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I'm writing a program that needs to write text in different colors. I have the escape code RED "\e[31m". However, if I make red on a red background, that won't work. So I also want to change the background color. I've tried using this "\e[31m\e[94m" or even \e[4Xm to do text on a different background, however, this isn't working. Any ideas to get red text on a white background?

This is in the format std::cout << "COLORNAME" ....

Thanks!

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    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code Commented Aug 1, 2014 at 21:51
  • I get that the 30+i and 40+i are different, but I can't chain them together when doing a print? Commented Aug 1, 2014 at 21:57

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Multiple SGR options can be chained together, and in fact more compactly than you've been trying. The SGR syntax takes the general form of:

\e[ options m

where options can consist of one* or more numbers separated by semicolons, which can include a number of things, but especially:

  • 1: bold
  • 30 – 37: set foreground color 0 – 7 (black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white)
  • 40 – 47: set background color 0 – 7 (ditto)
  • 90 – 97: set foreground color 8 – 15 (bright versions of 0 – 7; "bright black" is a dark gray)
  • 100 – 107: set background color 8 – 15 (ditto)

In your case, red text on a white background would be \e[31;47m.

(*: Or no numbers at all, in which case it resets all graphical options.)

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