icat

Display images directly in a terminal by emitting ANSI escape codes.

• Python 3.8 or later
• Pillow
• A terminal that supports ANSI color output

python -m pip install pillow

python ./icat ./screenshot/icat1.PNG
python ./icat -m h ./screenshot/icat1.PNG
python ./icat -s 100 ./screenshot/icat1.PNG
python ./icat -d 8 -t ./screenshot/icat1.PNG

• -s, --size: Set the output width in characters.
• -m, --mode: Fit to terminal width (w) or height (h).
• -d, --depth: Choose 8 or 256 color output.
• -t: Use foreground text output (#) instead of colored blocks.
• -f, --file: Provide the image path as an option instead of a positional argument.

• Windows: run with python .\icat <image>.
• Linux/macOS: run with python ./icat <image> or install via a wrapper script if desired.
• argparse is part of the Python standard library and does not need a separate install.
• curses is optional. When it is unavailable, icat falls back to shutil.get_terminal_size().

Run the regression tests with:

python -m unittest discover -s tests

MIT License