Custom text color in C# console application?
The list found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.console.backgroundcolor.aspx
I believe are the only supported colors in console. No hex allowed.
Black
DarkBlue
DarkGreen
DarkCyan
DarkRed
DarkMagenta
DarkYellow
Gray
DarkGray
Blue
Green
Cyan
Red
Magenta
Yellow
White
EDIT
Get the working project files off my public Repo
https://bitbucket.org/benskolnick/color-console/
But on further investigation you can do a lot of work to combine red and yellow to get orange. Follow the example here. Not going to re-post wall of code.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319883
That Doesn't give you access to more colors but does lead in the correct direction. You will need to do some PINVOKE work but I was easily able to get orange, or any other RGB color into console.
http://pinvoke.net/default.aspx/kernel32.SetConsoleScreenBufferInfoEx
// Copyright Alex Shvedov
// Modified by MercuryP with color specifications
// Use this code in any way you want
using System;
using System.Diagnostics; // for Debug
using System.Drawing; // for Color (add reference to System.Drawing.assembly)
using System.Runtime.InteropServices; // for StructLayout
class SetScreenColorsApp
{
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
internal struct COORD
{
internal short X;
internal short Y;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
internal struct SMALL_RECT
{
internal short Left;
internal short Top;
internal short Right;
internal short Bottom;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
internal struct COLORREF
{
internal uint ColorDWORD;
internal COLORREF(Color color)
{
ColorDWORD = (uint) color.R + (((uint) color.G) << 8) + (((uint) color.B) << 16);
}
internal COLORREF(uint r, uint g, uint b)
{
ColorDWORD = r + (g << 8) + (b << 16);
}
internal Color GetColor()
{
return Color.FromArgb((int) (0x000000FFU & ColorDWORD),
(int) (0x0000FF00U & ColorDWORD) >> 8, (int) (0x00FF0000U & ColorDWORD) >> 16);
}
internal void SetColor(Color color)
{
ColorDWORD = (uint) color.R + (((uint) color.G) << 8) + (((uint) color.B) << 16);
}
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
internal struct CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO_EX
{
internal int cbSize;
internal COORD dwSize;
internal COORD dwCursorPosition;
internal ushort wAttributes;
internal SMALL_RECT srWindow;
internal COORD dwMaximumWindowSize;
internal ushort wPopupAttributes;
internal bool bFullscreenSupported;
internal COLORREF black;
internal COLORREF darkBlue;
internal COLORREF darkGreen;
internal COLORREF darkCyan;
internal COLORREF darkRed;
internal COLORREF darkMagenta;
internal COLORREF darkYellow;
internal COLORREF gray;
internal COLORREF darkGray;
internal COLORREF blue;
internal COLORREF green;
internal COLORREF cyan;
internal COLORREF red;
internal COLORREF magenta;
internal COLORREF yellow;
internal COLORREF white;
}
const int STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE = -11; // per WinBase.h
internal static readonly IntPtr INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE = new IntPtr(-1); // per WinBase.h
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
private static extern IntPtr GetStdHandle(int nStdHandle);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
private static extern bool GetConsoleScreenBufferInfoEx(IntPtr hConsoleOutput, ref CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO_EX csbe);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
private static extern bool SetConsoleScreenBufferInfoEx(IntPtr hConsoleOutput, ref CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO_EX csbe);
// Set a specific console color to an RGB color
// The default console colors used are gray (foreground) and black (background)
public static int SetColor(ConsoleColor consoleColor, Color targetColor)
{
return SetColor(consoleColor, targetColor.R, targetColor.G, targetColor.B);
}
public static int SetColor(ConsoleColor color, uint r, uint g, uint b)
{
CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO_EX csbe = new CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO_EX();
csbe.cbSize = (int)Marshal.SizeOf(csbe); // 96 = 0x60
IntPtr hConsoleOutput = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE); // 7
if (hConsoleOutput == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
{
return Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();
