Option to turn off ansi code coloring of console output

[plantarum]

I'm using Emacs, with my R code embedded in orgmode documents. When I use the :session option for the code block, R runs it using the ESS package. ESS supports ANSI color codes, R can detect that, and the console output is colored accordingly. However, when the output is transferred back to original org document, the ansi codes are inserted as characters.

It may be possible to fix this on the Emacs side, but it would be nice to have a way to turn off the escape codes from the R side.

Here's an example file to demonstrate what I see from Emacs:

* Reproducible Example

Start with ~emacs -Q~, then evaluate each of the following code blocks
in turn.

#+BEGIN_SRC elisp setup
(require 'package)
(setq package-load-list
      '((org-plus-contrib t)
	(ess t)
	(julia-mode t)))
(package-initialize)
(require 'org)
(require 'ess)

(org-babel-do-load-languages
 'org-babel-load-languages
 '((emacs-lisp . t)
   (R . t)
   (shell . t)))
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS:

If you don't already have ~tidyr~ and ~dplyr~ installed, you need to
do that before running the following:

#+BEGIN_SRC R :results output
library(tidyr)
library(dplyr)
as_tibble(iris)
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS:
#+begin_example
# A tibble: 150 x 5
   Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species
          <dbl>       <dbl>        <dbl>       <dbl> <fct>  
 1         5.10        3.50         1.40       0.200 setosa 
 2         4.90        3.00         1.40       0.200 setosa 
 3         4.70        3.20         1.30       0.200 setosa 
 4         4.60        3.10         1.50       0.200 setosa 
 5         5.00        3.60         1.40       0.200 setosa 
 6         5.40        3.90         1.70       0.400 setosa 
 7         4.60        3.40         1.40       0.300 setosa 
 8         5.00        3.40         1.50       0.200 setosa 
 9         4.40        2.90         1.40       0.200 setosa 
10         4.90        3.10         1.50       0.100 setosa 
# ... with 140 more rows
#+end_example

The results run in batch mode are fine. But if we try to use a session:

#+BEGIN_SRC R :results output :session RSESSION
library(tidyr)
library(dplyr)
as_tibble(iris)
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS:
#+begin_example

Attaching package: ‘dplyr’

The following objects are masked from ‘package:stats’:

    filter, lag

The following objects are masked from ‘package:base’:

    intersect, setdiff, setequal, union
�[90m# A tibble: 150 x 5�[39m
   Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species
          �[3m�[90m<dbl>�[39m�[23m       �[3m�[90m<dbl>�[39m�[23m        �[3m�[90m<dbl>�[39m�[23m       �[3m�[90m<dbl>�[39m�[23m �[3m�[90m<fct>�[39m�[23m  
�[90m 1�[39m         5.10        3.50         1.40       �[90m0�[39m�[90m.�[39m200 setosa 
�[90m 2�[39m         4.90        3.00         1.40       �[90m0�[39m�[90m.�[39m200 setosa 
�[90m 3�[39m         4.70        3.20         1.30       �[90m0�[39m�[90m.�[39m200 setosa 
�[90m 4�[39m         4.60        3.10         1.50       �[90m0�[39m�[90m.�[39m200 setosa 
�[90m 5�[39m         5.00        3.60         1.40       �[90m0�[39m�[90m.�[39m200 setosa 
�[90m 6�[39m         5.40        3.90         1.70       �[90m0�[39m�[90m.�[39m400 setosa 
�[90m 7�[39m         4.60        3.40         1.40       �[90m0�[39m�[90m.�[39m300 setosa 
�[90m 8�[39m         5.00        3.40         1.50       �[90m0�[39m�[90m.�[39m200 setosa 
�[90m 9�[39m         4.40        2.90         1.40       �[90m0�[39m�[90m.�[39m200 setosa 
�[90m10�[39m         4.90        3.10         1.50       �[90m0�[39m�[90m.�[39m100 setosa 
�[90m# ... with 140 more rows�[39m
#+end_example

[krlmlr]

@lionel-: I remember you are using ESS, could you please take a look?

[lionel-]

I don't run R code in org-mode but I think you can set options(crayon.enabled = FALSE) to disable the codes. Can you please confirm tibble uses crayon @krlmlr? I think you should file an issue upstream though (i.e. org-mode).

[krlmlr]

Yes, we use crayon, and options(crayon.enabled = FALSE) works. A fix in EMACS would be nice, because this problem likely affects other packages that produce colored output.

[lionel-]

It's not "Emacs" that should be fixed but org-mode ;)

[plantarum]

Yes, in this context the Emacs side is actually orgmode. I have suggested a fix to the orgmode mailing list. Just waiting on someone there to confirm the problem and agree on my change.

[MilesMcBain]

@lionel- This problem can be encountered by ESS users without orgmode in the loop. Try ess-R-dv-pprint to output a tibble to a new buffer and you get the same nonsense. It would be nice to be able to turn off the colours as a pillar option rather than having to disable globally.

[lionel-]

If it's not possible already, please file an issue.

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