Python's built-in print function can output text with custom colors and styles using ANSI escape codes. The general format is \[display_style];[foreground_color];[background_color]m followed by the text, and then \[0m to reset the formatting.

Display Styles:

• 0: Default
• 1: Bold
• 4: Underline
• 5: Blink
• 7: Reverse video

Example for display styles:

print("\033[0mDefault text\033[0m")
print("\033[1mBold text\033[0m")
print("\033[4mUnderlined text\033[0m")
print("\033[5mBlinking text\033[0m")
print("\033[7mReversed text\033[0m")

Color Codes:

• Foreground: 30 (Black), 31 (Red), 32 (Green), 33 (Yellow), 34 (Blue), 35 (Magenta), 36 (Cyan), 37 (White)
• Background: 40 (Black), 41 (Red), 42 (Green), 43 (Yellow), 44 (Blue), 45 (Magenta), 46 (Cyan), 47 (White)

These can be combined with display styles.

Example for colors and styles:

print("\033[31mRed text\033[0m")
print("\033[1;32mBold green text\033[0m")
print("\033[4;33mUnderlined yellow text\033[0m")
print("\033[37;44mWhite text on blue background\033[0m")
print("\033[1;30;47mBold black text on white background\033[0m")

For a cross-platform solution, the colorama libray is recommended.

Installation:

pip install colorama

colorama provides constants for easy formatting:

• Fore: BLACK, RED, GREEN, YELLOW, BLUE, MAGENTA, CYAN, WHITE, RESET
• Back: BLACK, RED, GREEN, YELLOW, BLUE, MAGENTA, CYAN, WHITE, RESET
• Style: DIM, NORMAL, BRIGHT, RESET_ALL

Basic Usage:

from colorama import Fore, Back, Style

print(Fore.RED + "This text is red.")
print(Back.GREEN + "This text has a green background.")
print(Style.DIM + "This text is dim.")
print(Style.RESET_ALL + "This text is back to normal.")

The init() function can be used to manage color output, especial for cross-platform compatibility. Setting autoreset=True automatically adds Style.RESET_ALL after each print statement, simplifying code.

Autoreset Example:

from colorama import init, Fore

init(autoreset=True)

print(Fore.BLUE + "This text is blue and will reset automatically.")
print("This text is now back to the default color.")