Show HN: A terminal emulator in pure PHP
Published on: 2025-06-04 17:43:25
Solo Screen
Screen is a terminal emulator written in pure PHP. It powers Solo for Laravel and can be used to build rich text-based user interfaces in any PHP application.
Note Screen is a library intended to be integrated into PHP applications. It is not a standalone terminal application.
About terminal emulators
A terminal emulator is software that replicates the functionality of a classic hardware computer terminal. It processes text input and output along with special control sequences (ANSI escape codes) that control formatting, cursor movement, and other terminal features.
Terminal emulators interpret these escape sequences to:
Position the cursor
Set text colors and styles (bold, underline, etc.)
Clear parts of the screen
Handle special character sets
And much more
Screen implements this functionality in pure PHP, allowing developers to build terminal user interfaces without relying on external dependencies or native code.
Why this exists
Screen was originally create
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