PromptPlus

# PromptPlus ## **Visual Symbols** [![NuGet](https://img.shields.io/badge/NuGet-PromptPlus-blue)](https://www.nuget.org/packages/PromptPlus) [![License: MIT](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-yellow.svg)](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT) [![.NET](https://img.shields.io/badge/.NET-8%20%7C%209%20%7C%2010-512BD4)](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/)

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PromptPlus draws state and structure with a small set of glyphs. Each glyph has two forms — a Unicode form and an ASCII fallback — and PromptPlus picks the right one automatically based on what your terminal can render.

The catalog below lists the real defaults from the library’s internal symbol table. The glyphs themselves are internal (not individually configurable). The two characters you can change are the Secret mask and the MaskEdit placeholder — see Configurable characters.

How the ASCII fallback works

For every glyph, PromptPlus stores a pair (ascii, unicode). At render time it returns the Unicode form only when both conditions hold:

the terminal reports Unicode support (Console.SupportsUnicode), and
the active output encoding can actually encode that specific glyph.

Otherwise it returns the ASCII form. Detection is automatic and transparent — you do not configure anything.

List & selection

Meaning	ASCII	Unicode	Where shown
Focus cursor	`>`	`►`	Focused item — used far more broadly than just Select/MultiSelect/TreeSelect: also TableSelect, TableMultiSelect, MultiFile, ChartBar, Calendar, Input (suggestions), MultiTasks, and other list-like controls
Checkbox — checked	`[x]`	`[■]`	Selected item in any multi-select-style control (MultiSelect, TableMultiSelect, TreeMultiSelect, MultiFile)
Checkbox — unchecked	`[ ]`	`[ ]`	Unselected item, same set of controls
Checkbox — partial (tri-state)	`[?]`	`[▪]`	Indeterminate node in TreeMultiSelect
Checkbox — busy/loading	`[*]`	`[◔]`	Item whose children are loading

There is no ● / ○ / › / ✓ used for list selection — those glyphs belong to task status (below) or are not used at all.

Tree & expand / collapse

| Meaning | ASCII | Unicode | |—|—|—| | Expanded node | [-] | [▼] | | Collapsed node | [+] | [►] | | Tree branch (crossing) | ` |- | ├─| | Tree branch (corner) | |_ | └─| | Tree vertical line | | ` | ` │ ` | | Tree indent (no line) | ` ` | ` ` |

Blank 3-column indent, used where no vertical line continues at that depth.

Bars (Progress, Slider, Chart)

By default, the progress bar, slider, and chart bar render their filled portion as a colored space (the color carries the meaning). The glyphs below are used only when you pick an alternate bar style (e.g. SliderBarType.Square, ProgressBarType.Square) — and not every style exists on every control:

Bar style	ASCII	Unicode	ProgressBar	Slider	ChartBar
Fill (colored space, default)	` `	` `	✅	✅	✅
Light	`-`	`─`	✅	✅	✅
Square (solid block)	`#`	`█`	✅	✅	✅
Double-light	`=`	`═`	✅	✅	❌
Dot	`.`	`∙`	✅	✅	❌
Bar (half bar)	`\\|`	`▌`	✅	❌	❌

ChartBarType, SliderBarType, and ProgressBarType are three separate enums — the styles they have in common (Fill/Light/Square) render with the identical glyphs shown above, but ChartBarType doesn’t have DoubleLight/Dot members at all, and SliderBarType doesn’t have Bar. Only ProgressBarType has all of them.

The chart’s item-label swatch is a separate glyph from any of these bar styles: # (ASCII) / ■ (Unicode).

There is no ░ “empty” glyph — empty bar space is just an un-colored space.

Calendar

Meaning	ASCII	Unicode
Today / current date (wraps the day)	`<dd>`	`◄dd►`
Highlighted date	`!`	`*`
Date-with-note marker	`*`	`∙`
Highlighted note marker	`#`	`♦`

Task status

Used by the Task and MultiTasks controls.

Status	ASCII	Unicode
Waiting	(space)	`○`
Running	`>`	`◐`
Success	`v`	`●`
Failed	`x`	`✗`
Done	`V`	`√`
Error	`!`	`‼`
Canceled	`x`	`×`

Borders & grid

Tables and framed output use box-drawing glyphs that fall back to + - = | . For example the single border corner is +/┌…┐ and the double border is =/╔…╗. These are chosen automatically per the fallback rule.

Overflow indicator

When a single-line value is wider than the terminal, PromptPlus appends an overflow indicator:

ASCII	Unicode
`_`	`…`

The truncation is display-only — result.Content always holds the full, untruncated value.

Configurable characters

Two characters are exposed on PromptPlus.Config:

Character	Default	Config property	Where shown
Secret mask	`#`	`SecretChar`	Each character typed into a Secret control
MaskEdit placeholder	`_`	`PromptMaskEdit`	Empty positions in MaskEdit controls

PromptPlus.Config.SecretChar = '*';
PromptPlus.Config.PromptMaskEdit = '.';

Relationship to styles

A symbol’s color comes from the style of the region it appears in (focus, selected, disabled, and so on). You change the color by styling that region — the glyph character itself does not change.