cli-color

What is cli-color?

The cli-color npm package is a library for adding color and formatting to text in Node.js command line applications. It provides a simple API to style strings that appear in the terminal, making it easier to produce visually distinct and organized output.

What are cli-color's main functionalities?

Text coloring

This feature allows you to change the color of the text output in the terminal. The example shows how to make text appear in red.

const clc = require('cli-color');
console.log(clc.red('This text is red'));

Text formatting

This feature enables text formatting such as making text bold, underlined, etc. The example demonstrates how to make text bold.

const clc = require('cli-color');
console.log(clc.bold('This text is bold'));

Background coloring

This feature allows you to set the background color of the text. The example shows white text on a blue background.

const clc = require('cli-color');
console.log(clc.bgBlue.white('White text on blue background'));

Other packages similar to cli-color

chalk

Chalk is a popular npm package similar to cli-color with a chainable API that allows for easier and more readable syntax. Chalk supports modern terminal features and has a broader color palette compared to cli-color.

colors

Colors is another npm package that adds colors to Node.js console output. It extends String.prototype to add color methods directly to strings, which can be less modular and potentially messier than cli-color's functional approach.

README

cli-color

Yet another colors and formatting for the console solution

Colors, formatting and other goodies for the console. This package won't mess with built-ins and provides neat way to predefine formatting patterns, see below.

Installation

$ npm install cli-color

Usage

Usage:

var clc = require("cli-color");

Output colored text:

console.log(clc.red("Text in red"));

Styles can be mixed:

console.log(clc.red.bgWhite.underline("Underlined red text on white background."));

Styled text can be mixed with unstyled:

console.log(clc.red("red") + " plain " + clc.blue("blue"));

Styled text can be nested:

console.log(clc.red("red " + clc.blue("blue") + " red"));

Best way is to predefine needed stylings and then use it:

var error = clc.red.bold;
var warn = clc.yellow;
var notice = clc.blue;

console.log(error("Error!"));
console.log(warn("Warning"));
console.log(notice("Notice"));

Note: No colors or styles are output when NO_COLOR env var is set

Supported are all ANSI colors and styles:

Styles

Styles will display correctly if font used in your console supports them.

• bold
• italic
• underline
• blink
• inverse
• strike

Colors

Foreground	Background
black	bgBlack
red	bgRed
green	bgGreen
yellow	bgYellow
blue	bgBlue
magenta	bgMagenta
cyan	bgCyan
white	bgWhite

Bright variants

Foreground	Background
blackBright	bgBlackBright
redBright	bgRedBright
greenBright	bgGreenBright
yellowBright	bgYellowBright
blueBright	bgBlueBright
magentaBright	bgMagentaBright
cyanBright	bgCyanBright
whiteBright	bgWhiteBright

xTerm colors (256 colors table)

Not supported on Windows and some terminals. However if used in not supported environment, the closest color from basic (16 colors) palette is chosen.

Usage:

var msg = clc.xterm(202).bgXterm(236);
console.log(msg("Orange text on dark gray background"));

Color table:

Reset

Terminal can be cleared with clc.reset

process.stdout.write(clc.reset);

Erase

clc.erase.screen

Entire screen

process.stdout.write(clc.erase.screen);

clc.erase.screenLeft

Left portion of a screen

process.stdout.write(clc.erase.screenLeft);

clc.erase.screenRight

Right portion of a screen

process.stdout.write(clc.erase.screenRight);

clc.erase.line

Current line

process.stdout.write(clc.erase.line);

clc.erase.lineRight

Right portion of current line

process.stdout.write(clc.erase.lineRight);

clc.erase.lineLeft

Left portion of current line

process.stdout.write(clc.erase.lineLeft);

Move around functions

clc.move(x, y)

Move cursor x columns and y rows away. Values can be positive or negative, e.g.:

process.stdout.write(clc.move(-2, -2)); // Move cursors two columns and two rows back

clc.move.to(x, y)

