Using sixels in prompts (CMD, PowerShell, and Bash / WSL)

[PhMajerus]

Using sixels in prompts

This article shows how to embed sixels in string literals to include an image in the prompt in the Command Prompt (cmd.exe), Windows PowerShell (5.x), and PowerShell (6.x and later, pka PS Core).

Command Prompt (cmd.exe)

Here is a PROMPT command for cmd.exe to include the MS-DOS logo as a prefix.

prompt $EP0;1q^"1;1;30;20#0;2;0;0;0#1;2;97;0;0#2;2;50;0;0#3;2;75;0;97#4;2;37;0;63#5;2;97;97;0#6;2;50;50;0#0~^!6@`XDA`PPp@xDA`PPPpP`AACw$$#1?}}}^!4MA???__#5???w{]^!6M[[G$$#2^!4?oooOCA$$#3^!8?_w[^!5MA^!4?__#6??O__o$$#4^!10?_O???oCA??_-#0~???~@@~??_~??~@Bcg~???~aADDHo$$#1?~~~^!8?~~#5???@B^!5?K[wwo$$#3^!8?~~#4^^^!9?~#3~~$$#6^!17?AC^!5?O_-#0~???BAAABA@wGEBANO_?@ABAA@??_^^$$#1?~^^^^^!6[MF@#5^!4?@FNM^!4[]NFB$$#2??^!8_o?E@#6???MWoo^!5_ow[$$#3^!9?@??OW[[O^!4?@$$#4^!12?^!6_-#0@^!9A@@^!7A@^!6A@@$$#2?^!9@#4??^!7@#6?^!6@$E\$E[3C$S$P$G$S

You can create a batch file containing @echo off on the first line and that command on the second line, and provide its path to the Command Processor in the registry at HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun (REG_SZ or REG_EXPAND_SZ). This will make that command run automatically when launching cmd.exe.

PowerShell

Here is a replacement prompt function for PowerShell that replaces the text PS prefix with the modern (black) PowerShell logo using Sixels.

function prompt { return "`eP0;1q`"1;1;26;20#1;2;89;91;91#2;2;71;77;83#3;2;60;64;77#4;2;50;61;75#5;2;33;42;56#6;2;16;24;36#7;2;13;19;30#8;2;8;14;20#9;2;5;8;11#10;2;2;2;3#1???oE???Ooo_#7?ow[[CC#4!5AC`$#3!4?O?!13A!5?G`$#2!4?GA???G#8!5?__ww{{[CS#2q`$#5!4?_C#4??g#9!12?_wG`$#6!5?w{{CCK[{KC!8?_-#5???O@!4?_!4?_W!6?O@`$#1??wB!6?``b}{W#9?ow{}NFF`$#6???_}~^NDAO#8???@fNFB@#10ow#4_A`$???G!5?@#2AS@A!9?[@`$#3???C#7??_oy[KG?@A!7?G`$#3!14?C-#5??C??C?O??CAK!5?C??G`$#3?_@???O?@???@!5?G??O`$#1?E!4?KMEBB@?!5K#2???_N`$?W!7?C#9_oo_aBBB@?_`$#6??GJ@OA??G???POOO!4?C`$#7??os}B@@O???A!4?O`$#4??A??G??G#10!6?___a~^@`$#8!5?!4_oWK?A@???O??A-#2?@#3@@#4!16@#3@#2@`e\`e[3C$($executionContext.SessionState.Path.CurrentLocation)$('>' * ($nestedPromptLevel + 1)) " }

Of course, you can include that line in your $profile file to do it automatically when launching PowerShell.

Windows PowerShell

Here is the equivalent for the legacy (blue) Windows PowerShell logo .

function prompt { return "$([char]0x1B)P0;1q`"1;1;26;20#1;2;25;44;78#2;2;25;45;83#3;2;28;50;88#4;2;28;52;91#5;2;30;55;96#6;2;64;75;93#7;2;89;91;94#8;2;27;45;80#9;2;42;56;85#10;2;20;39;67#1???oE#5{{{CCK[C#2!6?_wWKC#5_`$#4!4?o!7?w{{{[CC!5?Y`$#2!4?GA#3!10Aayy]EEAAC`$#7!8?Owo_#8!9?_ow`$#6!8?g-#4???G?ow{{[WG?@@!8?E`$#1??G@#9!5?_!5?G#2?MF@??O`$#2??_A#6!5?@A?@?C#1_!4?owC#5W@`$#8??O#5o~NFBBAC#3???AFF@!4?_@`$???C#7!6?``v}}W#8Owow}NFJ`$#10!14?_-#4??}}~R@@#1?G??A???__a~vB`$#8?E!5?_oow}oabbBB@??C`$#3?o@??__#10O??C??P!5O?G#4O@`$#2?G#5?@#6?KO?@C??L!5?G#5??_M`$#9!6?A?G!9?C#3??G`$#7!6?KMEBB@?!5K-#3?!20@#5@$([char]0x1B)\$([char]0x1B)[3C$($executionContext.SessionState.Path.CurrentLocation)$('>' * ($nestedPromptLevel + 1)) " }

Bash (WSL)

Finally, here is how to embed a sixel logo in a Bash prompt, using the Ubuntu logo .

export PS1='\eP0;1q"1;1;20;20#1;2;91;25;0#2;2;91;30;3#3;2;91;31;9#4;2;91;22;0#5;2;94;61;55#6;2;91;33;17#7;2;97;93;91#1??__?KCE!5ACKO__\$#2???OW?_OS??K???GO\$#3!4?_oWGGKK!4?_\$#5!7?_???OGG\$#7!8?!4_oo\$#6!9?OO???o\$#4!12?C-#6??Wc!4?A!6?W\$#1?}f?A???c?Ac???A?B}\$#2???A?@?W?A??W?@c?c\$#3???@@???W{{W???@~W\$#7???WW{~B!4@B}{\$#5!4?cA?c???Ac@A-#5!5?@?C???HOQ@\$#1?@FC@o__??@??_oHCF@\$#2???HWACGg@?o??AOG\$#3???AEKWOOoo!4?EB\$#7!6?BB!4ENL\$#6!8?@GG???K\$#4!12?_-#1!7?!6@\e\\\e[2C \[\e]0;\u@\h: \w\a\]${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$ '

This can be set in your ~/.bashrc file to do it automatically when launching bash. For exemple by using the command line echo "${PS1@A}" >> ~/.bashrc when you are satisfied with your current prompt.

Note however that some features relying on Bash computing the width of the prompt will get slightly confused, such as the tab completion, and up/down history, when it believes the command has reached the end of the line.

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Note all of these require a version of Windows Terminal that supports sixels. At the time of this writing, that means Windows Terminal Preview 1.22.2362.0, as the non-preview version is still on 1.20 which does not support sixels.