How to have multiple colors in a Windows batch file?

Question

I was wondering if its possible to have different colored text on the same line in a Windows batch file, for example if it says

echo hi world

Answer 1

jeb's edited answer comes close to solving all the issues. But it has problems with the following strings:

"a\b\"
"a/b/"
"\"
"/"
"."
".."
"c:"

I've modified his technique to something that I think can truly handle any string of printable characters, except for length limitations.

Other improvements:

• Uses the %TEMP% location for the temp file, so no longer need write access to the current directory.

• Created 2 variants, one takes a string literal, the other the name of a variable containing the string. The variable version is generally less convenient, but it eliminates some special character escape issues.

• Added the /n option as an optional 3rd parameter to append a newline at the end of the output.

Backspace does not work across a line break, so the technique can have problems if the line wraps. For example, printing a string with length between 74 - 79 will not work properly if the console has a line width of 80.

@echo off
setlocal

call :initColorPrint

call :colorPrint 0a "a"
call :colorPrint 0b "b"
set "txt=^" & call :colorPrintVar 0c txt
call :colorPrint 0d "<"
call :colorPrint 0e ">"
call :colorPrint 0f "&"
call :colorPrint 1a "|"
call :colorPrint 1b " "
call :colorPrint 1c "%%%%"
call :colorPrint 1d ^"""
call :colorPrint 1e "*"
call :colorPrint 1f "?"
call :colorPrint 2a "!"
call :colorPrint 2b "."
call :colorPrint 2c ".."
call :colorPrint 2d "/"
call :colorPrint 2e "\"
call :colorPrint 2f "q:" /n
echo(
set complex="c:\hello world!/.\..\\a//^<%%>&|!" /^^^<%%^>^&^|!\
call :colorPrintVar 74 complex /n

call :cleanupColorPrint

exit /b

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

:colorPrint Color  Str  [/n]
setlocal
set "str=%~2"
call :colorPrintVar %1 str %3
exit /b

:colorPrintVar  Color  StrVar  [/n]
if not defined %~2 exit /b
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
set "str=a%DEL%!%~2:\=a%DEL%\..\%DEL%%DEL%%DEL%!"
set "str=!str:/=a%DEL%/..\%DEL%%DEL%%DEL%!"
set "str=!str:"=\"!"
pushd "%temp%"
findstr /p /A:%1 "." "!str!\..\x" nul
if /i "%~3"=="/n" echo(
exit /b

:initColorPrint
for /F "tokens=1,2 delims=#" %%a in ('"prompt #$H#$E# & echo on & for %%b in (1) do rem"') do set "DEL=%%a"
"%temp%\x" set /p "=%DEL%%DEL%%DEL%%DEL%%DEL%%DEL%.%DEL%"
exit /b

:cleanupColorPrint
del "%temp%\x"
exit /b

UPDATE 2012-11-27

This method fails on XP because FINDSTR displays backspace as a period on the screen. jeb's original answer works on XP, albeit with the limitations already noted

UPDATE 2012-12-14

There has been a lot of development activity at DosTips and SS64. It turns out that FINDSTR also corrupts file names containing extended ASCII if supplied on the command line. I've updated my FINDSTR Q&A.

Below is a version that works on XP and supports ALL single byte characters except 0x00 (nul), 0x0A (linefeed), and 0x0D (carriage return). However, when running on XP, most control characters will display as dots. This is an inherent feature of FINDSTR on XP that cannot be avoided.

Unfortunately, adding support for XP and for extended ASCII characters slows the routine down :-(

Just for fun, I grabbed some color ASCII art from joan stark's ASCII Art Gallery and adapted it for use with ColorPrint. I added a :c entry point just for shorthand, and to handle an issue with quote literals.

