How to change text color and console color in code::blocks?

Question

I am writing a program in C. I want to change the text color and background color in the console. My sample program is -

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <dos.h>
#include <dir.h>

int main(int argc,char *argv[])
{
 textcolor(25);
 printf("\n \n \t This is dummy program for text color ");
 getch();

 return 0;
}

When I compile this program code::blocks gives me an error - textcolor not defined. Why is this so? I work in a GNU GCC compiler and Windows Vista. If it is not going to work what is the duplicate of textcolor. Like that I want to change the background color of the console. The compiler gives me the same error just the name of the function is different. How to change the color of the console and text. Please help.

I am okay even if the answer is in C++.

Answer 1

Functions like textcolor worked in old compilers like turbo C and Dev C. In today's compilers these functions would not work. I am going to give two function SetColor and ChangeConsoleToColors. You copy paste these functions code in your program and do the following steps.The code I am giving will not work in some compilers.

The code of SetColor is -

 void SetColor(int ForgC)
 {
     WORD wColor;

      HANDLE hStdOut = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
      CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO csbi;

                       //We use csbi for the wAttributes word.
     if(GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo(hStdOut, &csbi))
     {
                 //Mask out all but the background attribute, and add in the forgournd     color
          wColor = (csbi.wAttributes & 0xF0) + (ForgC & 0x0F);
          SetConsoleTextAttribute(hStdOut, wColor);
     }
     return;
 }

To use this function you need to call it from your program. For example I am taking your sample program -

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <dos.h>
#include <dir.h>

int main(void)
{
  SetColor(4);
  printf("\n \n \t This text is written in Red Color \n ");
  getch();
  return 0;
}

void SetColor(int ForgC)
 {
 WORD wColor;

  HANDLE hStdOut = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
  CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO csbi;

                       //We use csbi for the wAttributes word.
 if(GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo(hStdOut, &csbi))
 {
                 //Mask out all but the background attribute, and add in the forgournd color
      wColor = (csbi.wAttributes & 0xF0) + (ForgC & 0x0F);
      SetConsoleTextAttribute(hStdOut, wColor);
 }
 return;
}

When you run the program you will get the text color in RED. Now I am going to give you the code of each color -

Name         | Value
             |
Black        |   0
Blue         |   1
Green        |   2
Cyan         |   3
Red          |   4
Magenta      |   5
Brown        |   6
Light Gray   |   7
Dark Gray    |   8
Light Blue   |   9
Light Green  |   10
Light Cyan   |   11
Light Red    |   12
Light Magenta|   13
Yellow       |   14
White        |   15

Now I am going to give the code of ChangeConsoleToColors. The code is -

void ClearConsoleToColors(int ForgC, int BackC)
 {
 WORD wColor = ((BackC & 0x0F) << 4) + (ForgC & 0x0F);
               //Get the handle to the current output buffer...
 HANDLE hStdOut = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
                     //This is used to reset the carat/cursor to the top left.
 COORD coord = {0, 0};
                  //A return value... indicating how many chars were written
                    //   not used but we need to capture this since it will be
                      //   written anyway (passing NULL causes an access violation).
  DWORD count;

                               //This is a structure containing all of the console info
                      // it is used here to find the size of the console.
 CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO csbi;
                 //Here we will set the current color
 SetConsoleTextAttribute(hStdOut, wColor);
 if(GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo(hStdOut, &csbi))
 {
                          //This fills the buffer with a given character (in this case 32=space).
      FillConsoleOutputCharacter(hStdOut, (TCHAR) 32, csbi.dwSize.X * csbi.dwSize.Y, coord, &count);

      FillConsoleOutputAttribute(hStdOut, csbi.wAttributes, csbi.dwSize.X * csbi.dwSize.Y, coord, &count );
                          //This will set our cursor position for the next print statement.
      SetConsoleCursorPosition(hStdOut, coord);
 }
 return;
}

In this function you pass two numbers. If you want normal colors just put the first number as zero and the second number as the color. My example is -

#include <windows.h>          //header file for windows
#include <stdio.h>

void ClearConsoleToColors(int ForgC, int BackC);

int main()
{
ClearConsoleToColors(0,15);
Sleep(1000);
return 0;
}
void ClearConsoleToColors(int ForgC, int BackC)
{
 WORD wColor = ((BackC & 0x0F) << 4) + (ForgC & 0x0F);
               //Get the handle to the current output buffer...
 HANDLE hStdOut = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
                     //This is used to reset the carat/cursor to the top left.
 COORD coord = {0, 0};
                  //A return value... indicating how many chars were written
                    //   not used but we need to capture this since it will be
                      //   written anyway (passing NULL causes an access violation).
 DWORD count;

                               //This is a structure containing all of the console info
                      // it is used here to find the size of the console.
 CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO csbi;
                 //Here we will set the current color
 SetConsoleTextAttribute(hStdOut, wColor);
 if(GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo(hStdOut, &csbi))
 {
                          //This fills the buffer with a given character (in this case 32=space).
      FillConsoleOutputCharacter(hStdOut, (TCHAR) 32, csbi.dwSize.X * csbi.dwSize.Y, coord, &count);

      FillConsoleOutputAttribute(hStdOut, csbi.wAttributes, csbi.dwSize.X * csbi.dwSize.Y, coord, &count );
                          //This will set our cursor position for the next print statement.
      SetConsoleCursorPosition(hStdOut, coord);
 }
 return;
} 

In this case I have put the first number as zero and the second number as 15 so the console color will be white as the code for white is 15. This is working for me in code::blocks. Hope it works for you too.

Answer 2

This is a function online, I created a header file with it, and I use Setcolor(); instead, I hope this helped! You can change the color by choosing any color in the range of 0-256. :) Sadly, I believe CodeBlocks has a later build of the window.h library...

#include <windows.h>            //This is the header file for windows.
#include <stdio.h>              //C standard library header file

void SetColor(int ForgC);

int main()
{
    printf("Test color");       //Here the text color is white
    SetColor(30);               //Function call to change the text color
    printf("Test color");       //Now the text color is green
    return 0;
}

void SetColor(int ForgC)
{
     WORD wColor;
     //This handle is needed to get the current background attribute

     HANDLE hStdOut = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
     CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO csbi;
     //csbi is used for wAttributes word

     if(GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo(hStdOut, &csbi))
     {
          //To mask out all but the background attribute, and to add the color
          wColor = (csbi.wAttributes & 0xF0) + (ForgC & 0x0F);
          SetConsoleTextAttribute(hStdOut, wColor);
     }
     return;
}