How to echo with different colors in the Windows command line

Question

I know that the color bf command sets the colors of the whole command line window but I wanted to to print one single line in a different color.

Answer 1

you could use cecho.. you can also use it to embed right into your script so you dont have to carry along a .com or .exe

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/17033/Add-Colors-to-Batch-Files

Answer 2

for me i found some solutions: it is a working solution

     @echo off
    title a game for youtube 
explorer "https://thepythoncoding.blogspot.com/2020/11/how-to-echo-with-different-colors-in.html"
    SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion
    for /F "tokens=1,2 delims=#" %%a in ('"prompt #$H#$E# & echo on & for %%b in (1) do rem"') do (
      set "DEL=%%a"
    )
    echo say the name of the colors, don't read
    
    call :ColorText 0a "blue"
    call :ColorText 0C "green"
    call :ColorText 0b "red"
    echo(
    call :ColorText 19 "yellow" 
    call :ColorText 2F "black"
    call :ColorText 4e "white"
    
    goto :Beginoffile
    
    :ColorText
    echo off
    <nul set /p ".=%DEL%" > "%~2"
    findstr /v /a:%1 /R "^$" "%~2" nul
    del "%~2" > nul 2>&1
    goto :eof
    
    :Beginoffile

Answer 3

This is a self-compiled bat/.net hybrid (should be saved as .BAT) that can be used on any system that have installed .net framework (it's a rare thing to see an windows without .NET framework even for the oldest XP/2003 installations) . It uses jscript.net compiler to create an exe capable to print strings with different background/foreground color only for the current line.

@if (@X)==(@Y) @end /* JScript comment
@echo off
setlocal

for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%v in ('dir /b /s /a:-d  /o:-n "%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\*jsc.exe"') do (
   set "jsc=%%v"
)

if not exist "%~n0.exe" (
    "%jsc%" /nologo /out:"%~n0.exe" "%~dpsfnx0"
)

%~n0.exe %*

endlocal & exit /b %errorlevel%

*/

import System;

var arguments:String[] = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();

var newLine = false;
var output = "";
var foregroundColor = Console.ForegroundColor;
var backgroundColor = Console.BackgroundColor;
var evaluate = false;
var currentBackground=Console.BackgroundColor;
var currentForeground=Console.ForegroundColor;


//http://stackoverflow.com/a/24294348/388389
var jsEscapes = {
  'n': '\n',
  'r': '\r',
  't': '\t',
  'f': '\f',
  'v': '\v',
  'b': '\b'
};

function decodeJsEscape(_, hex0, hex1, octal, other) {
  var hex = hex0 || hex1;
  if (hex) { return String.fromCharCode(parseInt(hex, 16)); }
  if (octal) { return String.fromCharCode(parseInt(octal, 8)); }
  return jsEscapes[other] || other;
}

function decodeJsString(s) {
  return s.replace(
      // Matches an escape sequence with UTF-16 in group 1, single byte hex in group 2,
      // octal in group 3, and arbitrary other single-character escapes in group 4.
      /\\(?:u([0-9A-Fa-f]{4})|x([0-9A-Fa-f]{2})|([0-3][0-7]{0,2}|[4-7][0-7]?)|(.))/g,
      decodeJsEscape);
}


function printHelp( ) {
   print( arguments[0] + "  -s string [-f foreground] [-b background] [-n] [-e]" );
   print( " " );
   print( " string          String to be printed" );
   print( " foreground      Foreground color - a " );
   print( "                 number between 0 and 15." );
   print( " background      Background color - a " );
   print( "                 number between 0 and 15." );
   print( " -n              Indicates if a new line should" );
   print( "                 be written at the end of the ");
   print( "                 string(by default - no)." );
   print( " -e              Evaluates special character " );
   print( "                 sequences like \\n\\b\\r and etc ");
   print( "" );
   print( "Colors :" );
   for ( var c = 0 ; c < 16 ; c++ ) {
        
