The source-highlight package is installed on my system. It highlights files I view with less using /usr/bin/lesspipe and LESSOPEN environment variable. Now, I want to change the color scheme this mechanism uses for some/all filetypes. I have root on the machine. How do I do this? Note: It's a Devuan 3 Beowulf (~= Debian 10 Buster) Linux distribution.

I wanted to format the Unix files conditionally, I am currently working on diff command and wanted to know if it is possible to format the text of the diff command output. Example: >Matched values should be displayed in green. Unmatched values should be displayed in red. Suppose I have two files file1 and file2 and my command is diff file1 file2 . Now I wanted that suppose output contain 5 mismatch then those mismatch should be displayed in Red color. How to achieve this using unix? In short "Change color to red for the output of diff command for values which mismatch"

I can use the "script" command to record an interactive session at the command line. However, this includes all control characters *and* colour codes. I can remove control characters (like backspace) with "col -b", but I can't find a simple way to remove the colour codes. Note that I want to use the command line in the normal way, so don't want to disable colours there - I just want to remove them from the script output. Also, I know can play around and try find a regexp to fix things up, but I am hoping there is a simpler (and more reliable - what if there's a code I don't know about when I develop the regexp?) solution. To show the problem:

spl62 tmp: script
Script started, file is typescript
spl62 lepl: ls
add-licence.sed  build-example.sh  commit-test         push-docs.sh
add-licence.sh   build.sh          delete-licence.sed  setup.py
asn              build-test.sh     delete-licence.sh   src
build-doc.sh     clean             doc-src             test.ini
spl62 lepl: exit
Script done, file is typescript
spl62 tmp: cat -v typescript
Script started on Thu 09 Jun 2011 09:47:27 AM CLT
spl62 lepl: ls^M
^[[0m^[[00madd-licence.sed^[[0m  ^[[00;32mbuild-example.sh^[[0m  ^[[00mcommit-test^[[0m         ^[[00;32mpush-docs.sh^[[0m^M
^[[00;32madd-licence.sh^[[0m   ^[[00;32mbuild.sh^[[0m          ^[[00mdelete-licence.sed^[[0m  ^[[00msetup.py^[[0m^M
^[[01;34masn^[[0m              ^[[00;32mbuild-test.sh^[[0m     ^[[00;32mdelete-licence.sh^[[0m   ^[[01;34msrc^[[0m^M
^[[00;32mbuild-doc.sh^[[0m     ^[[00;32mclean^[[0m             ^[[01;34mdoc-src^[[0m             ^[[00mtest.ini^[[0m^M
spl62 lepl: exit^M

Script done on Thu 09 Jun 2011 09:47:29 AM CLT
spl62 tmp: col -b 
                                

In a shell script, how can I test programmatically whether or not the terminal supports 24-bit or true color? ---- Related: [This question](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/404414/print-truecolor-24-bit-test-pattern) is about printing a 24-bit / truecolor test pattern for eyeball verification

I spend most of my time working in Unix environments and using terminal emulators. I try to use color on the command line, because color makes the output more useful and intuitive. What options exist to add color to my terminal environment? What tricks do you use? What pitfalls have you encountered? Unfortunately, support for color varies depending on terminal type, OS, TERM setting, utility, buggy implementations, etc. Here are some tips from my setup, after a lot of experimentation: 1. I tend to set TERM=xterm-color, which is supported on most hosts (but not all). 2. I work on a number of different hosts, different OS versions, etc. I use everything from macOS X, Ubuntu Linux, RHEL/CentOS/Scientific Linux and FreeBSD. I'm trying to keep things simple and generic, if possible. 3. I do a bunch of work using GNU screen, which adds another layer of fun. 3. Many OSs set things like dircolors and by default, and I don't want to modify this on a hundred different hosts. So I try to stick with the defaults. Instead, I tweak my terminal's color configuration. 4. Use color for some Unix commands (ls, grep, less, vim) and the Bash prompt . These commands seem to use the standard "ANSI escape sequences ". For example: alias less='less --RAW-CONTROL-CHARS' export LS_OPTS='--color=auto' alias ls='ls ${LS_OPTS}' I'll post my .bashrc and answer my own question Jeopardy Style.

I've been working with Linux for a couple years as a CS graduate, but I've been using the root node the entire time. I know that isn't a good idea, so I finally added a user. But the terminal's colors for the new user don't work. In the root node, files were green, directories are blue text, highlighted in green, etc. In my new user, it's all flat white. I'd also like to change the default login to this new user, but don't know how to do that. When I launch Ubuntu, its default login is the root with no password. I already edited the .bashrc file, uncommenting the line: #force_color_prompt=yes but still nothing. I also noticed changing this while logged into the new user also changes it in the root node. I thought the .bashrc file was unique per user? Thanks!