}
bool brc = GetConsoleScreenBufferInfoEx(hConsoleOutput, ref csbe);
if (!brc)
{
return Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();
}
switch (color)
{
case ConsoleColor.Black:
csbe.black = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
case ConsoleColor.DarkBlue:
csbe.darkBlue = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
case ConsoleColor.DarkGreen:
csbe.darkGreen = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
case ConsoleColor.DarkCyan:
csbe.darkCyan = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
case ConsoleColor.DarkRed:
csbe.darkRed = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
case ConsoleColor.DarkMagenta:
csbe.darkMagenta = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
case ConsoleColor.DarkYellow:
csbe.darkYellow = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
case ConsoleColor.Gray:
csbe.gray = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
case ConsoleColor.DarkGray:
csbe.darkGray = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
case ConsoleColor.Blue:
csbe.blue = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
case ConsoleColor.Green:
csbe.green = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
case ConsoleColor.Cyan:
csbe.cyan = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
case ConsoleColor.Red:
csbe.red = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
case ConsoleColor.Magenta:
csbe.magenta = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
case ConsoleColor.Yellow:
csbe.yellow = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
case ConsoleColor.White:
csbe.white = new COLORREF(r, g, b);
break;
}
++csbe.srWindow.Bottom;
++csbe.srWindow.Right;
brc = SetConsoleScreenBufferInfoEx(hConsoleOutput, ref csbe);
if (!brc)
{
return Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();
}
return 0;
}
public static int SetScreenColors(Color foregroundColor, Color backgroundColor)
{
int irc;
irc = SetColor(ConsoleColor.Gray, foregroundColor);
if (irc != 0) return irc;
irc = SetColor(ConsoleColor.Black, backgroundColor);
if (irc != 0) return irc;
return 0;
}
}
And then if you want to use Orange or any other color you can do a simple call to SetScreenColor
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Color screenTextColor = Color.Orange;
Color screenBackgroundColor = Color.Black;
int irc = SetScreenColorsApp.SetScreenColors(screenTextColor, screenBackgroundColor);
Debug.Assert(irc == 0, "SetScreenColors failed, Win32Error code = " + irc + " = 0x" + irc.ToString("x"));
Debug.WriteLine("LargestWindowHeight=" + Console.LargestWindowHeight + " LargestWindowWidth=" + Console.LargestWindowWidth);
Debug.WriteLine("BufferHeight=" + Console.BufferHeight + " WindowHeight=" + Console.WindowHeight + " BufferWidth=" + Console.BufferWidth + " WindowWidth=" + Console.WindowWidth);
//// these are relative to the buffer, not the screen:
//Debug.WriteLine("WindowTop=" + Console.WindowTop + " WindowLeft=" + Console.WindowLeft);
Debug.WriteLine("ForegroundColor=" + Console.ForegroundColor + " BackgroundColor=" + Console.BackgroundColor);
Console.WriteLine("Some text in a console window");
Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Cyan;
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Yellow;
Debug.WriteLine("ForegroundColor=" + Console.ForegroundColor + " BackgroundColor=" + Console.BackgroundColor);
Console.Write("Press ENTER to exit...");
Console.ReadLine();
// Note: If you use SetScreenColors, the RGB values of gray and black are changed permanently for the console window.
// Using i.e. Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Gray afterwards will switch the color to whatever you changed gray to
// It's best to use SetColor for the purpose of choosing the 16 colors you want the console to be able to display, then use
// Console.BackgroundColor and Console.ForegrondColor to choose among them.
}
Is it possible to write to the console in colour in .NET?
Yes. See this article. Here's an example from there:
Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Blue;
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
Console.WriteLine("White on blue.");
Console Application - changing specific text color inside a string array
As Hans suggested, you will have to change Foreground color property around 6 times (as per your final output). The best you can do is put that logic in a loop.