Absolute move. Sets cursor position at x column and y row

process.stdout.write(clc.move.to(0, 0)); // Move cursor to first row and first column in terminal window

clc.move.up(n)

Move cursor up n rows

process.stdout.write(clc.move.up(2));

clc.move.down(n)

Move cursor down n rows

process.stdout.write(clc.move.down(2));

clc.move.right(n)

Move cursor right n columns

process.stdout.write(clc.move.right(2));

clc.move.left(n)

Move cursor left n columns

process.stdout.write(clc.move.left(2));

clc.move.lines(n)

Move cursor n lines forward if n is positive, otherwise n lines backward, and place it at line beginning

process.stdout.write(clc.move.lines(2));

clc.move.top

Move cursor to top of a screen

process.stdout.write(clc.move.top);

clc.move.bottom

Move cursor to bottom of a screen

process.stdout.write(clc.move.bottom);

clc.move.lineBegin

Move cursor to begin of a line

process.stdout.write(clc.move.lineBegin);

clc.move.lineEnd

Move cursor to end of a line

process.stdout.write(clc.move.lineEnd);

Terminal characteristics

clc.windowSize.width

Returns terminal width

clc.windowSize.height

Returns terminal height

Additional functionalities

clc.slice(str[, begin[, end]])

Slice provided string with preservation of eventual ANSI formatting

var clc = require("cli-color");

var str = clc.bold("foo") + "bar" + clc.red("elo");
var sliced = clc.slice(str, 1, 7); // Same as: clc.bold('oo') + 'bar' + clc.red('e')

clc.strip(formatedText)

Strips ANSI formatted string to plain text

var ansiStrip = require("cli-color/strip");

var plain = ansiStrip(formatted);

clc.getStrippedLength(str)

Get actual length of ANSI-formatted string

var clc = require("cli-color");

var str = clc.bold("foo") + "bar" + clc.red("elo");
clc.getStrippedLength(str); // 9

clc.art(text, styleConf)

Create a text-graphical art. Within styleConf, string replacements needs to be defined, which are then used to convert text to styled graphical text.

var text = ".........\n" + ". Hello .\n" + ".........\n";
var style = { ".": clc.yellowBright("X") };

process.stdout.write(clc.art(text, style));

clc.columns(data[, options])

Outputs aligned table of columns.

data is expected to be an array (or other iterable structure) of rows, where each row is also an array (or other iterable structure) of content to display.

Supported options:

• sep: Custom colums separator (defaults to |)
• columns: Per column customizations, as e.g. [{ align: 'right' }, null, { align: 'left' }]:
  • align: Possible options: 'left', 'right (efaults to 'left')

var clc = require("cli-color");

process.stdout.write(
  clc.columns([
    [clc.bold("First Name"), clc.bold("Last Name"), clc.bold("Age")],
    ["John", "Doe", 34],
    ["Martha", "Smith", 20],
    ["Jan", "Kowalski", 30]
  ])
);

/* Outputs:

First Name | Last Name | Age
John       | Doe       | 34
Martha     | Smith     | 20
Jan        | Kowalski  | 30
*/

throbber(write, interval[, format])

Writes throbber string to write function at given interval. Optionally throbber output can be formatted with given format function

var setupThrobber = require("cli-color/throbber");

var throbber = setupThrobber(function (str) { process.stdout.write(str); }, 200);

throbber.start();

// at any time you can stop/start throbber
throbber.stop();

Tests

$ npm test

Security contact information

To report a security vulnerability, please use the Tidelift security contact. Tidelift will coordinate the fix and disclosure.

Contributors

• @rentalhost (David Rodrigues)
  • Help with support for nested styles. Introduction of clc.art module, and significant improvements to tests coverage
• @StreetStrider
  • Implementation of sophistcated clc.slice functionality, and introduction of clc.getStrippedLength utility

Get professional support for cli-color with a Tidelift subscription
_{Tidelift helps make open source sustainable for maintainers while giving companies
assurances about security, maintenance, and licensing for their dependencies.}

Changelog

2.0.4 (2024-02-29)

Maintenance Improvements