Color console in ANSI C?

Question

Is it possible to color the console output in just plain ANSI C? Without an external library? Can this be done in Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X?

Answer 1

just plain ANSI C?

No. The C standard doesn't assume the stdout is a console or has color.

Can this be done in Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X?

Yes. See How can I print to the console in color on Mac OS X in a cross-platform manner? for Linux and Mac OS X.

For Windows, you may need to directly access the Console Functions if you want to avoid external libraries.

Answer 2

Yes, in Linux/ Mac it is possible using ANSI C89. You can either manipulate the font and the color of the text. using the following command:

printf("%c[0;00mHello, world!\n", 27); /* White color     */
printf("%c[1;33mHello, world!\n", 27); /* Yellowish color */
printf("%c[1;34mHello, world!\n", 27); /* Blueish color   */

Notice that the left part of the ";" (where the numbers 0, 1 are) manipulates the text font, the right part of ";" manipulates the colors. You can experiment on your own and find out new colors.

This code compiles using "-ansi -pedantic" command with no warnings nor errors.

***** Edit ***** In Windows based systems you can achieve colorful console text/background of text using the following example:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <windows.h>

int main(void)
{   
    /* Point to our console */
    HANDLE hConsole = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
    int i = 0;

    /* Iterate through colors */ 
    for(; i < 255; i++)
    { /* i stands for color type: could refer to actual text color or background color of text */
        SetConsoleTextAttribute(hConsole, i);
        printf("Colorful text");
    }

    getchar();
    return 0;
}

Good luck!