Shell command: tput

Print at specific coordinates

function print_at {
  x=$1
  y=$2
  text=$3

# Note: first the row, then the column:
  tput cup $y $x; printf "$text (x=$x, y=$y)"

}

clear
print_at  5 10 "hello world"
print_at  8  3 "twenty-four"
print_at 30  8 "bit to the left"
print_at 50  6 "more to the left"
print_at  0 20 "finish"

Colors

for fg_color in {0..7}; do
for bg_color in {0..7}; do

  tput setaf $fg_color; # set foreground color
  tput setab $bg_color; # set background color
  printf "fg=$fg_color, bg=$bg_color"

  tput sgr0 # reset attributes
  printf "\n"

done;
done

Decorating text

y=2

function display_text {
  capname=$1

  tput sgr0  # Turn off all attributes

  tput cup $y 3; printf "This is ";
  tput $capname; printf $capname;

  y=$((y+2)) # move y coordinate downj

}

clear

display_text bold
display_text smul  # underlined text. Can be ended with rmul.
display_text blink # should blink. Does not always work.
display_text invis # invisible text

See also