Solved Colour code TEXT in a batch file!

[Paul Black]

Good afternoon,

I have written a batch file which works great!
However, I would like to colour several pieces of text within the batch file.
I have spent a LONG time researching this on Google and I am almost there.

This is what I have at the top of the code...

@echo off
 
SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion
for /F "tokens=1,2 delims=#" %%a in ('"prompt #$H#$E# & echo on & for %%b in (1) do rem"') do (
  set "DEL=%%a"
)

This is what I have as an example that I want to colour red [which it does]...

call :ColorText 0c "     IMPORTANT - Numbers 2 blah blah."
call :ColorText 0c "                    If you blah blah!" & set /p ".= " < nul
echo.

This is what I have as the :ColorText code...

:ColorText
rem echo off
<nul set /p ".=%DEL%" > "%~2"
findstr /v /a:%1 /R "^$" "%~2" nul
del "%~2" > nul 2>&1
GOTO :EOF

The questions I have are...

[1] If I put a colon [:] after Important, is doesn't work, hence the dash [-]?
[2] Why will it not show the exclamation [!] at the end of the line although it is there?
[3] Why will it not show the full stop [.] at the end of the line although it is there?
[4] Is there a way to split the call :ColorText 0c " IMPORTANT - Numbers 2 blah blah." over two lines so it makes it esaier to read and also lines up in the script with the code below it. I tried several options, all to no avail!
[5] As you see from the middle piece of code, the Numbers 2 and If you are not lined up, but they are in the consol!
[6] Why doesn't it put a blank row after even though there is a echo. after the text to be coloured, but it does if I use & set /p ".= " < nul end & echo..
[7] It will also not accept forward slash [/]!

Thanks in advance.

 

[samuria]

Does color 2 work


0 = Black 8 = Gray 1 = Blue 9 = Light Blue 2 = Green A = Light Green 3 = Aqua B = Light Aqua 4 = Red C = Light Red 5 = Purple D = Light Purple 6 = Yellow E = Light Yellow 7 = White F = Bright White

 

[Paul Black]

Hi samuria, thanks for the reply,

Does color 2 work

0 = Black 8 = Gray 1 = Blue 9 = Light Blue 2 = Green A = Light Green 3 = Aqua B = Light Aqua 4 = Red C = Light Red 5 = Purple D = Light Purple 6 = Yellow E = Light Yellow 7 = White F = Bright White

The colour is not the problem!

I think it is the parameters that are stopping what I have posted in the numbered comments/questions!

 

[Barman58]

Paul, the Command line DOS language used to write batch files has a number of "protected" or System Characters. There are ways to get around these limitations

Take a look here as a starting point to future research Batch files - Escape Characters also check the left menu for good tips and suggestions for Batch scripting

You may also find a specific editor better for writing code than Notepad Notepad++ is an old one Notepad++ v7.6.6 - Current Version that can be setup to format code and comments to show more clearly

EDIT

Batch Editor download | SourceForge.net is an opensource specific Batch File Editor

 

[Paul Black]

Hi Barman58, thanks for the reply, it is appreciated!

Paul, the Command line DOS language used to write batch files has a number of "protected" or System Characters. There are ways to get around these limitations.

I have had a quick look at the batch link you posted but I need to look at it in more detail.

I only have about a dozen lines of text that I actually want to colour. The thing is, I need exclamation [!], colon [:] and full stop [.] to be accepted within the colour parameters because they are included in the lines of text which are at present after the echo. It is harder to achieve this than I thought it would be.

 

[Barman58]

You could try a single quote as a delimiter either end of the text string that should designate everything between the quotes as a part of the text or maybe use the ASCII code for the symbols with a delimiter - you may need to use one of the modifiers mentioned in the link -

I wish I could remember how exactly I wrote the Batch Files back in the 80's - used to produce menus for old pre-windows systems to allow the typists to access various programs, without needing to remember the names

 

[Paul Black]

Hi Barman58,

You could try a single quote as a delimiter either end of the text string that should designate everything between the quotes as a part of the text or maybe use the ASCII code for the symbols with a delimiter - you may need to use one of the modifiers mentioned in the link.

Thanks again for the reply.

I have tried numerous combinations of characters etc to try and get this working. I just can't seem to get the correct delimiter!
I will look at the link again later and do some more investigating!
I could live with just getting the full stop to work at the end of the sentences!

 

[Paul Black]

Hi everyone,

I am still no nearer to resolving this!
Has anyone got any other ideas please?

Thanks in advance.

 

[SIW2]

As far as I know, what you are trying to do isn't natively supported.Unless you want to use some kind of software add on, you are wasting your time.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi SIW2,

As far as I know, what you are trying to do isn't natively supported. Unless you want to use some kind of software add on, you are wasting your time.

OK, thanks SIW2, that is good enough for me. It is not important but it would have been nice! I don't want to use some kind of software add on so I will mark this thread as solved.
Thanks again .

 

[Muted]

As far as I know, what you are trying to do isn't natively supported.Unless you want to use some kind of software add on, you are wasting your time.

You are correct; partially.

Batch file scripting (cmd.exe is the process executed) does not allow for individually colored text/background.
The command console (cmd.exe) is just another Windows program and does allow for the standardized native Win32 API calls to individually color (both intense and non-intense) of foreground and background characters.

Strictly using the batch file language will only allow for coloring all of the characters at once (foreground or background).
Without using external programs: I believe there is one method that allows you to link against the DLLs and call them; but the hack's not worth mentioning here.

 

[SIW2]

Then why mention it.

 

[Muted]

Batch file scripting hackery (without the use of external programs other than the native Windows console and batch file scripting) does make it possible.

A simple correction for anyone who may decide to investigate further.

 

[SIW2]

If you have come across an obscure workaround, then instead of being obtuse, you could link to it.

 

[Muted]

I wasn't trying to be obtuse.

Firstly: I was unaware of whether or not outside links were against the rules.
Secondly: The forum they're on is not open (linking would be senseless).

If the latter were not true: I'd be happy to oblige and post it for the OP.

 

[iko22]

Good afternoon,

I have written a batch file which works great!
However, I would like to colour several pieces of text within the batch file.
I have spent a LONG time researching this on Google and I am almost there.

This is what I have at the top of the code...

@echo off
 
SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion
for /F "tokens=1,2 delims=#" %%a in ('"prompt #$H#$E# & echo on & for %%b in (1) do rem"') do (
  set "DEL=%%a"
)

This is what I have as an example that I want to colour red [which it does]...

call :ColorText 0c "     IMPORTANT - Numbers 2 blah blah."
call :ColorText 0c "                    If you blah blah!" & set /p ".= " < nul
echo.

This is what I have as the :ColorText code...

:ColorText
rem echo off
<nul set /p ".=%DEL%" > "%~2"
findstr /v /a:%1 /R "^$" "%~2" nul
del "%~2" > nul 2>&1
GOTO :EOF

The questions I have are...

[1] If I put a colon [:] after Important, is doesn't work, hence the dash [-]?
[2] Why will it not show the exclamation [!] at the end of the line although it is there?
[3] Why will it not show the full stop [.] at the end of the line although it is there?
[4] Is there a way to split the call :ColorText 0c " IMPORTANT - Numbers 2 blah blah." over two lines so it makes it esaier to read and also lines up in the script with the code below it. I tried several options, all to no avail!
[5] As you see from the middle piece of code, the Numbers 2 and If you are not lined up, but they are in the consol!
[6] Why doesn't it put a blank row after even though there is a echo. after the text to be coloured, but it does if I use & set /p ".= " < nul end & echo..
[7] It will also not accept forward slash [/]!

Thanks in advance.

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