How to print in bash with color? There are two easy ways. One is for easy print sentences. The other one is more suitable for printing blocks of lines of logs.

Printf With Color

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c_echo() {
    RED='\033[0;31m'
    GREEN='\033[0;32m'
    YELLOW='\033[1;33m'
    BLUE='\033[0;34m'
    PURPLE='\033[0;35m'
    Cyan='\033[0;36m'
    NC='\033[0m' # No Color

    #Bold
    BRED='\033[1;31m'
    BGREEN='\033[1;32m'
    BYELLOW='\033[1;33m'
    BBLUE='\033[1;34m'
    BPURPLE='\033[1;35m'
    BCYAN='\033[1;36m'

    printf "${!1}${2} ${NC}\n"
}

Here we define a c_echo function and use it like this:

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c_echo "RED" "Hello World"

Reference: bash - How to change the output color of echo in Linux - Stack Overflow
For more colors or styles: Git shell coloring · GitHub

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# Regular Colors
Black="\[\033[0;30m\]"        # Black
Red="\[\033[0;31m\]"          # Red
Green="\[\033[0;32m\]"        # Green
Yellow="\[\033[0;33m\]"       # Yellow
Blue="\[\033[0;34m\]"         # Blue
Purple="\[\033[0;35m\]"       # Purple
Cyan="\[\033[0;36m\]"         # Cyan
White="\[\033[0;37m\]"        # White

# Bold
BBlack="\[\033[1;30m\]"       # Black
BRed="\[\033[1;31m\]"         # Red
BGreen="\[\033[1;32m\]"       # Green
BYellow="\[\033[1;33m\]"      # Yellow
BBlue="\[\033[1;34m\]"        # Blue
BPurple="\[\033[1;35m\]"      # Purple
BCyan="\[\033[1;36m\]"        # Cyan
BWhite="\[\033[1;37m\]"       # White

# Underline
UBlack="\[\033[4;30m\]"       # Black
URed="\[\033[4;31m\]"         # Red
UGreen="\[\033[4;32m\]"       # Green
UYellow="\[\033[4;33m\]"      # Yellow
UBlue="\[\033[4;34m\]"        # Blue
UPurple="\[\033[4;35m\]"      # Purple
UCyan="\[\033[4;36m\]"        # Cyan
UWhite="\[\033[4;37m\]"       # White

# Background
On_Black="\[\033[40m\]"       # Black
On_Red="\[\033[41m\]"         # Red
On_Green="\[\033[42m\]"       # Green
On_Yellow="\[\033[43m\]"      # Yellow
On_Blue="\[\033[44m\]"        # Blue
On_Purple="\[\033[45m\]"      # Purple
On_Cyan="\[\033[46m\]"        # Cyan
On_White="\[\033[47m\]"       # White

# High Intensty
IBlack="\[\033[0;90m\]"       # Black
IRed="\[\033[0;91m\]"         # Red
IGreen="\[\033[0;92m\]"       # Green
IYellow="\[\033[0;93m\]"      # Yellow
IBlue="\[\033[0;94m\]"        # Blue
IPurple="\[\033[0;95m\]"      # Purple
ICyan="\[\033[0;96m\]"        # Cyan
IWhite="\[\033[0;97m\]"       # White

# Bold High Intensty
BIBlack="\[\033[1;90m\]"      # Black
BIRed="\[\033[1;91m\]"        # Red
BIGreen="\[\033[1;92m\]"      # Green
BIYellow="\[\033[1;93m\]"     # Yellow
BIBlue="\[\033[1;94m\]"       # Blue
BIPurple="\[\033[1;95m\]"     # Purple
BICyan="\[\033[1;96m\]"       # Cyan
BIWhite="\[\033[1;97m\]"      # White

# High Intensty backgrounds
On_IBlack="\[\033[0;100m\]"   # Black
On_IRed="\[\033[0;101m\]"     # Red
On_IGreen="\[\033[0;102m\]"   # Green
On_IYellow="\[\033[0;103m\]"  # Yellow
On_IBlue="\[\033[0;104m\]"    # Blue
On_IPurple="\[\033[10;95m\]"  # Purple
On_ICyan="\[\033[0;106m\]"    # Cyan
On_IWhite="\[\033[0;107m\]"   # White

Tput With Color

tput can be used to setup the color status. For example, tput setaf 1 is red, and the following code:

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tput setaf 1 #set terminal color to red
echo "this prints in red"
echo "another red"
git status #everything prints in red here
tput sgr0 #set terminal color to default

If you don’t do tput sgr0 then it will never set terminal color back to default.

Foreground vs Background

Use tput setaf [1-7] for foreground color. Use tput setab [1-7] for background color.

Colors

  1. black
  2. red
  3. green
  4. yellow
  5. blue
  6. magneta
  7. cyan
  8. white

Text Modes

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tput bold    # Select bold mode
tput dim     # Select dim (half-bright) mode
tput smul    # Enable underline mode
tput rmul    # Disable underline mode
tput rev     # Turn on reverse video mode
tput smso    # Enter standout (bold) mode
tput rmso    # Exit standout mode