Print in terminal with colors?

Question

How can I output colored text to the terminal, in Python? What is the best Unicode symbol to represent a solid block?

Answer 1

If you are programming a game perhaps you would like to change the background color and use only spaces? For example:

print " "+ "\033[01;41m" + " " +"\033[01;46m"  + "  " + "\033[01;42m"

Answer 2

The answer is Colorama for all cross-platform coloring in Python.

A Python 3.6 example screenshot:

Answer 3

I have wrapped @joeld answer into a module with global functions that I can use anywhere in my code.

file: log.py

HEADER = '\033[95m'
OKBLUE = '\033[94m'
OKGREEN = '\033[92m'
WARNING = '\033[93m'
FAIL = '\033[91m'
ENDC = '\033[0m'
BOLD = "\033[1m"

def disable():
    HEADER = ''
    OKBLUE = ''
    OKGREEN = ''
    WARNING = ''
    FAIL = ''
    ENDC = ''

def infog( msg):
    print OKGREEN + msg + ENDC

def info( msg):
    print OKBLUE + msg + ENDC

def warn( msg):
    print WARNING + msg + ENDC

def err( msg):
    print FAIL + msg + ENDC

use as follows:

 import log
    log.info("Hello World")
    log.err("System Error")

Answer 4

You can use the Python implementation of the curses library: http://docs.python.org/library/curses.html

Also, run this and you'll find your box:

for i in range(255):
    print i, chr(i)

Answer 5

note how well the with keyword mixes with modifiers like these that need to be reset (using Python 3 and Colorama):

from colorama import Fore, Style
import sys

class Highlight:
  def __init__(self, clazz, color):
    self.color = color
    self.clazz = clazz
  def __enter__(self):
    print(self.color, end="")
  def __exit__(self, type, value, traceback):
    if self.clazz == Fore:
      print(Fore.RESET, end="")
    else:
      assert self.clazz == Style
      print(Style.RESET_ALL, end="")
    sys.stdout.flush()

with Highlight(Fore, Fore.GREEN):
  print("this is highlighted")
print("this is not")

Answer 6

sty is similar to colorama, but it's less verbose, supports 8bit and 24bit (rgb) colors, allows you to register your own colors, is really flexible and well documented. If you don't care about compatibility with terminal emulators that are stuck in the 90th and like to use new features, you may want to give it a try.

from sty import fg, bg, ef, rs, Rule

foo = fg.red + 'This is red text!' + fg.rs
bar = bg.blue + 'This has a blue background!' + bg.rs
baz = ef.italic + 'This is italic text' + rs.italic
qux = fg(201) + 'This is pink text using 8bit colors' + fg.rs
qui = fg(255, 10, 10) + 'This is red text using 24bit colors.' + fg.rs

# Add new colors:

fg.orange = Rule('rgb_fg', 255, 150, 50)

buf = fg.orange + 'Yay, Im orange.' + fg.rs


print(foo, bar, baz, qux, qui, buf, sep='\n')

prints:

Demo: