Crossterm | cross-platform terminal manipulating library.

Lines of Code

Have you ever been disappointed when a terminal library for rust was only written for UNIX systems? Crossterm provides clearing, input handling, styling, cursor movement, and terminal actions for both Windows and UNIX systems.

Crossterm aims to be simple and easy to call in code. Through the simplicity of Crossterm, you do not have to worry about the platform you are working with.

This crate supports all UNIX and Windows terminals down to Windows 7 (not all terminals are tested see Tested Terminals for more info).

This crate consists of five modules that are provided behind feature flags so that you can define which features you'd like to have; by default, all features are enabled.

Getting Started

This documentation is only for Crossterm version 0.9.^. If you have an older version of Crossterm, then I suggest you check the Upgrade Manual. Also, check out the examples folders with detailed examples for all functionality of this crate.

Add the Crossterm package to your Cargo.toml file.

[dependencies]
crossterm = "0.9.6"

Useful Links

Features

Cross-platform
Multithreaded (send, sync)
Detailed Documentation
Few Dependencies
Cursor
- Moving n times (up, down, left, right)
- Position (set/get)
- Store cursor position and resetting to that later
- Hiding/Showing
- Blinking Cursor (supported by only some terminals)
Styled output
- Foreground Color (16 base colors)
- Background Color (16 base colors)
- 256 (ANSI) Color Support (Windows 10 and UNIX Only)
- RGB Color Support (Windows 10 and UNIX only)
- Text Attributes: bold, italic, underscore and crossed word and more (Windows 10 and UNIX only)
Terminal
- Clearing (all lines, current line, from cursor down and up, until new line)
- Scrolling (up, down)
- Terminal Size (get/set)
- Alternate Screen
- Raw Screen
- Exit Current Process
Input
- Read character
- Read line
- Read key input events (async / sync)
- Read mouse input events (press, release, position, button)

Examples

These are some basic examples demonstrating how to use this crate. See examples for more.

Command API

My first recommendation is to use the command API because this might replace some of the existing API in the future. Because it is more convenient, faster, and easier to use.

Styled Text

This module enables you to style the terminal text.

Good documentation can be found at the following places: docs, book, examples

imports

use crossterm::{Colored, Color, Colorize, Styler, Attribute};

style text with attributes

// pass any `Attribute` value to the formatting braces.
println!("{} Underlined {} No Underline", Attribute::Underlined, Attribute::NoUnderline);

// you could also call different attribute methods on a `&str` and keep on chaining if needed.
let styled_text = "Bold Underlined".bold().underlined();
println!("{}", styled_text);

style text with colors

println!("{} Red foreground color", Colored::Fg(Color::Red));
println!("{} Blue background color", Colored::Bg(Color::Blue));

// you can also call different coloring methods on a `&str`.
let styled_text = "Bold Underlined".red().on_blue();
println!("{}", styled_text);

style text with RGB and ANSI Value

// custom rgb value (Windows 10 and UNIX systems)
println!("{} some colored text", Colored::Fg(Color::Rgb {
    r: 10,
    g: 10,
    b: 10
}));

// custom ansi color value (Windows 10 and UNIX systems)
println!("{} some colored text", Colored::Fg(Color::AnsiValue(10)));

Cursor

This module enables you to work with the terminal cursor.

Good documentation could be found on the following places: docs, examples

use crossterm::cursor;

let mut cursor = cursor();

/// Moving the cursor
// Set the cursor to position X: 10, Y: 5 in the terminal
cursor.goto(10,5);

// Move the cursor up,right,down,left 3 cells.
cursor.move_up(3);
cursor.move_right(3);
cursor.move_down(3);
cursor.move_left(3);

/// Safe the current cursor position to recall later
// Goto X: 5 Y: 5
cursor.goto(5,5);
// Safe cursor position: X: 5 Y: 5
cursor.save_position();
// Goto X: 5 Y: 20
cursor.goto(5,20);
// Print at X: 5 Y: 20.
print!("Yea!");
// Reset back to X: 5 Y: 5.
cursor.reset_position();
// Print 'Back' at X: 5 Y: 5.
print!("Back");

// hide cursor
cursor.hide();
// show cursor
cursor.show();
// blink or not blinking of the cursor (not widely supported)
cursor.blink(true)

Terminal

This module enables you to work with the terminal in general.

