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I have the following piece of code.

bold='' reset=$(echo -en '\033[0m') black=$(echo -en '\e[1;30m') magenta=$(echo -en '\033[00;35m') blue=$(echo -en '\e[1;34m') cyan=$(echo -en '\e[1;36m') green=$(echo -en '\e[1;32m') orange=$(echo -en '\e[1;33m') purple=$(echo -en '\e[1;35m') red=$(echo -en '\e[1;31m') white=$(echo -en '\e[1;37m') yellow=$(echo -en '\e[1;33m') lime_yellow=$(echo -en '\e[1;33m') power_blue=$(echo -en '\e[1;34m') blink=$(echo -en '\e[1;31m') reverse=$(echo -en '\e[1;31m') underline=$(echo -en '\e[1;31m') if [ -x /usr/bin/tput ] && tput setaf 1 &>/dev/null; then echo "tput color is supported." tput sgr0 # Reset colors bold=$(tput bold) reset=$(tput sgr0) black=$(tput setaf 0) magenta=$(tput setaf 5) blue=$(tput setaf 33) cyan=$(tput setaf 37) green=$(tput setaf 64) orange=$(tput setaf 166) purple=$(tput setaf 125) red=$(tput setaf 124) white=$(tput setaf 15) yellow=$(tput setaf 136) lime_yellow=$(tput setaf 190) power_blue=$(tput setaf 153) blink=$(tput blink) reverse=$(tput smso) underline=$(tput smul) else echo "tput color is not supported. Use old school colors." fi echo ${red}RED${green}GREEN${yellow}YELLOW${blue}BLUE${purple}PURPLE${cyan}CYAN${white}WHITE${reset}

Basically there are two types of colors, tput generated or the old-fashioned escape characters like \e[1;32m. Since the tput type is more interesting, for example, it supports blinking and underline, the code uses tput type color if possible. Here is an image to prove it works as expected in Oracle Linux 7.6 (kinda like RedHat or CentOS) GUI environment.

enter image description here

When I run it from other terminals, it doesn't work. For example, below is the snapshot when running in MobaXterm.

enter image description here

I also tried putty and it doesn't work either. Is there anything wrong with my code?

Update

I executed echo $TERM in each of the terminals and below is the result.

 Oracle Linux with Desktop environment (color works) Output: xterm-256color MobaXterm on Windows (color doesn't work) Output: xterm putty on Windows (color doesn't work) Output: xterm
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4
  • What matters is the terminal (and maybe some other things), not the kernel or distribution. Can you add to the question, which terminal you are using each time. Commented Jan 8, 2020 at 11:09
  • What is the value of $TERM in the non-working cases? Commented Jan 8, 2020 at 11:29
  • I updated and added related terminal information and the output of $TERM. Commented Jan 8, 2020 at 11:42
  • 2
    The escape sequences are not "old school" compared to tput. This is a misconception. Indeed, tput for many terminal types retrieves similar escape sequences. Commented Jan 8, 2020 at 12:58

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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You must configure your terminal type as putty, putty-256color, or putty-sco when using PuTTY, or things based upon it such as MobaXTerm. They are the only terminal types whose entries in the terminfo database correctly describe PuTTY.

It is a widespread incorrect assumption that terminal emulators are all compatible with XTerm, and that the xterm and xterm-256color entries in the terminfo database correctly describe them.

This erroneous thinking is called out in Thomas Dickey's XTerm FAQ and it is worth observing that the xterm and xterm-256color entries do not even describe all versions of XTerm, let alone other terminal emulators.

The putty entry in the terminfo database describes a terminal that is only capable of 8 ECMA-48 colours. As, indeed, does the xterm entry. But merely switching from xterm to xterm-256colour is wrong. PuTTY differs from XTerm.

In fact, PuTTY is quite capable of indexed colour (256 colours from a palette) using ISO/IEC 8613 control sequences. Indeed, since 2017 it is quite capable of direct colour (24-bit RGB colour) using ISO/IEC 8613 control sequences. The putty-256colour entry describes the former. terminfo does not have a way to fully describe the latter.

Use the correct terminal type, and tput will look up the correct control sequences.

Further reading

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2

These codes should work :

 magenta=$(tput setaf 5) blue=$(tput setaf 4) cyan=$(tput setaf 6) green="$(tput setaf 2)" purple=$(tput setaf 5) red=$(tput setaf 1) white=$(tput setaf 7) yellow=$(tput setaf 3)
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  • Thank you! I also found this just now. It's the terminal's capability doesn't support the colors besides these 8. Commented Jan 8, 2020 at 12:08
  • gray color is missing Commented Sep 2, 2020 at 20:05
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It's the terminal's capability that doesn't support the colors besides the 8 basic ones. I found this piece of code to test all available color (source: tput setaf color table? How to determine color codes?):

# Connector fifos directory read TMPDIR < <(mktemp -d /dev/shm/bc_shell_XXXXXXX) fd=3 # find next free fd nextFd() { while [ -e /dev/fd/$fd ];do ((fd++)) ;done;printf -v $1 %d $fd;} tputConnector() { mkfifo $TMPDIR/tput nextFd TPUTIN eval "exec $TPUTIN> >(LANG=C exec stdbuf -o0 tput -S - >$TMPDIR/tput 2>&1)" nextFd TPUTOUT eval "exec $TPUTOUT<$TMPDIR/tput" } myTput() { echo -e "$1\ncr" 1>&$TPUTIN && IFS= read -r -d $'\r' -u $TPUTOUT $2 } tputConnector myTput op op myTput "setaf 7" grey myTput "setaf 16" black fore=("$black" "$grey") for ((i=0; i<256; i++)) ;do myTput "setab $i" bgr printf " %s%s %3d %s" "$bgr" "${fore[ i>231 && i<244||(i<17)&& (i%8<2)|| (i>16&&i<232)&&((i-16)%6*11+(i-16)/6%6*14+(i-16)/36*10)<58 ? 1 : 0 ]}" $i "$op" (( ((i<16||i>231) && ((i+1)%8==0)) || ((i>16&&i<232)&& ((i-15)%6==0)) )) && printf "\n" '' done

Below is the output from all three terminal I've tested.

  • Oracle Linux with Desktop environment enter image description here

  • MobaXterm on Windows enter image description here

  • putty on Windows enter image description here

So it's the terminal doesn't support the colors besides the 8 basic ones. To be safe and portable, use just these 8 colors.

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3
  • That's great! Would you mind adding a link to where you found that piece of code? It might have other interesting code examples ... Commented Jan 8, 2020 at 12:26
  • @AdminBee Added. Commented Jan 8, 2020 at 12:30
  • 1
    Ok, I see! That site definitely has other interesting code examples ;) Commented Jan 8, 2020 at 12:31

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