Recently I installed tmux on my Ubuntu 16.04. The terminal screen in tmux shows 256 color correctly however when I opened vim within tmux, the color was different from what it showed when it was run directly on the terminal. I tried to add set -g default-terminal "screen-256color" in my .tmux.conf file but the problem still exists. * my terminal screen in tmux:  * vim run directly on the terminal:  * vim run within tmux:  The output of echo $TERM; tput colors; tput longname * outside tmux:

xterm-256color
256
xterm

* with 256 colors inside tmux:

screen-256color
256
GUN Screen with 256 colors

How can I test that my terminal / tmux is correctly setup to display truecolor / 24-bit color / 16.8 million colours?

Whilst trying to configure ls' colors on Cygwin (specifically the distro babun), I found that the custom extension colors that were in the LS_COLORS environment variable weren't being used. Here's an example: di=34:ln=35:so=32:pi=33:ex=31:bd=34;46:cd=34;43:su=30;41:sg=30;46:tw=30;42:ow=30;43:*.tar=1;31 Normally, the ls command should output white text for every file EXCEPT .tar files, which should be red. However, what I'm getting is white text for everything INCLUDING .tar files. I wonder if it's a problem with MSYS ls, or if it's a problem with my shell (zsh). Basically, the custom file extension colors that I try and define fall back to the default file color. Here's the corresponding part of my .zshrc where I've defined the ls alias and run the output of dircolors. eval "dircolors /etc/DIR_COLORS" alias ls="/bin/ls --color=auto"

I'm trying to set colors within my .bashrc. I would like my background to be black, bash prompt text to be white and input text to be lime green. I have this so far: export PS1="[\e[1;37;40m[\u@\W]\$ " however I am unable to change my input text to lime green.

If I use two consecutive grep commands, e.g.: echo "foo bar" | grep foo | grep bar Then the first pattern ("foo") is not highlighted. In fact, it seems that grep removes color codes from its input. Is there any way to prevent this?

I have a PDF and I want to verify the colours being used (check that they match our corporate colour scheme for instance). Specifically, I want to check that the correct CMYK colours are being used. How could I go about doing that?

I'd like to be able to tail the output of a server log file that has messages like: INFO SEVERE etc, and if it's SEVERE, show the line in red; if it's INFO, in green. What kind of alias can I setup for a tail command that would help me do this?

I am in the process of colorizing my terminal’s PS1. I am setting color variables using tput; for example, here’s purple: PURPLE=$(tput setaf 125) ### Question: How do I find the color codes (e.g. 125) of other colors? Is there a color table guide/cheat sheet somewhere? I’m just not sure what 125 is … Is there some way to take a hex color and convert into a number that setaf can use?

Recently, I noticed something strange. If I run the command sudo journalctl -f -u ModemManager in rxvt-unicode (left) and xterm (right), in rxvt-unicode the yellow does not appear when the message is a warning. Both terminals have TERM=xterm-256color and I noticed this problem only in yellow, as the red appears in both terminals. I tried different escape sequences, but I was not able to detect the problem. xterm Right: urxvt" class="img-fluid rounded" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; margin: 10px 0;" loading="lazy">

I have a RHEL 6.9 host that loses its color when starting a screen session. Vim colors and directory colors exist before starting the screen session. Here are a few settings to help troubleshoot: - $TERM returns screen - I am using force_color_prompt=yes in my bashrc - echo "$(tput setaf 1)red$(tput sgr0)" successfully prints out red (in red) Any advice on how to fix is appreciated, thanks!

There are two directories shown by 'ls'. Normally directories anywhere are blue on black background. But the first one is blue on green and impossible to read. Why is this? How to make it blue on black, or at least something light on something dark? This is on Ubuntu 12.04, using bash in Gnome Terminal. In Konsole, the blue is slightly darker, and possible to read, though could be way better.

