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fix: preserve ANSI colors when piping to pager on Windows #1705

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fix: preserve ANSI colors when piping to pager on Windows #1705

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dedb862
fix: preserve ANSI colors when piping to pager on Windows
Mar 8, 2026
e2f177f
test: add regression test for Windows piped output color preservation
Mar 8, 2026
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2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion httpie/output/writer.py
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ def write_message(
'flush': env.stdout_isatty or processing_options.stream
}
try:
if env.is_windows and 'colors' in processing_options.get_prettify(env):
if env.is_windows and env.stdout_isatty and 'colors' in processing_options.get_prettify(env):
write_stream_with_colors_win(**write_stream_kwargs)
else:
write_stream(**write_stream_kwargs)
Comment on lines +49 to 52
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Copilot AI Mar 8, 2026

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Add a regression test for this Windows-specific branch selection: when env.is_windows is true, colors are requested (e.g. --pretty=all), and env.stdout_isatty is false (piped/redirected), we should use the raw write_stream() path (and not write_stream_with_colors_win()) so ANSI escape codes are preserved. Without a test, this behavior is easy to accidentally regress and reintroduce the color-stripping issue reported in #799.

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17 changes: 17 additions & 0 deletions tests/test_windows.py
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
from unittest import mock

import pytest
from httpie.context import Environment

Expand All @@ -23,3 +25,18 @@ def test_output_file_pretty_not_allowed_on_windows(self, tmp_path, httpbin):
'--pretty=all', 'GET', httpbin + '/get',
env=env, tolerate_error_exit_status=True)
assert 'Only terminal output can be colorized on Windows' in r.stderr

def test_windows_piped_pretty_uses_raw_stream(self, httpbin):
"""When stdout is piped on Windows, write_stream() should be used
instead of write_stream_with_colors_win() so ANSI codes pass
through to pagers like `less -r`. Regression test for #799."""
env = MockEnvironment(
is_windows=True,
stdout_isatty=False,
colors=256,
)
with mock.patch('httpie.output.writer.write_stream') as write_stream, \
mock.patch('httpie.output.writer.write_stream_with_colors_win') as write_colors_win:
http('--pretty=all', 'GET', httpbin + '/get', env=env)
write_stream.assert_called()
write_colors_win.assert_not_called()
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