Using colors with printf

linux bash colors printf
Jernej Jerin picture Jernej Jerin · Mar 24, 2011 · Viewed 127.8k times · Source

When written like this, it outputs text in blue:

printf "\e[1;34mThis is a blue text.\e[0m"

But I want to have format defined in printf:

printf '%-6s' "This is text"

Now I have tried several options how to add color, with no success:

printf '%-6s' "\e[1;34mThis is text\e[0m"

I even tried to add attribute code to format with no success. This does not work and I can't find anywhere an example, where colors are added to printf, which has defined format as in my case.

Answer

SiegeX picture SiegeX · Mar 24, 2011

Rather than using archaic terminal codes, may I suggest the following alternative. Not only does it provide more readable code, but it also allows you to keep the color information separate from the format specifiers just as you originally intended.

blue=$(tput setaf 4)
normal=$(tput sgr0)

printf "%40s\n" "${blue}This text is blue${normal}"

See my answer HERE for additional colors

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