Ghost-typer effect in batch: Flickering random letters before each character

[S4M]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been experimenting with a batch “ghost-typer” effect, where text appears on the console as if it’s being typed live. I’d like to enhance it so that before each actual character is printed, a random character flickers in place. This would simulate a “hacking / sci-fi terminal” effect.

Here’s the basic code I started from (from an old Stack Overflow post):

Code: Select all

@echo off
:: Ghost typer
setlocal enableextensions enabledelayedexpansion

set lines=6

set "line1=Twinkle twinkle little star"
set "line2=How I wonder what you are"
set "line3=Up above the world so high"
set "line4=Like a diamond in the sky"
set "line5=Twinkle twinkle little star"
set "line6=How I wonder what you are"

for /f %%a in ('"prompt $H&for %%b in (1) do rem"') do set "BS=%%a"

for /L %%a in (1,1,%lines%) do set num=0&set "line=!line%%a!"&call :type

pause>nul
goto :EOF

:type
set "letter=!line:~%num%,1!"
if not "!letter!"=="" set /p "=a!BS!!letter!" <nul
set /a num+=1
goto :type

Right now, the code types the letters, but the “random flicker” effect is not implemented yet. I’ve tried adding random characters as placeholders, but I’m struggling to make it work reliably while keeping the actual spaces in words intact.

Specifically:

I want each letter to first briefly appear as a random character (chosen from A-Z, 0-9, and some symbols) and then be replaced by the correct letter.
Spaces between words should appear normally.
Timing should be adjustable for a cinematic typing effect.

Some how I manged to do exactly what I wanted some years ago. But sadly ive lost the code
Has anyone successfully implemented something like this in pure batch? Any guidance or example code would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[Aacini]

This code does exactly what you requested...

Code: Select all

@echo off
rem Ghost typer
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

set "chars=ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"
set /A len=62, centiSecs=40, lines=0
for %%a in ("Twinkle twinkle little star"
            "How I wonder what you are" 
            "Up above the world so high"
            "Like a diamond in the sky"
            "Twinkle twinkle little star"
            "How I wonder what you are") do (
   set /A lines+=1
   set "line!lines!=%%~a"
)

for /F %%a in ('echo prompt $H ^| cmd') do set "BS=%%a"

for /L %%a in (1,1,%lines%) do call :type "!line%%a!" < NUL

pause>nul
goto :EOF


:type "line"
set "line=%~1"
:nextLetter
set /A "ran=%random% %% len"
set /P "=!chars:~%ran%,1!!BS!"
call :Delay
set "letter=%line:~0,1%"
set /P "=a!BS!!letter!"
set "line=%line:~1%"
if defined line goto nextLetter
echo/
exit /B


:Delay
set "b=1%time:~-2%"
:wait
   set /A "e=1%time:~-2%, elap=e-b, elap-=(elap>>31)*100"
if %elap% lss %centiSecs% goto wait
exit /B

However, I don't like the final effect...

Antonio

[IcarusLives]

Here is another way of doing it. Though, I wasn't really sure if you wanted a "ghost typer" or something more along the lines of some "Text being displayed" and then each letter blinking arbitrarily/independently as if there were a faulty light bulb behind it?


Here is text scrambling typer

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@echo off
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion

	               REM "string"  x   y  color
	call :animated_string "%~1" %~2 %~3 %~4

	
exit /b 0


:animated_string
set "string=%~1"
set "frozen="
set /a "string.length=0", "loops=0"
if "%~4" neq "" ( set "hue=%~4" ) else ( set "hue=15" )
set "ascii_str= #$'*+,-./0123456789:;=?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{}~"

set "loop=FOR /L %%# in (1,1,2) do "
%loop%%loop% set "loop=!loop!!loop!!loop!"

for /l %%b in (8,-1,0) do (
	set /a "string.length|=1<<%%b"
	for %%c in (!string.length!) do if "!string:~%%c,1!" equ "" set /a "string.length&=~1<<%%b"
)
for /l %%i in (0,1,%string.length%) do set "chr[%%i].ch=!string:~%%i,1!"

%loop% (
	set /a "loops+=1"
	for /l %%i in (0,1,%string.length%) do (
	
		if "!chr[%%i].freeze!" neq "True" (
            set /a "rndchr=!random! %% 86"
            for %%r in (!rndchr!) do (
                set "scrn.string=!scrn.string!!ascii_str:~%%r,1!"
                if "!ascii_str:~%%r,1!" equ "!chr[%%i].ch!" (
                    set "chr[%%i].freeze=True"
                    set /a "frozen+=1"
                )
            )
        ) else (
            set "scrn.string=!scrn.string!!chr[%%i].ch!"
        )
	)
	if !loops! geq 100 set "scrn.string=!string!" & set "frozen=50"
	
	echo [2J%HUD%[48;2;!fade!;!fade!;!fade!;38;5;16m[!map.y!;!map.x!H!lastscrn!%TOP%%cornice%[38;5;!hue!m[%~3;%~2H!scrn.string![0m
	set "scrn.string="
	
	if !frozen! gtr %string.length% (
		goto :eof
	)
)

[miskox]

@icarus: can't get it to work. Looks like your ESC is encoded in the file which I can't copy/paste. Please use variable ESC:

Aacini's:

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for /f %%a in ('echo prompt $E^| cmd') do set "ESC=%%a"

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echo [2J

should probably be

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echo %esc%[2J

etc.

Saso