Print Coloured Text to Console in C++

Question

I would like to write a Console class that can output coloured text to the console.

So I can do something like (basically a wrapper for printf):

Console::Print( "This is a non-coloured message\n" );
Console::Warning( "This is a YELLOW warning message\n" );
Console::Error( "This is a RED error message\n" );

How would I print different coloured text to the Windows Console?

Answer 1

use these functions

enum c_color{BLACK=30,RED=31,GREEN=32,YELLOW=33,BLUE=34,MAGENTA=35,CYAN=36,WHITE=37};
enum c_decoration{NORMAL=0,BOLD=1,FAINT=2,ITALIC=3,UNDERLINE=4,RIVERCED=26,FRAMED=51};
void pr(const string str,c_color color,c_decoration decoration=c_decoration::NORMAL){
  cout<<"\033["<<decoration<<";"<<color<<"m"<<str<<"\033[0m";
}

void prl(const string str,c_color color,c_decoration decoration=c_decoration::NORMAL){
   cout<<"\033["<<decoration<<";"<<color<<"m"<<str<<"\033[0m"<<endl;
}

Answer 2

#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream.h>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    HANDLE hOut;

    hOut = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);

    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut,
                            BACKGROUND_RED);
    cout << "Red     " << flush;
    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut,
                            BACKGROUND_RED |
                            BACKGROUND_INTENSITY);
    cout << "Red     " << endl;

    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut,
                            BACKGROUND_GREEN);
    cout << "Green   " << flush;
    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut,
                            BACKGROUND_GREEN |
                            BACKGROUND_INTENSITY);
    cout << "Green   " << endl;

    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut,
                            BACKGROUND_BLUE);
    cout << "Blue    " << flush;
    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut,
                            BACKGROUND_BLUE |
                            BACKGROUND_INTENSITY);
    cout << "Blue    " << endl;

    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut,
                            BACKGROUND_RED | 
                            BACKGROUND_GREEN);
    cout << "Yellow  " << flush;
    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut,
                            BACKGROUND_RED | 
                            BACKGROUND_GREEN |
                            BACKGROUND_INTENSITY);
    cout << "Yellow  " << endl;

    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut,
                            BACKGROUND_GREEN | 
                            BACKGROUND_BLUE);
    cout << "Cyan    " << flush;
    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut,
                            BACKGROUND_GREEN | 
                            BACKGROUND_BLUE |
                            BACKGROUND_INTENSITY);
    cout << "Cyan    " << endl;

    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut,
                            BACKGROUND_BLUE | 
                            BACKGROUND_RED);
    cout << "Magenta " << flush;
    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut,
                            BACKGROUND_BLUE | 
                            BACKGROUND_RED |
                            BACKGROUND_INTENSITY);
    cout << "Magenta " << endl;

    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut,
                            BACKGROUND_RED | 
                            BACKGROUND_GREEN | 
                            BACKGROUND_BLUE);
    cout << "White   " << flush;
    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut,
                            BACKGROUND_RED | 
                            BACKGROUND_GREEN | 
                            BACKGROUND_BLUE |
                            BACKGROUND_INTENSITY);
    cout << "White   " << endl;

    return 0;
}

Answer 3

Check out this guide. I would make a custom manipulator so I could do something like:

std::cout << "standard text" << setcolour(red) << "red text" << std::endl;

Here's a small guide on how to implement your own manipulator.

A quick code example:

#include <iostream>
#include <windows.h>
#include <iomanip>

using namespace std;

enum colour { DARKBLUE = 1, DARKGREEN, DARKTEAL, DARKRED, DARKPINK, DARKYELLOW, GRAY, DARKGRAY, BLUE, GREEN, TEAL, RED, PINK, YELLOW, WHITE };

struct setcolour
{
   colour _c;
   HANDLE _console_handle;


       setcolour(colour c, HANDLE console_handle)
           : _c(c), _console_handle(0)
       { 
           _console_handle = console_handle;
       }
};

// We could use a template here, making it more generic. Wide streams won't
// work with this version.
basic_ostream<char> &operator<<(basic_ostream<char> &s, const setcolour &ref)
{
    SetConsoleTextAttribute(ref._console_handle, ref._c);
    return s;
}

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    HANDLE chandle = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
    cout << "standard text" << setcolour(RED, chandle) << " red text" << endl;

    cin.get();
}

Answer 4

I did a search for "c++ console write colored text" and came up with this page at about 4 or 5. As the site has a copy & paste section I thought I'd post it here (another question on link rot also prompted this):

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

enum Color { DBLUE=1,GREEN,GREY,DRED,DPURP,BROWN,LGREY,DGREY,BLUE,LIMEG,TEAL,
    RED,PURPLE,YELLOW,WHITE,B_B };
/* These are the first 16 colors anyways. You test the other hundreds yourself.
   After 15 they are all combos of different color text/backgrounds. */

bool quit;

void col(unsigned short color)
{
    HANDLE hcon = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hcon,color);
}

istream &operator>> ( istream &in, Color &c )
{
    int tint;
    cin >> tint;
    if (tint==-1) quit=true;
    c=(Color)tint;
}

int main()
{
    do {
        col(7); // Defaults color for each round.
        cout << "Enter a color code, or -1 to quit... ";
        Color y;
        cin >> y; // Notice that >> is defined above for Color types.
        col(y); // Sets output color to y.
        if (!quit) cout << "Color: " << (int)y << endl;
    } while (!quit);
    return 0;
}

For C# there's this page