 🎨

We can also use ANSI codes to change the text and background colors.

Text Color

public class Foreground {
    public static final String CYAN_COLOR = "\033[36m"; 
    public static final String BRIGHT_YELLOW = "\033[93m"; 
    public static final String ANSI_RESET = "\033[0m"; 

    public static void main (String[] args){
        System.out.println(CYAN_COLOR + "Hello World" + ANSI_RESET);
        System.out.println(BRIGHT_YELLOW + "Hello World" + ANSI_RESET);
    }
}

Background Color

public class Background {
    public static final String RED_COLOR = "\033[41m"; 
    public static final String BRIGHT_GREEN_COLOR = "\033[102m"; 
    public static final String ANSI_RESET = "\033[0m"; 

    public static void main (String[] args){
        System.out.println(RED_COLOR + "Hello World" + ANSI_RESET);
        System.out.println(BRIGHT_GREEN_COLOR + "Hello World" + ANSI_RESET);
    }
}

256-Color Mode

To use the 256 color codes:

• foreground: \033[38;5;{color_code}m

• background: \033[48;5;{color_code}m

Where {color_code} ranges from 0 to 255.

RGB

To use RGB codes:

• foreground: \033[38;2;{r};{g};{b}m

• background: \033[48;2;{r};{g};{b}m

Where {r}, {g}, and {b} are the red, green, and blue color values, respectively, ranging from 0 to 255.

Combining Properties

ANSI escape sequence also allows us to specify multiple parameters separated by semicolons. For example, to make the text italicized and red:

public class CombinedStyles {
    // 3 - Italicized
    // 31 - Red text color
    public static final String ITALIC_RED = "\033[3;31m";
    public static final String ANSI_RESET = "\033[0m";

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println(ITALIC_RED + "Hello World" + ANSI_RESET);
    } 
}

Or we can concatenate multiple escape sequences:

public class CombinedStyles {
    public static final String BOLD = "\033[1m";
    public static final String RED_TEXT = "\033[31m";
    public static final String YELLOW_BACKGROUND = "\033[43m";
    public static final String ANSI_RESET = "\033[0m";

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println(BOLD + RED_TEXT + YELLOW_BACKGROUND + "Hello World" + ANSI_RESET);
    }  
}

Extra Tip - Using ASCII Art🖌️

To add some extra flair, you can use text-to-ASCII art generators for titles. I recommend the ASCII Art Archive generator. Type your desired text, click 'Copy to Clipboard,' and paste it into your print statement.

public class Title {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.print(" _   _      _ _        __        __         _     _ _ \r\n" + //
                        "| | | | ___| | | ___   \\ \\      / /__  _ __| | __| | |\r\n" + //
                        "| |_| |/ _ \\ | |/ _ \\   \\ \\ /\\ / / _ \\| '__| |/ _` | |\r\n" + //
                        "|  _  |  __/ | | (_) |   \\ V  V / (_) | |  | | (_| |_|\r\n" + //
                        "|_| |_|\\___|_|_|\\___/     \\_/\\_/ \\___/|_|  |_|\\__,_(_)");
    }
}

Conclusion

I hope these tips help you add some flair to your college projects by enhancing the appearance of your console applications. While these changes won't necessarily improve your grades or the functionality of your apps, they can make your work more visually appealing and fun to create. So, if you have some spare time, why not make your app stand out a bit? 😎

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Sources🔗

• 📄 Add Color with ANSI in JavaScript (Ryan Hart)

• 📄 How to Print Colored Text in Java Console? (geeksforgeeks)

• 🛠️ ASCII Art Archive (Text to ASCII Art Generator)