@echo off
setlocal disableDelayedExpansion
set q=^"
echo(
echo(
call :c 0E "                ,      .-;" /n
call :c 0E "             ,  |\    / /  __," /n
call :c 0E "             |\ '.`-.|  |.'.-'" /n
call :c 0E "              \`'-:  `; : /" /n
call :c 0E "               `-._'.  \'|" /n
call :c 0E "              ,_.-=` ` `  ~,_" /n
call :c 0E "               '--,.    "&call :c 0c ".-. "&call :c 0E ",=!q!." /n
call :c 0E "                 /     "&call :c 0c "{ "&call :c 0A "* "&call :c 0c ")"&call :c 0E "`"&call :c 06 ";-."&call :c 0E "}" /n
call :c 0E "                 |      "&call :c 0c "'-' "&call :c 06 "/__ |" /n
call :c 0E "                 /          "&call :c 06 "\_,\|" /n
call :c 0E "                 |          (" /n
call :c 0E "             "&call :c 0c "__ "&call :c 0E "/ '          \" /n
call :c 02 "     /\_    "&call :c 0c "/,'`"&call :c 0E "|     '   "&call :c 0c ".-~!q!~~-." /n
call :c 02 "     |`.\_ "&call :c 0c "|   "&call :c 0E "/  ' ,    "&call :c 0c "/        \" /n
call :c 02 "   _/  `, \"&call :c 0c "|  "&call :c 0E "; ,     . "&call :c 0c "|  ,  '  . |" /n
call :c 02 "   \   `,  "&call :c 0c "|  "&call :c 0E "|  ,  ,   "&call :c 0c "|  :  ;  : |" /n
call :c 02 "   _\  `,  "&call :c 0c "\  "&call :c 0E "|.     ,  "&call :c 0c "|  |  |  | |" /n
call :c 02 "   \`  `.   "&call :c 0c "\ "&call :c 0E "|   '     "&call :c 0A "|"&call :c 0c "\_|-'|_,'\|" /n
call :c 02 "   _\   `,   "&call :c 0A "`"&call :c 0E "\  '  . ' "&call :c 0A "| |  | |  |           "&call :c 02 "__" /n
call :c 02 "   \     `,   "&call :c 0E "| ,  '    "&call :c 0A "|_/'-|_\_/     "&call :c 02 "__ ,-;` /" /n
call :c 02 "    \    `,    "&call :c 0E "\ .  , ' .| | | | |   "&call :c 02 "_/' ` _=`|" /n
call :c 02 "     `\    `,   "&call :c 0E "\     ,  | | | | |"&call :c 02 "_/'   .=!q!  /" /n
call :c 02 "     \`     `,   "&call :c 0E "`\      \/|,| ;"&call :c 02 "/'   .=!q!    |" /n
call :c 02 "      \      `,    "&call :c 0E "`\' ,  | ; "&call :c 02 "/'    =!q!    _/" /n
call :c 02 "       `\     `,  "&call :c 05 ".-!q!!q!-. "&call :c 0E "': "&call :c 02 "/'    =!q!     /" /n
call :c 02 "    jgs _`\    ;"&call :c 05 "_{  '   ; "&call :c 02 "/'    =!q!      /" /n
call :c 02 "       _\`-/__"&call :c 05 ".~  `."&call :c 07 "8"&call :c 05 ".'.!q!`~-. "&call :c 02 "=!q!     _,/" /n
call :c 02 "    __\      "&call :c 05 "{   '-."&call :c 07 "|"&call :c 05 ".'.--~'`}"&call :c 02 "    _/" /n
call :c 02 "    \    .=!q!` "&call :c 05 "}.-~!q!'"&call :c 0D "u"&call :c 05 "'-. '-..'  "&call :c 02 "__/" /n
call :c 02 "   _/  .!q!    "&call :c 05 "{  -'.~('-._,.'"&call :c 02 "\_,/" /n
call :c 02 "  /  .!q!    _/'"&call :c 05 "`--; ;  `.  ;" /n
call :c 02 "   .=!q!  _/'      "&call :c 05 "`-..__,-'" /n
call :c 02 "    __/'" /n
echo(

exit /b

:c
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

:colorPrint Color  Str  [/n]
setlocal
set "s=%~2"
call :colorPrintVar %1 s %3
exit /b

:colorPrintVar  Color  StrVar  [/n]
if not defined DEL call :initColorPrint
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
pushd .
':
cd \
set "s=!%~2!"
:: The single blank line within the following IN() clause is critical - DO NOT REMOVE
for %%n in (^"^

^") do (
  set "s=!s:\=%%~n\%%~n!"
  set "s=!s:/=%%~n/%%~n!"
  set "s=!s::=%%~n:%%~n!"
)
for /f delims^=^ eol^= %%s in ("!s!") do (
  if "!" equ "" setlocal disableDelayedExpansion
  if %%s==\ (
    findstr /a:%~1 "." "\'" nul
    colorPrint.txt (echo %%s\..\')
    findstr /a:%~1 /f:colorPrint.txt "."
    "%temp%\'" set /p "=."
subst ': "%temp%" >nul
exit /b


:cleanupColorPrint
2>nul del "%temp%\'"
2>nul del "%temp%\colorPrint.txt"
>nul subst ': /d
exit /b