When running SQLCMD.exe, it calls SetConsoleMode with hard-coded values, overriding any other options that might be enabled in the current console mode, including ENABLE_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_PROCESSING which provides support for ANSI escape codes.
The consequence is that after running SQLCMD.exe, any ANSI output gets written in raw form, as control characters are not parsed for VT100 and similar sequences that control cursor movement, color/font mode, and other operations that can also be performed via the existing Console APIs.
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
namespace ReproBugSqlCmdDisablesAnsiSupport
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// GOOD: This shows in the Console with colors
Console.WriteLine("\u001b[41;1m\u001b[37;1mC. Augusto Proiete\u001b[0m");
Process.Start("sqlcmd", "-???")?.WaitForExit();
// BAD: ANSI support was disabled by SQLCMD and ANSI colors no longer work
Console.WriteLine("\u001b[41;1m\u001b[37;1mC. Augusto Proiete\u001b[0m");
}
}
}Bug discovered by @nsmithdev via cake-build/cake#3018