# ACHO v1.20 - colourful echo

#### Revised 7-Sep-97. Copyright (c) 1996-97 by Rune Berg. TextTools Freeware.

Usage - Description - Example - Options - Limitations - Return codes

### USAGE

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

### DESCRIPTION

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.

### EXAMPLE

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.

### OPTIONS

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.

### LIMITATIONS

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.

### RETURN CODES

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

##### End of document