Windows command line set color

Last Updated :
29 Nov, 2023

Color is an inbuilt command found inside the Windows Command Processor (cmd.exe), that is used for changing the colors of the console’s foreground and background. By default, the console has white foreground color and black background color (07 color code). The command is generally used either to personalize the aesthetics of the console window, or the make the colors more appropriate for Dim or Dark Displays (ex. TN panels). In this article, we will learn about the color command and will also take a look at the various uses it offers. 

Description of the Command: Type the command – color /? in the Command Prompt. It sets the default console foreground and background colors.

COLOR [attr]
attr - Specifies the color attribute of console output.

Color attributes are specified by two hex digits –

• First corresponds to the background.
• Second corresponds to the foreground.

Using the Command: The command takes in input 2 hexadecimal digits (2nd digit optional) where the first digit corresponds to the background color and the second digit corresponds to the foreground color.

Syntax:

Color (Background)(Foreground)

If the first digit is only provided, then only the foreground color changes. Each digit can have any of the values in hexadecimal codepoint (0 – f) where each one corresponds to a unique color. The digit-to-color correspondence is as follows –

  0 = Black       8 = Gray
  1 = Blue        9 = Light Blue
  2 = Green       A = Light Green
  3 = Aqua        B = Light Aqua
  4 = Red         C = Light Red
  5 = Purple      D = Light Purple
  6 = Yellow      E = Light Yellow
  7 = White       F = Bright White

Syntax:

Color 1F

It will produce bright White on Dark Blue. Any combination of the above set of digits could be used, except for the special case in which the foreground and the background color is the same (Ex. color FF or color 33). In that case, no color change occurs, and the value of %ERRORLEVEL% changes to 1. If the command is executed without providing any parameters, then the command will restore the color to which cmd.exe initially started as.

Changing Only The Foreground Color: 

Syntax :

Color (Hex_digit)

1. (Hex_digit) is a digit (or character) within the hexadecimal range, i.e. it should belong in the range 0-F. Example : We will change the foreground color to Yellow (6). Before :
   

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   After :

   

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   It is clear from the above images that after executing the command Color 6, the color of the foreground changes from white to yellow.

2. Changing the Color of Background And Foreground: For changing the color of the foreground and the background of the console window, the color attributes are specified by 2 of the previously mentioned hex digits. 

Syntax :

color (Back_Hex_digit)(Fore_hex_digit)

1. Back_Hex_digit and Fore_hex_digit are hexadecimal digits used to determine the color of the background and foreground respectively. In the following example, we will change the background color to grey (7) and the foreground color to light green (a). 

Before: 

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After:

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Overview

The COLOR command in Windows Command Prompt (CMD) is used to set the default foreground (text) and background colors of the console window. This command can enhance readability or personalize the look of the command-line interface. It is often used in scripts to denote different process stages or alert statuses visually.

Syntax

To use the COLOR command, the syntax is:

COLOR [attribute]

The attribute is a two-digit hexadecimal code where the first digit represents the background color and the second digit represents the text color.

If no attribute is provided, the command resets the color to what was set when CMD was opened.

Options/Flags

The COLOR command supports hexadecimal characters, each representing a different color:

• 0 Black
• 1 Blue
• 2 Green
• 3 Aqua
• 4 Red
• 5 Purple
• 6 Yellow
• 7 White
• 8 Gray
• 9 Light Blue
• A Light Green
• B Light Aqua
• C Light Red
• D Light Purple
• E Light Yellow
• F Bright White

Leading zero is necessary if the color attribute should change only one color (foreground or background).

Default:
If the COLOR command is run without arguments, it will revert to the default colors of the CMD window.

Examples

• Set text color to Light Red with Black background

  COLOR 4C
  

• Reset to default color settings

  COLOR
  

• Set background to Green and text color to Light Aqua

  COLOR 2B
  

Common Issues

• Invalid color codes: Users must ensure the syntax contains only two valid hexadecimal characters. If invalid codes are used, CMD will ignore the command.
• Visibility issues: Some color combinations (e.g., blue text on a blue background) can lead to unreadable text. Always choose contrasting colors.

Integration

Script Usage

In batch files, COLOR can be used to signal different sections of the script or signify success/warning/error states:

@echo off
COLOR 2E
echo Starting processing...
REM Processing steps here
COLOR 4E
echo WARNING: Low memory detected.
REM More processing steps here
COLOR A2
echo Process completed successfully.

Combined with ECHO

Used with ECHO, COLOR can highlight specific messages:

COLOR C
echo IMPORTANT: System will restart in 5 minutes!

• MODE: Adjusts properties of the console, including display settings.
• TITLE: Sets the Command Prompt window title which can be visually informative along with color coding.

For more commands related to CMD customization, see Microsoft’s official CMD documentation.

This guide covers how to use the COLOR command to customize the appearance of your CMD session dynamically and visually communicates the condition or status within scripts or during routine CMD interactions.

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• SS64
• CMD
• How-to

1. Batch Script or File

2. Change the Text Color of CMD Using Batch Script

3. Change the Text Color of CMD Every 1 Second

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This article will first discuss the basic concept of a Batch script or Batch file. After introducing the Batch script, we will discuss the method for changing the text color of CMD every second using the Batch script.

Batch Script or File

A Batch script is a file containing different commands executed in a sequence. A Batch file or script stores different commands executed using the command line interpreter.

For example, the following is a Batch file hello.bat:

@ECHO OFF
ECHO Hello World

The above Batch script contains two lines.

The first command, @ECHO OFF, is used to hide all the commands, which are executed, from displaying on the command prompt itself. The ECHO Hello World command displays Hello World.

The output of the above batch script is as follows:

We can execute the .bat file on the command line by typing the file name followed by the Enter key, as shown in the above figure. We can also run the batch file by double-clicking the file.

Batch File Extensions

A Batch script can be written in any typing or text editor with different file extensions, including .bat, .cmd, and .btm.

• The .bat file extension is used for Batch scripts in DOS or Windows operating systems.
• The .cmd file extension is used for Windows NT or OS/2.
• The btm file extension is used in 4DOS or 4NT.

Change the Text Color of CMD Using Batch Script

In the Batch script, we can use a different color for text on cmd. The color command can be used to change the text color.

For example, color [number] is a color command followed by the color number in hexadecimal. This hexadecimal number is like an alias to a specific color.

Consider the following script:

@echo off
color 06
echo Hello World

Output:

The above script contains a color 06 command, the hexadecimal number used as a code for the yellow color. Therefore, the said color command changes the text color of the command-line interface to yellow.

Following is the list of different available colors with their codes:

Change the Text Color of CMD Every 1 Second

We can use the color and timeout commands to change the text color of the cmd every unit of time. Consider the following script:

@echo off
set colors=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
for %%n in (%colors%) do (
	echo Hello World
    color %%n
    timeout 1 > null
)

The above script contains an array named colors initialized with a sequence of codes for different colors, followed by a for loop which iterates on the colors array and selects a color code in a variable n. In the body of the for loop, the script displays the Hello World on screen and sleeps for 1 second using the timeout command.

The color command changes the text color in each iteration of the loop with different colors available in the colors array.

The above script will change the text color of the output after each for iteration. The outputs for some iterations of the loop are as follows:

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