# QR codes inside the terminal

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=> /posts/qr-code-in-linux-terminal/ 🇬🇧English


![](image.png)
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Nowadays most terminal emulators can display color emojis, so why not QR codes as well ? This makes for a simple copy/paste across devices.

Generating QR codes is rather simple, and doesn't require any GUI: you can output the QR Code with ASCII drawing characters, and while they aren't exactly square, they still work.

Scanning/flashing QR codes is a bit more involved as it required webcam access. Command-line software can access the webcam without any issue, but a webcam preview can help you position the QR code in front of the webcam.

## Install

To generate QR codes, install `zbar-tools` and `qrencode` (ubuntu) from your package manager. Beware of internet downloads for `zbar`, as the official repo was on Google Code and not Github, so many people have forked it everywhere. That package provides you with many utilities such as `zbarcam` and `zbarimg`.

To scan QR codes, you can use `zbarcam` (but it lanches a graphical preview window), or install https://github.com/sayanarijit/qrscan¹.

`qrscan` can display the webcam output inside your terminal, with ASCII drawing characters (in color !), similar to `libcaca0` in `ffmpeg`.

FYI, `libcaca` comes from a french slang for "poop" ...

GitHub - sayanarijit/qrscan: Scan a QR code in the terminal using the system camera or a given image²

## Generate QR code

(this may not render correctly in your browser, but it works in terminals)

```
$ qrencode -t ANSI256UTF8 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&pp=ygUIcmlja3JvbGw%3D'
█████████████████████████████████████████
█████████████████████████████████████████
████ ▄▄▄▄▄ █   █▄▄ ▄▄▀▄▀▄▀█▄▀█ ▄▄▄▄▄ ████
████ █   █ █ ▀▄ ██▀▀█▄▀█▀▄█  █ █   █ ████
████ █▄▄▄█ █▀██▀▀▄▄▄▄█▀ █▄█▄██ █▄▄▄█ ████
████▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█▄▀▄█ █ █ ▀▄▀▄▀ ▀▄█▄▄▄▄▄▄▄████
████  ██▄▄▄▀█▀▀▄▀▀█▄▀▄█▄▄ ▀▀▄██ █▄ ▄▄████
████▄▄█ ▄█▄▀▄█▀ ▄▄ ▄▀ ███▀█▄ ▄██ ▀▄▄█████
████▀  █▀ ▄ ██▄█▄▀ ▀▄ ▄▀█▄ ▀██▄ ▄▄█▄▄████
████▄▀█▄ ▀▄█ ▄▄█▀█  ▀  ▀ ▀▀▄  ███ ▄▄█████
█████  ██▀▄▄▀▄ ▄▀▀▄▀▀ █▄▄ ▀  ▀▄▀▄▀██▄████
████▄█▀██ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▀▄  ▀▀  █  █▀▀▄▀▄▄█████
████▀██▀▀ ▄▄ ███▄ ▀ ▀▄▀ █▄▄ ▄▀▄ ▄▀██▄████
██████ ▄▀ ▄▄ ▄▀█▀█▄ ▄▀ █▄ ▀▄  █▄██▄▄█████
████▄▄█▄▄▄▄█▀▄▄▄▀▄  ▀███▀█ ▄ ▄▄▄  ▀ █████
████ ▄▄▄▄▄ █▀▄  ▄ ▄ █  ▀  ▄█ █▄█ █▄ █████
████ █   █ █▄█▀█▄ ▀ ▀▀▀▄█▄ ▀▄  ▄  ▀  ████
████ █▄▄▄█ █▀█▄█▀█▀▄▀ ▀█▀▀█ ▀▀ ▄▄█▄▄█████
████▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█▄█▄▄█▄▄██▄█▄█▄█▄▄▄█▄█▄██▄████
█████████████████████████████████████████
█████████████████████████████████████████
```

`ANSI256UTF8` is one of the many modes that `zbar`'s `qrencode` supports. It means 256 colors mode, not inverted. It will render as black and white regardless of you terminal's color scheme.

`ANSI256` is similar but the output is 4 times bigger, so it can quickly overflow out of your screen.

## Scan QR code

```bash
qrscan --preview --metadata --qr
# or
zbarcam --oneshot --raw
```

`qrscan` will display a color preview and also print back the received QR code alongside its data.

`zbarcam` is a bit faster, and the preview is graphical, so more pixels :). 

If you don't include `--raw`, `zbarcam` will prepend `QR-Code:` to the data (the barcode type, since it supports not only QR codes, but also EAN-13, EAN-8, DataBar, DataBar Expanded, Code 128, Code 93, Code 39, Codabar).


## 

=> https://github.com/sayanarijit/qrscan 🔗 [1]: https://github.com/sayanarijit/qrscan
=> https://github.com/sayanarijit/qrscan 🔗 [2]: GitHub - sayanarijit/qrscan: Scan a QR code in the terminal using the system camera or a given image

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