How to change background color of text in Linux Shell

Author : Piyush Gupta

Information as found on this page, excluding preview column:

Sequences are composed of the Escape character (often represented by ”^[” or ”<Esc>”) followed by some other characters: ”^[FCm” (where FC is one of the numbers in the bulleted list below).

In bash, the Esc code can be either of the following:

1. \e
2. \033 (octal)
3. \x1B (hexadecimal)

Note 1: The "\e[0m" sequence removes all attributes (formatting and colors). It can be a good idea to add it at the end of each colored text.

Note 2: Foreground and background colours may vary, depending on the terminal's configuration and not all colours are supported.

Set/Reset

• 0: Reset/remove all modifier, foreground and background attributes: echo -e "\e[0mNormal Text"
• 1: Bold/Bright: echo -e "Normal \e[1mBold"
• 2: Dim: echo -e "Normal \e[2mDim"
• 4: Underlined: echo -e "Normal \e[4mUnderlined"
• 5: Blink (doesn't work in most terminals except XTerm): echo -e "Normal \e[5mBlink"
• 7: Reverse/Invert: echo -e "Normal \e[7minverted"
• 8: Hidden (useful for sensitive info): echo -e "Normal \e[8mHidden Input"
• 21: Reset/Remove bold/bright: echo -e "Normal \e[1mBold \e[21mNormal"
• 22: Reset/Remove dim: echo -e "Normal \e[2mDim \e[22mNormal"
• 24: Reset/Remove underline: echo -e "Normal \e[4mUnderlined \e[24mNormal"
• 25: Reset/Remove blink: echo -e "Normal \e[5mBlink \e[25mNormal"
• 27: Reset/Remove reverse/invert: echo -e "Normal \e[7minverted \e[27mNormal"
• 28: Reset/Remove hidden: echo -e "Normal \e[8mHidden \e[28mNormal"

Foreground

• 39: Default (usually green, white or light gray): echo -e "Default \e[39mDefault"
• 30: Black: echo -e "Default \e[30mBlack" (best combined with a background colour: echo -e "Default \e[30;107mBlack on white")
• 31: Red (don't use with green background)
• 32: Green
• 33: Yellow
• 34: Blue
• 35: Magenta/Purple
• 36: Cyan
• 37: Light Gray
• 90: Dark Gray
• 91: Light Red
• 92: Light Green
• 93: Light Yellow
• 94: Light Blue
• 95: Light Magenta/Pink
• 96: Light Cyan
• 97: White

Background

• 49: Default background color (usually black or blue)
• 40: Black
• 41: Red
• 42: Green
• 43: Yellow
• 44: Blue
• 45: Magenta/Purple
• 46: Cyan
• 47: Light Gray (don't use with white foreground)
• 100: Dark Gray (don't use with black foreground)
• 101: Light Red
• 102: Light Green (don't use with white foreground)
• 103: Light Yellow (don't use with white foreground)
• 104: Light Blue (don't use with light yellow foreground)
• 105: Light Magenta/Pink (don't use with light foreground)
• 106: Light Cyan (don't use with white foreground)
• 107: White (don't use with light foreground)

To set both the foreground and background colours at once, use ther form echo -e "\e[S;FG;BGm". For example: echo -e "\e[1;97;41m" (bold white foreground on red background)

For 256 colour options, see the source page.