How to Remove ANSI Escape Sequences from a String in Python?

Removing ANSI Escape Sequences from a String in Python

Problem:

You have a string that contains ANSI escape sequences, such as those used for color highlighting in SSH commands. These sequences interfere with your program's functionality, and you need to remove them to obtain the underlying text.

Solution:

One effective way to remove ANSI escape sequences from a string is to use a regular expression. Python's re module provides the sub() method, which can substitute the matched sequences with an empty string.

import re

ansi_escape = re.compile(r'\x1B(?:[@-Z\-_]|\[[0-?]*[ -/]*[@-~])')
cleaned_string = ansi_escape.sub('', original_string)

This regular expression matches all 7-bit ANSI C1 escape sequences. It captures either a two-byte sequence starting with an escape character (ESC) followed by a control character or a single 8-bit byte representing the control character. By replacing these matches with an empty string, the sub() method effectively removes the ANSI sequences.

Condensed Version:

cleaned_string = re.sub(r'\x1B(?:[@-Z\-_]|\[[0-?]*[ -/]*[@-~])', '', original_string)

Example:

Given the following string:

ls\r\n\x1b[00m\x1b[01;31mexamplefile.zip\x1b[00m\r\n\x1b[01;31m

Using the above regular expression, you obtain the cleaned string:

ls\r\nexamplefile.zip\r\n

Additional Notes:

• The regular expression covers all 7-bit ANSI C1 escape sequences, but not the 8-bit C1 escape sequence openers.
• If you need to handle 8-bit codes, a slightly more complex regular expression is required.
• For more information on ANSI escape codes, refer to the ANSI escape codes overview on Wikipedia or the ECMA-48 standard.

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