How to get rid of ESC[ characters when using git diff on Mac OS X Mavericks?
git, macos
Solution
Do you have a `LESS` environment variable set? You can check using:
env | grep LESS
or:
echo $LESS
If so, you want to make sure the `R` option is in there. That allows the ANSI escape sequences to pass through unscathed, and they'll be rendered as colors in the terminal.
Just for reference, I use this:
export LESS=eFRX
Problem
Since I installed OS X Mavericks, the result of the command `git diff` is rendering `ESC[xxx` characters like this: ``` ESC[1mdiff --git a/console/org.linkedin.glu.console-webapp/decorate-grails-methods-plugin/plugin.xml b/console/org.linkedin.glu.console-webapp/decorate-grails-methods-plugin/plugin.xmlESC[m ESC[1mindex 3b65cf1..0ca5d7e 100644ESC[m ESC[1m--- a/console/org.linkedin.glu.console-webapp/decorate-grails-methods-plugin/plugin.xmlESC[m ESC[1m+++ b/console/org.linkedin.glu.console-webapp/decorate-grails-methods-plugin/plugin.xmlESC[m ESC[36m@@ -15,14 +15,14 @@ESC[m ESC[mThe purpose of this plugin is to decorate various grails methods.ESC[m ``` This used to render properly prior to installing Mavericks. I have no clue what is different so any help in troubleshooting would be much appreciated. Note that the pager used is `less` since when I hit `h` I get the following: ``` SUMMARY OF LESS COMMANDS Commands marked with * may be preceded by a number, N. Notes in parentheses indicate the behavior if N is given. ```