I don't quite understand XTerm's (UXTerm's in this case) behaviour regarding colors. I'm using Solarized Light color theme for Alacritty and UXTerm. They're more or less identical: ~/.alacritty.yml:

# Colors (Solarized Light)
colors:
  # Default colors
  primary:
    background: '0xfdf6e3'
    foreground: '0x586e75'

  # Normal colors
  normal:
    black:   '0x073642'
    red:     '0xdc322f'
    green:   '0x859900'
    yellow:  '0xb58900'
    blue:    '0x268bd2'
    magenta: '0xd33682'
    cyan:    '0x2aa198'
    white:   '0xeee8d5'

  # Bright colors
  bright:
    black:   '0x002b36'
    red:     '0xcb4b16'
    green:   '0x586e75'
    yellow:  '0x657b83'
    blue:    '0x839496'
    magenta: '0x6c71c4'
    cyan:    '0x93a1a1'
    white:   '0xfdf6e3'

~/.Xresources:

#define S_base03        #002b36
#define S_base02        #073642
#define S_base01        #586e75
#define S_base00        #657b83
#define S_base0         #839496
#define S_base1         #93a1a1
#define S_base2         #eee8d5
#define S_base3         #fdf6e3
#define S_yellow        #b58900
#define S_orange        #cb4b16
#define S_red           #dc322f
#define S_magenta       #d33682
#define S_violet        #6c71c4
#define S_blue          #268bd2
#define S_cyan          #2aa198
#define S_green         #859900

!fonts&stuff
UXTerm*faceSize: 11
uxterm*eightBitInput: false
UXTerm*faceName: Fira Mono Regular

!Background & foreground
UXTerm*background: S_base3
UXTerm*foreground: S_base00
UXTerm*fading: 40
UXTerm*fadeColor: S_base3
UXTerm*cursorColor: S_base01
UXTerm*pointerColorBackground: S_base1
UXTerm*pointerColorForeground: S_base01

!UXTerm*borderColor: #343434

!Turning off scrollbar
UXTerm*scrollBar:  off

!Starting up with a geometry
UXTerm*vt100*geometry:   160x50

!Colors
!-------------------------
!black
UXTerm*color0: S_base02
UXTerm*color8: S_base03

!red
UXTerm*color1: S_red
UXTerm*color9: S_orange

!green
UXTerm*color2: S_green
UXTerm*color10: S_base01

!yellow
UXTerm*color3: S_yellow
UXTerm*color11: S_base00

!blue
UXTerm*color4: S_blue
UXTerm*color12: S_base0

!magenta
UXTerm*color5: S_magenta
UXTerm*color13: S_violet

!cyan
UXTerm*color6: S_cyan
UXTerm*color14: S_base1

!white
UXTerm*color7: S_base2
UXTerm*color15: S_base3

Alacritty session:

trueneu@pop-os:~$ env | grep TERM
COLORTERM=truecolor
TERM=xterm-256color

UXTerm session:

trueneu@pop-os:~$ env | grep TERM
COLORTERM=truecolor
XTERM_VERSION=XTerm(353)
XTERM_SHELL=/bin/bash
XTERM_LOCALE=en_US.UTF-8
TERM=xterm-256color

But they show completely different behaviours color-wise: Alacritty: UXTerm: Though all is fine in emacs: Alacritty: UXTerm: Both pass this test I've found:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

awk 'BEGIN{
    s="/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\"; s=s s s s s s s s;
    for (colnum = 0; colnum255) g = 510-g;
        printf "\033[48;2;%d;%d;%dm", r,g,b;
        printf "\033[38;2;%d;%d;%dm", 255-r,255-g,255-b;
        printf "%s\033[0m", substr(s,colnum+1,1);
    }
    printf "\n";
}'

Alacritty: UXTerm: The prompt:

PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$ '

Same with ls colors. UXTerm's infocmp, if it helps:

Reconstructed via infocmp from file: /lib/terminfo/x/xterm-256color
xterm-256color|xterm with 256 colors,
	am, bce, ccc, km, mc5i, mir, msgr, npc, xenl,
	colors#0x100, cols#80, it#8, lines#24, pairs#0x10000,
	acsc=``aaffggiijjkkllmmnnooppqqrrssttuuvvwwxxyyzz{{||}}~~,
	bel=^G, blink=\E[5m, bold=\E[1m, cbt=\E[Z, civis=\E[?25l,
	clear=\E[H\E[2J, cnorm=\E[?12l\E[?25h, cr=\r,
	csr=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dr, cub=\E[%p1%dD, cub1=^H,
	cud=\E[%p1%dB, cud1=\n, cuf=\E[%p1%dC, cuf1=\E[C,
	cup=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dH, cuu=\E[%p1%dA, cuu1=\E[A,
	cvvis=\E[?12;25h, dch=\E[%p1%dP, dch1=\E[P, dim=\E[2m,
	dl=\E[%p1%dM, dl1=\E[M, ech=\E[%p1%dX, ed=\E[J, el=\E[K,
	el1=\E[1K, flash=\E[?5h$\E[?5l, home=\E[H,
	hpa=\E[%i%p1%dG, ht=^I, hts=\EH, ich=\E[%p1%d@,
	il=\E[%p1%dL, il1=\E[L, ind=\n, indn=\E[%p1%dS,
	initc=\E]4;%p1%d;rgb\:%p2%{255}%*%{1000}%/%2.2X/%p3%{255}%*%{1000}%/%2.2X/%p4%{255}%*%{1000}%/%2.2X\E\\,
	invis=\E[8m, is2=\E[!p\E[?3;4l\E[4l\E>, kDC=\E[3;2~,
	kEND=\E[1;2F, kHOM=\E[1;2H, kIC=\E[2;2~, kLFT=\E[1;2D,
	kNXT=\E[6;2~, kPRV=\E[5;2~, kRIT=\E[1;2C, kb2=\EOE, kbs=^?,
	kcbt=\E[Z, kcub1=\EOD, kcud1=\EOB, kcuf1=\EOC, kcuu1=\EOA,
	kdch1=\E[3~, kend=\EOF, kent=\EOM, kf1=\EOP, kf10=\E[21~,
	kf11=\E[23~, kf12=\E[24~, kf13=\E[1;2P, kf14=\E[1;2Q,
	kf15=\E[1;2R, kf16=\E[1;2S, kf17=\E[15;2~, kf18=\E[17;2~,
	kf19=\E[18;2~, kf2=\EOQ, kf20=\E[19;2~, kf21=\E[20;2~,
	kf22=\E[21;2~, kf23=\E[23;2~, kf24=\E[24;2~,
	kf25=\E[1;5P, kf26=\E[1;5Q, kf27=\E[1;5R, kf28=\E[1;5S,
	kf29=\E[15;5~, kf3=\EOR, kf30=\E[17;5~, kf31=\E[18;5~,
	kf32=\E[19;5~, kf33=\E[20;5~, kf34=\E[21;5~,
	kf35=\E[23;5~, kf36=\E[24;5~, kf37=\E[1;6P, kf38=\E[1;6Q,
	kf39=\E[1;6R, kf4=\EOS, kf40=\E[1;6S, kf41=\E[15;6~,
	kf42=\E[17;6~, kf43=\E[18;6~, kf44=\E[19;6~,
	kf45=\E[20;6~, kf46=\E[21;6~, kf47=\E[23;6~,
	kf48=\E[24;6~, kf49=\E[1;3P, kf5=\E[15~, kf50=\E[1;3Q,
	kf51=\E[1;3R, kf52=\E[1;3S, kf53=\E[15;3~, kf54=\E[17;3~,
	kf55=\E[18;3~, kf56=\E[19;3~, kf57=\E[20;3~,
	kf58=\E[21;3~, kf59=\E[23;3~, kf6=\E[17~, kf60=\E[24;3~,
	kf61=\E[1;4P, kf62=\E[1;4Q, kf63=\E[1;4R, kf7=\E[18~,
	kf8=\E[19~, kf9=\E[20~, khome=\EOH, kich1=\E[2~,
	kind=\E[1;2B, kmous=\E[M, knp=\E[6~, kpp=\E[5~,
	kri=\E[1;2A, mc0=\E[i, mc4=\E[4i, mc5=\E[5i, meml=\El,
	memu=\Em, oc=\E]104\007, op=\E[39;49m, rc=\E8, rev=\E[7m,
	ri=\EM, rin=\E[%p1%dT, ritm=\E[23m, rmacs=\E(B,
	rmam=\E[?7l, rmcup=\E[?1049l\E[23;0;0t, rmir=\E[4l,
	rmkx=\E[?1l\E>, rmm=\E[?1034l, rmso=\E[27m, rmul=\E[24m,
	rs1=\Ec\E]104\007, rs2=\E[!p\E[?3;4l\E[4l\E>, sc=\E7,
	setab=\E[%?%p1%{8}%<%t4%p1%d%e%p1%{16}%<%t10%p1%{8}%-%d%e48;5;%p1%d%;m,
	setaf=\E[%?%p1%{8}%<%t3%p1%d%e%p1%{16}%<%t9%p1%{8}%-%d%e38;5;%p1%d%;m,
	sgr=%?%p9%t\E(0%e\E(B%;\E[0%?%p6%t;1%;%?%p5%t;2%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;%?%p4%t;5%;%?%p7%t;8%;m,
	sgr0=\E(B\E[m, sitm=\E[3m, smacs=\E(0, smam=\E[?7h,
	smcup=\E[?1049h\E[22;0;0t, smir=\E[4h, smkx=\E[?1h\E=,
	smm=\E[?1034h, smso=\E[7m, smul=\E[4m, tbc=\E[3g,
	u6=\E[%i%d;%dR, u7=\E[6n, u8=\E[?%[;0123456789]c,
	u9=\E[c, vpa=\E[%i%p1%dd,