Good documentation could be found on the following places: docs, examples.

use crossterm::{terminal,ClearType};

let mut terminal = terminal();

// Clear all lines in terminal;
terminal.clear(ClearType::All);
// Clear all cells from current cursor position down.
terminal.clear(ClearType::FromCursorDown);
// Clear all cells from current cursor position down.
terminal.clear(ClearType::FromCursorUp);
// Clear current line cells.
terminal.clear(ClearType::CurrentLine);
// Clear all the cells until next line.
terminal.clear(ClearType::UntilNewLine);

// Get terminal size
let (width, height) = terminal.terminal_size();
print!("X: {}, y: {}", width, height);

// Scroll down, up 10 lines.
terminal.scroll_down(10);
terminal.scroll_up(10);

// Set terminal size (width, height)
terminal.set_size(10,10);

// exit the current process.
terminal.exit();

// write to the terminal whether you are on the main screen or alternate screen.
terminal.write("Some text\n Some text on new line");

Input Reading

This module enables you to read user input events.

Good documentation could be found on the following places: docs, book, examples

available imports

use crossterm_input::{
    input, InputEvent, KeyEvent, MouseButton, MouseEvent, TerminalInput, AsyncReader, SyncReader, Screen
};

Simple Readings

let mut input = input();

 match input.read_char() {
    Ok(s) => println!("char typed: {}", s),
    Err(e) => println!("char error : {}", e),
 }
 
 match input.read_line() {
     Ok(s) => println!("string typed: {}", s),
     Err(e) => println!("error: {}", e),
 }

Read input events synchronously or asynchronously.

// make sure to enable raw mode, this will make sure key events won't be handled by the terminal it's self and allows crossterm to read the input and pass it back to you.
let screen = RawScreen::into_raw_mode();
    
let mut input = input();

// either read the input synchronously 
let stdin = input.read_sync();
 
// or asynchronously
let stdin = input.read_async();

if let Some(key_event) = stdin.next() {
     match key_event {
         InputEvent::Keyboard(event: KeyEvent) => match event { /* check key event */ }
         InputEvent::Mouse(event: MouseEvent) => match event { /* check mouse event */ }
     }
 }

Enable mouse input events.

let input = input();

// enable mouse events to be captured.
input.enable_mouse_mode().unwrap();

// disable mouse events to be captured.
input.disable_mouse_mode().unwrap();

Alternate and Raw Screen

These concepts are a little more complex and would take over the README, please check out the docs, book, and examples.

Used By

Tested terminals

Windows Powershell
- Windows 10 (pro)
Windows CMD
- Windows 10 (pro)
- Windows 8.1 (N)
Ubuntu Desktop Terminal
- Ubuntu 17.10
(Arch, Manjaro) KDE Konsole
Linux Mint

This crate supports all Unix terminals and Windows terminals down to Windows 7; however, not all of the terminals have been tested. If you have used this library for a terminal other than the above list without issues, then feel free to add it to the above list - I really would appreciate it!

Contributing

I highly appreciate it when you contribute to this crate. Please visit the discord or issue list for more information

Authors

Timon Post - Project Owner & creator

Support

Crossterm took a lot of time to develop, I appreciate any donation given to support the development of crossterm.

License

This project, crossterm and all it's sub-modules: crossterm_screen, crossterm_cursor, crossterm_style, crossterm_input, crossterm_terminal, crossterm_winapi, crossterm_utils are licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.md file for details

crossterm 0.10.0