Terminal++

A lightweight, cross-platform C++ library for creating rich terminal applications with color support, cursor manipulation, and asynchronous operations. Works seamlessly on Windows and UNIX-like systems.

Table of contents

• Installation
• Basic Usage
• Text Styling
• Colors
• Terminal Operations
• Input Handling
• Asynchronous Operations
• Reference Charts

Installation

Include the header file in your project:

#include "Terminal.hpp"

Compile with:

g++ -std=c++17 your_file.c++ -o your_program

No special setup or configuration is required.

Basic usage

Basic printing operations:

printer.println("Hello, Terminal++!");

Chain multiple operations:

printer.setTextColor(Color::Blue)
    .setBackgroundColor(Color::White)
    .println("Styled text!");

Text styling

Available text styles through the TextStyle class:

• TextStyle::Normal - Default text style
• TextStyle::Bold - Bold weight text
• TextStyle::Dim - Dimmed text intensity
• TextStyle::Italic - Italic text
• TextStyle::Underline - Underlined text
• TextStyle::Blink - Blinking text
• TextStyle::Reverse - Reversed foreground/background colors
• TextStyle::Hidden - Hidden text
• TextStyle::Strike - Strikethrough text

Text styles Reference

Colors

Basic colors

Available through the Color class:

• Color::Black
• Color::Red
• Color::Green
• Color::Yellow
• Color::Blue
• Color::Magenta
• Color::Cyan
• Color::White
• Color::Reset - Resets both text and background colors to terminal defaults

8-bit colors

Use any color from 0 to 255:

printer.setTextColor(42)        // Text color
     .setBackgroundColor(200); // Background color

8-bit Color Reference Chart

RGB colors

printer.setTextColor(Color::Rgb(94, 60, 108)) // purple color
       .println("Termina++ in purple!");

Terminal operations

Screen control

Clear operations available through ClearType enum:

• ClearType::All - Clear screen and history
• ClearType::Purge - Clear visible screen only
• ClearType::Line - Clear current line

Example:

Terminal::clearScreen(ClearType::All);

Cursor control

Move cursor

Cursor::moveTo(10, 5);

Coordinates start at [1, 1] in the top-left corner of the terminal.

Hide cursor

Cursor::hideCursor();

Show cursor

Cursor::showCursor();

Cursor styles

• Cursor::Default - the default cursor shape used by the user
• Cursor::BlinkingBlock - a blinking block █
• Cursor::SteadyBlock - a non blinking block
• Cursor::BlinkingUnderline - a blinking underline _
• Cursor::SteadyUnderline - a non blinking underline
• Cursor::BlinkingBar - a blinking bar |
• Cursor::SteadyBar - a non blinking bar

Change cursor style

Example:

Cursor::setStyle(Cursor::BlinkingUnderline);

Terminal information

Get size

auto [width, height] = Terminal::size();

Check resize

if (term.isResized()) {/*Handle resize*/}

Get new dimensions

int newWidth, newHeight;
term.isResized(newWidth, newHeight);

Window title

Terminal::setTitle("My Terminal App");

Sleep operation

Terminal::sleep(1000); // Sleep for 1 second

Terminal reset

Terminal::reset();

Resets all the terminal's attributes

Input handling

Supported keyboard buttons

• Backspace: keyCode::Backspace
• Enter: keyCode::Enter
• Escape: keyCode::Esc
• Tab: keyCode::Tab
• Space: keyCode::Space
• ArrowKeys

Input methods

Read single character

char c = Input::getChar();

Gets a character from unbuffered input.

Read a string

std::string str = Input::getString("Enter text: ");

Read a line

std::string line = Input::getLine("Enter a line: ");

Check key press

if (Terminal::keyPressed()) {/*Handle key press*/}

Asynchronous operations

Run background task:

term.nonBlock([]() {
    printer.println("Processing...")
           .setTextColor(Color::Green)
           .println("Task complete!");
    Terminal::sleep(1000);
});

Wait for completion [optional]:

term.awaitCompletion();

All background threads are automatically joined when the Terminal instance is destroyed.

Reference charts

Text styles

8-bit color chart

Examples

For complete working examples - see the examples directory

License

This project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License - see the LICENSE file for details.