Usage | Description | Example | Options | Limitations | Return Codes | Version History | tt_r6

acho [log logfile] [option] arg [...]

acho writes, to standard output, arg ... with the following args changing the console's foreground/background colour:

Argument	Colour change
.n	Normal display (low intensity white on black)
.o	Original colours and intensity 1
.r	Original colours reversed, original intensity
.hi .fg=hi	High intensity foreground
.lo .fg=lo	Low intensity foreground 1
.fg=bla	Black foreground
.fg=red	Red foreground
.fg=gre	Green foreground
.fg=yel	Yellow foreground
.fg=blu	Blue foreground
.fg=mag	Magenta foreground
.fg=cya	Cyan foreground
.fg=whi	White foreground
.bg=hi	High intensity background 1
.bg=lo	Low intensity background 1
.bg=bla	Black background
.bg=red	Red background
.bg=gre	Green background
.bg=yel	Yellow background
.bg=blu	Blue background
.bg=mag	Magenta background
.bg=cya	Cyan background
.bg=whi	White background

¹ : Only effective for Win32 version.

acho still recognizes the .normal, .high, and .rev arguments, for compatability with earlier versions.

acho does not print a space between args.

If you don't specify logfile, acho writes error messages to standard error.

The command:

        acho .bg=whi .fg=red "hello world" .n

prints the one-line message "hello world" to the screen in red on white and then resets the display to normal.

acho recognizes the following command line options:

Option	Function
-n	Don't print newline after last arg.
-v	Print version banner and usage info to standard error (or logfile, if given), then exit.

Unrecognized options are printed.

acho requires a colour display.

To use the DOS version of acho, the ANSI.SYS driver must be loaded. If not already present, add the following line (typically) to your "config.sys" (or "config.nt") file:

        DEVICE=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS

To use the Win32 version of acho, no special setup is needed.

acho returns with one of the following codes ("error levels"):

Code	Meaning
0	Success
102	Incorrect command line arguments
104	Error opening file
105	I/O error
110	Error getting standard output handle

These are the released versions:

Version	Date	Changes
1.01	12-Feb-96	n/a
1.10	26-Sep-96	* Very minor changes.
1.10	11-May-97	* Available as Win32 console mode version.
1.20	7-Sep-97	* Proper return codes. * Bug-fix: Win32 version didn't show colours on NT. * Win32 version no longer uses ANSI codes. * Win32 version has additional .xxx directives.
1.30	2-Jan-99	* Win32 version now has coloured response texts.