Here's one way:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string[] answerHolder = { "", "", "" }; //MY originaly code has 13, but I am doing 3 to write it out faster
string[] prompt = { "noun", "verb", "adjective" };
Console.WriteLine("Help me finish the story:");
Console.WriteLine("A <noun> likes to eat a lot. It likes to <verb> in the <adjective> looking water. ");
//then it will ask the user to enter a noun, verb, and adjective
for (int i = 0; i < answerHolder.Length; i++)
{
Console.Write("Please enter a/an " + prompt[i] + ": ");
answerHolder[i] = Console.ReadLine();
}
//Console.WriteLine("A {0} likes to eat a lot. It likes to {1} in the {2} looking water.", answerHolder[0], answerHolder[1], answerHolder[2]);
WriteFormattedLine("A {0} likes to eat a lot. It likes to {1} in the {2} looking water.", answerHolder);
Console.ReadLine();
}
private static void WriteFormattedLine(string format, params string[] answers)
{
int formatLength = format.Length;
int currIndex = 0;
bool readingNumber = false;
string numberRead = string.Empty;
while (currIndex < formatLength)
{
var ch = format[currIndex];
switch (ch)
{
case '{':
Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Magenta;
readingNumber = true;
numberRead = string.Empty;
break;
case '}':
var number = int.Parse(numberRead);
var answer = answers[number];
Console.Write(answer);
Console.ResetColor();
readingNumber = false;
break;
default:
if (readingNumber)
numberRead += ch;
else
Console.Write(ch);
break;
}
currIndex++;
}
}
Note that this is very basic code. It blows up if the format is not as it expects. And you will have to put additional code if you want to print braces in your final output.
How to color words in different colours in a Console.WriteLine in a console application?
If you wanna make different color to each text on console you should write Console.BackgrundColor and Console.ForeGroundColor before each input and output in consolse. For example:
Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Yellow;
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Red;
Console.WriteLine("Enter your name:");
string name = Console.ReadLine();
Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Green;
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Yellow;
Console.WriteLine("Hello, " + name);
Console.ReadKey();
C# Console Application - One line, each word different color?
As Andy has indicated:
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Green;
Console.Write("Hello");
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Red;
Console.Write("World");
Critically, don't WriteLine and you won't end up with whole lines per color.. And don't forget Console.ResetColor() when you want to return to normal
Customize color in C# console application
I'm afraid not, because Windows console (a.k.a. The Command Prompt) supports 16 colors only.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.console.backgroundcolor?redirectedfrom=MSDN&view=netframework-4.7.2#System_Console_BackgroundColor
Change Console text Color in C# after writing
You can change the console output color using Console.BackgroundColor and Console.ForegroundColor properties. After you are done writing in the new color, use Console.ResetColor() to go back to defaults.
Changing the colors after the fact is a problem, because C# has no direct way to read text at a given position.You can rewrite it however, if you know what exactly is there, in a different color (first jumping to the location using Console.SetCursorPosition method and then writing over the original text).
If you want to be as efficient as possible, you will need a higher caliber in form of some P/Invoke wizadry. This is quite well described in the accepted answer to this similar question. The solution there takes advantage of writing the entire Console buffer at once, which is very fast.
c# Console.WriteLine() with color text is massing the output
The problem is that the carriage return and new line draws the background color for these lines. Simply use Console.Write() instead of Console.WriteLine():
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Yellow;
Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Red;
// only write without new line
Console.Write($"The selected row {selection} is not found in the database.");
Console.ResetColor();
Console.WriteLine(); // if necessary
Console.ReadLine();
Environment.Exit(0);
How Can I change the background color of a text on a Console Application C#
This will help
for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine();
string Text = "MAP" + i;
Console.SetCursorPosition((Console.WindowWidth - Text.Length) / 2, Console.CursorTop);
if (i == 0)
{
Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Black;
Console.WriteLine(Text);
Console.ResetColor();
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine(Text);
}
}
See 
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