UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hello,

On the linux box I use at work, the directories are bold type to distinguish them.

Is there a way to make certain words in a text file bold?


Thanks!

A text file is just plain text. it may be possible to include certain escape sequences so that your text is highlighted or colored when viewed using 'less' or 'more'. Please search the forum for my previous posts on ANSI color codes.

Ok, I found the your post and I'm able to see the bold text and the affect I'm looking for when I do echo ^[[1mhello^[[0m on the command line.

But how can I do that in a file? I mean when I place "echo ^[[1mhello^[[0m" in a file, it obviously just shows up as "echo ^[[1mhello^[[0m" when I view it, instead of the bold text I would get by doing it on the command line.

Thanks

Are you using ctrl+[, or just typing ^[ ?
Also, your terminal or the viewing program may be to blame.
I was able to recreate this:
ls --color=always > file
vi file results in:

Code:

^[[00m^[[01;34mDesktop^[[00m/
^[[01;34mMail^[[00m/
^[[01;34mNews^[[00m/
^[[01;34mbin^[[00m/
[...]

While cat file will show it in color.

By the way, this is on a Linux system, with GNU ls, using a color xterm emulator.

Got it. Thanks!