Am I missing some configuration here? Is this how XTerm works? I don't really understand how's it capable of passing that test though. EDIT: After Thomas Dickey's answer, I've indeed tried to redefine .Xresources to be without C preprocessor #defines. Here's the result:

!fonts&stuff
UXTerm*faceSize: 11
uxterm*eightBitInput: false
UXTerm*faceName: Fira Mono Regular

!Background & foreground
UXTerm*background: #fdf6e3
UXTerm*foreground: #657b83
UXTerm*fading: 40
UXTerm*fadeColor: #fdf6e3
UXTerm*cursorColor: #586e75
UXTerm*pointerColorBackground: #93a1a1
UXTerm*pointerColorForeground: #586e75

!UXTerm*borderColor: #343434

!Turning off scrollbar
UXTerm*scrollBar:  off

!Starting up with a geometry
UXTerm*vt100*geometry:   160x50

!Colors
!-------------------------
!black
UXTerm*color0: #073642
UXTerm*color8: #002b36

!red
UXTerm*color1: #dc322f
UXTerm*color9: #cb4b16

!green
UXTerm*color2: #859900
UXTerm*color10: #586e75

!yellow
UXTerm*color3: #b58900
UXTerm*color11: #657b83

!blue
UXTerm*color4: #268bd2
UXTerm*color12: #839496

!magenta
UXTerm*color5: #d33682
UXTerm*color13: #6c71c4

!cyan
UXTerm*color6: #2aa198
UXTerm*color14: #93a1a1

!white
UXTerm*color7: #eee8d5
UXTerm*color15: #fdf6e3

Loaded the settings without -merge just to be sure:

xrdb ~/.Xresources

And launched UXTerm: EDIT2: Forgot to mention one (probably relevant) detail: if I get rid of the color scheme whatsoever, UXTerm starts to show colors at least _resembling_ Alacritty's: So the direction is kinda correct. But it's plain unusable to me in this state.

**EDIT!** so i guess it's not a matter of colour profiles or operating systems, but of whatever program linux uses to render images by default..? maybe??? because when i open up the same image in both image viewer (left, incorrect colour perception) and imagemagick (right, correct colour perception), i get the same results as i do when i open it between firefox on linux and windows.  so i'm guessing now that i have to change the way linux renders images by default, if there's even a way to do that. it's not SUPER important, since i now know there's a program that can display my art correctly, but it would be nice. **OG POST** i've been gradually settling myself into mint the last few days, since i wanna start inching myself away from windows and all the crap it's pulling. i've mostly been able to figure out everything on my own, but one thing is tripping me up; the way that mint (or maybe ubuntu as a whole?) renders the colours of images is off. i'm a digital artist. colour accuracy is something i really need to have. none of the usual colour profiling tools worked for me (gnome colour manager doesn't have the functionality i need, and every other effective tool needs an expensive piece of hardware that you stick to the screen) so i then decided to boot up my windows VM and take a look at the same website, side by side. the colours come through differently!! top is how it's rendering in linux mint with firefox (incorrect, banner image colour does not match nav elements), bottom is how it's rendering in windows 11 pro with firefox (correct colours).  i checked the same image in clip studio paint (which i got running through playonlinux), and it's rendering the picture the same as it is in the windows VM. so while i at least don't have to worry about linux messing up my art WHILE i'm making it (and hopefully when i'm making breakpoints as well), this is still probably something that's gonna bug me... anyone got tips for fixes, or do i just have to deal with it? running linux mint 22.1 cinnamon 6.4.7 with the X11 display server. let me know if there's anything else i should include for you nerds, since i'm still pretty new at this whole linux thing.

You know, that colorized output made by special char sequences, for example: echo -e "\e[34m Hello\n \e[0m" This will produce word "Hello" colored in blue. To do this I had to search on the web, and it is hard, because different sources may say something different. I thought, that there must be some manuals, but I couldn't find them. Even with apropos color or something similar. So, the question is - where I can find reliable manuals?