what does "\e[...." mean?

skyworld_chen has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi, I see a piece of code as

die "\e[5;31;42m ERROR: $lib_setup FILE does not exist in DIRECTORY: $setupDir/\e[0m\n" unless (-f "$setupDir/$lib_element");

can anybody help me to understand the symbol for "\e[5;31;42m" mean? thanks

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Re: what does "\e[...." mean? by tobyink (Canon) on Oct 29, 2012 at 08:21 UTC
It's an escape code that may change the colour of the output text (depending on the terminal which the program is running in). Voodoo really; use Term::ANSIColor instead. `perl -E'sub Monkey::do{say$_,for@_,do{($monkey=[caller(0)]->[3])=~s{::}{ }and$monkey}}"Monkey say"->Monkey::do'`	[reply]
Re: what does "\e[...." mean? by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Oct 29, 2012 at 08:18 UTC
See ANSI escape codes With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday' Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error. "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice. RIP Neil Armstrong	[reply]
Re^2: what does "\e[...." mean? by skyworld_chen (Acolyte) on Oct 29, 2012 at 08:43 UTC
thanks for your and tobyink's reply	[reply]