colored text

Guri Bee

2 min read

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20-10-2024

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Spice Up Your Text: A Guide to Adding Color to Your Code and Terminal

Tired of staring at endless lines of black and white text? Adding color can make your code easier to read, debug, and even more visually appealing. This guide will explore the different ways to introduce vibrant hues into your terminal and code.

Why use colored text?

• Enhanced readability: Color-coding can help you quickly distinguish different elements like keywords, variables, and errors. This can significantly speed up your workflow, especially when dealing with complex code.
• Improved debugging: Highlighting errors in red or warnings in yellow can quickly draw your attention to potential issues, making debugging more efficient.
• Aesthetics: Let's be honest, colored text just looks cool! It adds a touch of personality and flair to your work.

Methods for Adding Color:

There are several techniques for adding color to your text, depending on your operating system, language, and environment:

1. ANSI Escape Codes:

These are special character sequences that are interpreted by your terminal to change text attributes like color, background color, and font style. Here's how it works:

\033[COLOR_CODEmTEXT\033[0m

• \033[: Escape sequence start.
• COLOR_CODE: Specifies the color or attribute (e.g., 31 for red).
• m: Marks the end of the color code.
• TEXT: The text you want to color.
• \033[0m: Resets the text attributes to default.

Example:

echo "\033[31mThis text is red!\033[0m"

This will print "This text is red!" in red on your terminal.

2. Using libraries:

Many programming languages offer libraries that simplify the process of adding colored text. For example:

Python:

from colorama import Fore, Back, Style

print(Fore.RED + "This text is red!")
print(Style.RESET_ALL) 

This code utilizes the colorama library to print "This text is red!" in red.

3. Using Terminal Emulators:

Modern terminal emulators like iTerm2 and Hyper allow you to customize color schemes, define custom color palettes, and even apply themes for different applications.

Example:

In iTerm2, you can go to Preferences -> Profiles -> Colors to adjust the default color scheme.

Adding Color to Code:

While ANSI escape codes can be used in code for basic highlighting, using dedicated syntax highlighting tools is generally recommended. These tools analyze your code and apply color schemes based on language rules, making your code more readable and visually appealing.

Popular Syntax Highlighting Tools:

• VS Code: Provides built-in syntax highlighting for numerous programming languages.
• Sublime Text: Offers a wide range of color themes and supports custom color schemes.
• Vim: Allows you to create custom color schemes using a configuration file.
• Atom: Provides a variety of color schemes and supports custom themes.

Exploring Different Color Codes:

Experiment with different color codes to discover the best combinations for your needs. Here are some examples:

Foreground Colors (Text Colors):

• \033[30m Black
• \033[31m Red
• \033[32m Green
• \033[33m Yellow
• \033[34m Blue
• \033[35m Magenta
• \033[36m Cyan
• \033[37m White

Background Colors:

• \033[40m Black
• \033[41m Red
• \033[42m Green
• \033[43m Yellow
• \033[44m Blue
• \033[45m Magenta
• \033[46m Cyan
• \033[47m White

Text Attributes:

• \033[1m Bold
• \033[4m Underline
• \033[7m Reversed (Foreground and background colors are swapped)

Important Note: Not all terminals and environments support all ANSI escape codes.

Conclusion:

Adding color to your text is a simple yet powerful way to enhance readability, improve debugging, and add a touch of visual appeal to your work. Experiment with different colors and techniques to find what works best for you. Remember to use color thoughtfully and avoid overusing it, as too much color can be distracting and overwhelming.