Use color for terminal output
Colorful
You don't necessarily need color on the terminal, but still, it does look good – and does not involve too much effort.
If you look at the output of the common Linux commands, there is always one impressive feature: simplicity. Nothing flashes, wobbles, or makes a noise – plain-vanilla information without any distracting trappings. In today's world, where every device or open tab in the web browser begs for attention with a beep, this approach, which may seem anachronistic to newcomers, supports a focused work approach and lets you fully concentrate on solving the problem at hand. Simply fantastic.
Why Color?
If everything is so perfect, why bother with color? Color helps to highlight things and draw your attention to a particular point or fact. Let's take a look at how we can spice up the output on the command line with some color. Note that how the output is actually displayed depends on the terminal, its size, the fonts used, and other settings. After all, you still want output to remain legible.
Without color, neither the developer nor the program have to worry about the properties of the terminal currently in use. Nobody needs to know how the user's terminal is set up and what output the program uses (e.g., whether it is a simple display on the terminal, a redirect to a file, or further processing via a pipe). Remember: Color increases complexity.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
Danish Ministry of Digital Affairs Transitions to Linux
Another major organization has decided to kick Microsoft Windows and Office to the curb in favor of Linux.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.