MD2ANSI

A Python-based Markdown to ANSI terminal formatter that renders markdown files with color and style directly in your terminal.

Features

• Headers (H1-H6) with distinct colors
• Lists (unordered)
• Code Blocks (fenced with ``` or ~~~)
• Tables (pipe-delimited with alignment support)
• Blockquotes
• Horizontal Rules
• Inline Formatting:
  • Bold (text)
  • Italic (text)
  • Strikethrough (text)
  • Inline code (code)

Installation

Clone the repository and make the script executable:

git clone https://github.com/Open-Technology-Foundation/md2ansi
cd md2ansi
chmod +x md2ansi.py

Create a symbolic link (optional):

ln -s md2ansi.py md2ansi

Usage

# Process a single markdown file
./md2ansi README.md

# Process multiple files
./md2ansi file1.md file2.md

# Process markdown from stdin
cat README.md | ./md2ansi

# Force specific terminal width
./md2ansi --width 100 README.md

Examples

Headers

# H1 Header
## H2 Header
### H3 Header

Lists

* Item 1
* Item 2
  * Subitem 2.1

Tables

| Align Left | Center | Align Right |
|:-----------|:------:|------------:|
| Left       | Center |       Right |

Code Blocks

```python
def hello():
    print("Hello, World!")
```

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• Linux/Unix terminal with ANSI color support

Technical Details

The script uses ANSI escape sequences to provide colored output:

• Headers use distinct colors (yellow to purple gradient)
• Code blocks and tables use gray
• Lists and horizontal rules use cyan
• Blockquotes use a dark background
• Regular text uses light gray

Terminal width is auto-detected with graceful fallbacks to ensure proper text wrapping.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

Copyright © 2022-2025 Indonesian Open Technology Foundation Licensed under GPL-3.0. See LICENSE file for details.

Bug Reports

Please report any issues on the GitHub repository.