        Console.BackgroundColor = c;
        Console.Write( " " );
        Console.BackgroundColor=currentBackground;
        Console.Write( "-"+c );
        Console.WriteLine( "" );
   }
   Console.BackgroundColor=currentBackground;
   
   

}

function errorChecker( e:Error ) {
        if ( e.message == "Input string was not in a correct format." ) {
            print( "the color parameters should be numbers between 0 and 15" );
            Environment.Exit( 1 );
        } else if (e.message == "Index was outside the bounds of the array.") {
            print( "invalid arguments" );
            Environment.Exit( 2 );
        } else {
            print ( "Error Message: " + e.message );
            print ( "Error Code: " + ( e.number & 0xFFFF ) );
            print ( "Error Name: " + e.name );
            Environment.Exit( 666 );
        }
}

function numberChecker( i:Int32 ){
    if( i > 15 || i < 0 ) {
        print("the color parameters should be numbers between 0 and 15");
        Environment.Exit(1);
    }
}


if ( arguments.length == 1 || arguments[1].toLowerCase() == "-help" || arguments[1].toLowerCase() == "-help"   ) {
    printHelp();
    Environment.Exit(0);
}

for (var arg = 1; arg <= arguments.length-1; arg++ ) {
    if ( arguments[arg].toLowerCase() == "-n" ) {
        newLine=true;
    }
    
    if ( arguments[arg].toLowerCase() == "-e" ) {
        evaluate=true;
    }
    
    if ( arguments[arg].toLowerCase() == "-s" ) {
        output=arguments[arg+1];
    }
    
    
    if ( arguments[arg].toLowerCase() == "-b" ) {
        
        try {
            backgroundColor=Int32.Parse( arguments[arg+1] );
        } catch(e) {
            errorChecker(e);
        }
    }
    
    if ( arguments[arg].toLowerCase() == "-f" ) {
        try {
            foregroundColor=Int32.Parse(arguments[arg+1]);
        } catch(e) {
            errorChecker(e);
        }
    }
}

Console.BackgroundColor = backgroundColor ;
Console.ForegroundColor = foregroundColor ;

if ( evaluate ) {
    output=decodeJsString(output);
}

if ( newLine ) {
    Console.WriteLine(output);  
} else {
    Console.Write(output);
    
}

Console.BackgroundColor = currentBackground;
Console.ForegroundColor = currentForeground;

Here's the help message:

Example:

coloroutput.bat -s "aa\nbb\n\u0025cc" -b 10 -f 3 -n -e

You can also find this script here.

You can also check carlos' color function -> http://www.dostips.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4453

Answer 4

An alternative is to use NodeJS.

Here is an example:

const os = require('os');
const colors = require('colors');

console.log("Operative System:".green,os.type(),os.release());
console.log("Uptime:".blue,os.uptime());

And this is the result:

Answer 5

call :color_echo "blue" "blue txt"
call :color_echo "red" "red txt"
echo "white txt"


REM : https://www.robvanderwoude.com/ansi.php
:color_echo
    @echo off

    set "color=%~1"
    set "txt=%~2"

    set ESC=
    set black=%ESC%[30m
    set red=%ESC%[31m
    set green=%ESC%[32m
    set yellow=%ESC%[33m
    set blue=%ESC%[34m
    set magenta=%ESC%[35m
    set cyan=%ESC%[36m
    set white=%ESC%[37m

    if "%~1" == "black"   set "color=!black!"
    if "%~1" == "red"     set "color=!red!"
    if "%~1" == "green"   set "color=!green!"
    if "%~1" == "yellow"  set "color=!yellow!"
    if "%~1" == "blue"    set "color=!blue!"
    if "%~1" == "magenta" set "color=!magenta!"
    if "%~1" == "cyan"    set "color=!cyan!"
    if "%~1" == "white"   set "color=!white!"

    echo | set /p="!color!!txt!"
    echo.

    REM : return to standard white color
    echo | set /p="!white!"

    REM : exiting the function only
    EXIT /B 0

Answer 6

You can use the color command to change the color of the whole console

Color 0F

Is black and white

Color 0A 

Is black and green