diff --git a/libpipecolors.cc b/libpipecolors.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f2fe4e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libpipecolors.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,169 @@
+/*
+ * libpipecolors: linux color code library
+ *
+ * Authors:
+ * Eric Wheeler <eric@ericwheeler.net>
+ *
+ * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+ * version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+ * Lesser General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
+ * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
+ */
+
+#ifndef PC_REMOVE_INVALID
+#define PC_REMOVE_INVALID false
+#endif
+
+#include <cstdio>
+#include <iostream>
+#include <cstring>
+#include <cstdlib>
+#include <cstdarg>
+#include <boost/regex.hpp>
+#include "pipecolors.h"
+
+namespace pipecolors {
+
+  const char * ansi(std::string code) {
+
+    char * buf;
+    int sret = asprintf(&buf, "%c%c", code[1], code[2]);
+    int pc = atoi( buf );
+    delete buf;
+
+    if(sret == -1) {
+      return "failure";
+    }
+
+    switch(pc) {
+      case 0:  return "\x1b[0;30m"; break; // FG_BLACK
+      case 1:  return "\x1b[0;34m"; break; // FG_BLUE
+      case 2:  return "\x1b[0;32m"; break; // FG_GREEN
+      case 3:  return "\x1b[0;36m"; break; // FG_CYAN
+      case 4:  return "\x1b[0;31m"; break; // FG_RED
+      case 5:  return "\x1b[0;35m"; break; // FG_MAGENTA
+      case 6:  return "\x1b[0;33m"; break; // FG_YELLOW
+      case 7:  return "\x1b[0;37m"; break; // FG_GRAY
+      case 8:  return "\x1b[0;90m"; break; // FG_GRAY_D
+      case 9:  return "\x1b[0;94m"; break; // FG_BLUE_L
+      case 10: return "\x1b[0;92m"; break; // FG_GREEN_L
+      case 11: return "\x1b[0;96m"; break; // FG_CYAN_L
+      case 12: return "\x1b[0;91m"; break; // FG_RED_L
+      case 13: return "\x1b[0;95m"; break; // FG_MAGENTA_L
+      case 14: return "\x1b[0;93m"; break; // FG_YELLOW_L
+      case 15: return "\x1b[0;97m"; break; // FG_WHITE
+
+      case 16: return "\x1b[1;40m"; break; // BG_DEFAULT
+      case 17: return "\x1b[1;44m"; break; // BG_BLUE
+      case 18: return "\x1b[1;42m"; break; // BG_GREEN
+      case 19: return "\x1b[1;46m"; break; // BG_CYAN
+      case 20: return "\x1b[1;41m"; break; // BG_RED
+      case 21: return "\x1b[1;45m"; break; // BG_MAGENTA
+      case 22: return "\x1b[1;43m"; break; // BG_YELLOW
+      case 23: return "\x1b[1;47m"; break; // BG_WHITE
+
+      case 30: return "\x1b[1m";    break; // Bold On
+      case 31: return "\x1b[0m";    break; // Bold Off
+      case 39: return "\x1b[0;39m"; break; // FG_DEFAULT
+      default: return "nocode";     break;
+    }
+  }
+
+  bool has_colors(void) {
+    return isatty(fileno(stdout));
+  }
+
+  std::pair<std::string,int> replace_colors( std::string s) {
+
+    using namespace boost;
+
+    regex re( "(\\|\\d\\d)" );
+    match_results<std::string::const_iterator> match;
+    match_flag_type flags = boost::match_default;
+
+    std::string::const_iterator start, end;
+    start = s.begin();
+    end = s.end();
+    std::string len(s);
+
+    while(regex_search(start, end, match, re, flags))
+    {
+
+      if(ansi(match[0].str()) == "nocode" && PC_REMOVE_INVALID == false) goto skip;
+
+        len.erase(len.find(match[0]), match[0].length());
+
+      if(has_colors() && ansi(match[0].str()) != "nocode") {
+          s.replace(s.find(match[0]), match[0].length(), ansi(match[0].str()) );
+      } else {
+        s.erase(s.find(match[0]), match[0].length());
+      }
+
+      skip:;
+      start = match[0].second;
+      flags |= boost::match_prev_avail | boost::match_not_bob;
+    }
+
+    return std::make_pair(s, len.length());
+
+  }
+
+  int pcprintf( const char * format, ...)
+  {
+    char * buffer;
+    va_list args;
+    int ret;
+    std::pair<std::string, int> result;
+
+    va_start(args, format);
+    ret = vasprintf(&buffer, format, args);
+    va_end(args);
+    if(ret == -1) {
+        free(buffer);
+        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    }
+
+    std::string s(buffer);
+    free(buffer);
+
+     result = replace_colors(s);
+
+    printf("%s", result.first.c_str());
+
+    return(result.second);
+
+  }
+
+
+  int pcsprintf( char * str, const char * format, ... ) {
+
+    int ret;
+    char** str1 = (char**)str;
+    va_list args;
+
+    va_start(args, format);
+    ret = vasprintf(str1, format, args);
+    va_end(args);
+
+    if(ret == -1) {
+        free(str1);
+        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    }
+
+    std::string s(*str1);
+    free(*str1);
+    std::pair<std::string, int> result = replace_colors(s);
+    const char * s2 = (const char *)result.first.c_str();
+    strcpy(str, s2);
+    return result.second;
+  }
+} // namespace