I was looking for a way to add a bit of flair to some terminal output today and found this StackOverflow post explaining how to add colour to terminal output using ANSI colour codes. Here's what the output from the below Java code looks like in my (MobaXterm / Ubuntu) shell:

Note that I didn't include underlined or bold text, both of which are also available. There is also a library by Diogo Nunes called the Java Colored Debug Printer (JCDP) which translates the ANSI codes into something that Windows command prompt can handle, making the solution cross-platform. Here's the code:

public class ColouredSystemOutPrintln {

  public static final String ANSI_RESET  = "\u001B[0m";

  public static final String ANSI_BLACK  = "\u001B[30m";
  public static final String ANSI_RED    = "\u001B[31m";
  public static final String ANSI_GREEN  = "\u001B[32m";
  public static final String ANSI_YELLOW = "\u001B[33m";
  public static final String ANSI_BLUE   = "\u001B[34m";
  public static final String ANSI_PURPLE = "\u001B[35m";
  public static final String ANSI_CYAN   = "\u001B[36m";
  public static final String ANSI_WHITE  = "\u001B[37m";

  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_BLACK  = "\u001B[90m";
  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_RED    = "\u001B[91m";
  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_GREEN  = "\u001B[92m";
  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_YELLOW = "\u001B[93m";
  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_BLUE   = "\u001B[94m";
  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_PURPLE = "\u001B[95m";
  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_CYAN   = "\u001B[96m";
  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_WHITE  = "\u001B[97m";

  public static final String[] FOREGROUNDS = {
    ANSI_BLACK, ANSI_RED, ANSI_GREEN, ANSI_YELLOW,
    ANSI_BLUE, ANSI_PURPLE, ANSI_CYAN, ANSI_WHITE,
    ANSI_BRIGHT_BLACK, ANSI_BRIGHT_RED, ANSI_BRIGHT_GREEN, ANSI_BRIGHT_YELLOW,
    ANSI_BRIGHT_BLUE, ANSI_BRIGHT_PURPLE, ANSI_BRIGHT_CYAN, ANSI_BRIGHT_WHITE 
  };

  public static final String ANSI_BG_BLACK  = "\u001B[40m";
  public static final String ANSI_BG_RED    = "\u001B[41m";
  public static final String ANSI_BG_GREEN  = "\u001B[42m";
  public static final String ANSI_BG_YELLOW = "\u001B[43m";
  public static final String ANSI_BG_BLUE   = "\u001B[44m";
  public static final String ANSI_BG_PURPLE = "\u001B[45m";
  public static final String ANSI_BG_CYAN   = "\u001B[46m";
  public static final String ANSI_BG_WHITE  = "\u001B[47m";

  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_BLACK  = "\u001B[100m";
  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_RED    = "\u001B[101m";
  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_GREEN  = "\u001B[102m";
  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_YELLOW = "\u001B[103m";
  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_BLUE   = "\u001B[104m";
  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_PURPLE = "\u001B[105m";
  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_CYAN   = "\u001B[106m";
  public static final String ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_WHITE  = "\u001B[107m";

  public static final String[] BACKGROUNDS = {
    ANSI_BG_BLACK, ANSI_BG_RED, ANSI_BG_GREEN, ANSI_BG_YELLOW,
    ANSI_BG_BLUE, ANSI_BG_PURPLE, ANSI_BG_CYAN, ANSI_BG_WHITE,
    ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_BLACK, ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_RED, ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_GREEN, ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_YELLOW,
    ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_BLUE, ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_PURPLE, ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_CYAN, ANSI_BRIGHT_BG_WHITE };

  public static void main(String[] args) {

    System.out.println("\n  Default text\n");

    for (String fg : FOREGROUNDS) {
      for (String bg : BACKGROUNDS)
        System.out.print(fg + bg + "  TEST  ");
      System.out.println(ANSI_RESET);
    }

    System.out.println(ANSI_RESET + "\n  Back to default.\n");

  }

}

This post originally appeared in a slightly different form on my (now defunct) Wordpress blog.

Coloured Terminal Output with Java