Standard 16 Colors in ANSI Escape Codes#

There are 8 standard colors and 8 bright colors – 16 in total. The bright colors are the same as the standard colors, yet with a higher intensity, and each color can be in the foreground (i.e. as text) or background.

Structure#

The 8 colors are simply black and white, plus the 6 colors of the rainbow. Firstly, the three primary colors red, green, and blue. Then the secondary colors yellow, magenta, and cyan:

Code	Color	Example
0	Black
1	Red
2	Green
3	Yellow
4	Blue
5	Magenta
6	Cyan
7	White

Each color then needs to be prepended by a foreground or background option. When combining the two codes – simply replace the underscore _ with the missing color code – 34 for example is blue text, and 44 is blue background:

Code	Placement	Intensity
3_	Text	Standard
4_	Background	Standard
9_	Text	Bright
10_	Background	Bright

Sequence Parts#

Normal Colors#

For example, the sequences \x1b[31m for red foreground text and \x1b[41m for red background can be broken down into the following parts:

Part	`\x1b[`	`3` `4`	`1`	`m`
Description	Starts sequence, also called the Control Sequence Introducer (CSI).	Select foreground text or background color.	Color code between 0-7.	Ends sequence and calls the graphics function Select Graphic Rendition (SGR).

Bright Colors#

For example, the sequences \x1b[92m for bright green foreground text and \x1b[102m for bright green background can be broken down into the following parts:

Part	`\x1b[`	`9` `10`	`2`	`m`
Description	Starts sequence, also called the Control Sequence Introducer (CSI).	Select foreground text or background color.	Color code between 0-7.	Ends sequence and calls the graphics function Select Graphic Rendition (SGR).

Foreground Text and Background Colors#

To apply different color and styling options, simply replace the two underscores __ in \x1b[__m with any of the following color codes:

Color	Text	Background	Bright Text	Bright Background
Black	30	40	90	100
Red	31	41	91	101
Green	32	42	92	102
Yellow	33	43	93	103
Blue	34	44	94	104
Magenta	35	45	95	105
Cyan	36	46	96	106
White	37	47	97	107
Default	39	49	99	109
Reset	0	0	0	0

Tip

Remember to use \x1b[0m every time you want to revert back to the default terminal text style. Otherwise, any color or styling may spill over and into other terminal messages.

When using Colorist, you can for example use Color.OFF to reset the terminal text style.

Examples#

How to apply the escape color codes:

Python
print("This is \x1b[31mRED\x1b[0m text")
print("This is \x1b[41mRED\x1b[0m background")
print("This is \x1b[91mBRIGHT RED\x1b[0m text")
print("This is \x1b[101mBRIGHT RED\x1b[0m background")

How it appears in the terminal:

% This is RED text
% This is RED background
% This is BRIGHT RED text
% This is BRIGHT RED background

How to Use Colors with Colorist

Instead of using raw ANSI escape codes, it's convenient to use Colorist to generate the them while keeping the code readable.

Simply use the Color or BrightColor classes for foreground text colors, or the BgColor or BgBrightColor classes for background colors. For example:

Python
from colorist import Color, BgColor

print(f"This is {Color.RED}RED{Color.OFF} text")
print(f"This is {BgColor.RED}RED{Color.OFF} background")

How it appears in the terminal:

% This is RED text
% This is RED background

Cheat Sheets#

Foreground Text Colors#

Standard Colors#

Color	Code	Escape Code	Output Example
Black	30	`\x1b[30m`	`This is BLACK`
Red	31	`\x1b[31m`	`This is RED`
Green	32	`\x1b[32m`	`This is GREEN`
Yellow	33	`\x1b[33m`	`This is YELLOW`
Blue	34	`\x1b[34m`	`This is BLUE`
Magenta	35	`\x1b[35m`	`This is MAGENTA`
Cyan	36	`\x1b[36m`	`This is CYAN`
White	37	`\x1b[37m`	`This is WHITE`

Bright Colors#

Color	Code	Escape Code	Output Example
Black	90	`\x1b[90m`	`This is BRIGHT BLACK`
Red	91	`\x1b[91m`	`This is BRIGHT RED`
Green	92	`\x1b[92m`	`This is BRIGHT GREEN`
Yellow	93	`\x1b[93m`	`This is BRIGHT YELLOW`
Blue	94	`\x1b[94m`	`This is BRIGHT BLUE`
Magenta	95	`\x1b[95m`	`This is BRIGHT MAGENTA`
Cyan	96	`\x1b[96m`	`This is BRIGHT CYAN`
White	97	`\x1b[97m`	`This is BRIGHT WHITE`

Background Colors#

Standard Colors#

Color	Code	Escape Code	Output Example
Black	40	`\x1b[40m`	`This is BLACK`
Red	41	`\x1b[41m`	`This is RED`
Green	42	`\x1b[42m`	`This is GREEN`
Yellow	43	`\x1b[43m`	`This is YELLOW`
Blue	44	`\x1b[44m`	`This is BLUE`
Magenta	45	`\x1b[45m`	`This is MAGENTA`
Cyan	46	`\x1b[46m`	`This is CYAN`
White	47	`\x1b[47m`	`This is WHITE`

Bright Colors#

Color	Code	Escape Code	Output Example
Black	100	`\x1b[100m`	`This is BRIGHT BLACK`
Red	101	`\x1b[101m`	`This is BRIGHT RED`
Green	102	`\x1b[102m`	`This is BRIGHT GREEN`
Yellow	103	`\x1b[103m`	`This is BRIGHT YELLOW`
Blue	104	`\x1b[104m`	`This is BRIGHT BLUE`
Magenta	105	`\x1b[105m`	`This is BRIGHT MAGENTA`
Cyan	106	`\x1b[106m`	`This is BRIGHT CYAN`
White	107	`\x1b[107m`	`This is BRIGHT WHITE`