🎨 Colors in console in C++

This shows how to use the SetConsoleTextAttribute method in C++ to change the text color in the console.

👀 Only works for Windows

📁 Source file: src/colors.cpp

📊 Color Chart

Code	Color
0	Black
1	Blue
2	Green
3	Cyan
4	Red
5	Purple
6	Yellow
7	White
8	Gray
9	Light Blue
10	Light Green
11	Light Aqua
12	Light Red
13	Pink
14	Light Yellow
15	Bright White

❓ How to Use

Basic Usage

#include <Windows.h>

HANDLE hConsole = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
SetConsoleTextAttribute(hConsole, 2); // Green text
cout << "Hello World!" << endl;
SetConsoleTextAttribute(hConsole, 15); // Reset to bright white

Combined Colors (Foreground + Background)

You can combine a text color with a background color using the operator |:

// Yellow text on red background
SetConsoleTextAttribute(hConsole, 6 | (4 << 4));

Complete Example - Color Table

#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <Windows.h>
using namespace std;

void printColor(HANDLE hConsole, int color) {
    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hConsole, color);
    cout << "||||||||||||||||||||||||";
    SetConsoleTextAttribute(hConsole, 15); // Reset to bright white
}

int main() {
    string colors[16] = {
        "Black", "Blue", "Green", "Cyan", "Red", "Purple",
        "Yellow", "White", "Gray", "Light Blue", "Light Green",
        "Light Aqua", "Light Red", "Pink", "Light Yellow", "Bright White"
    };
    
    HANDLE hConsole = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
    
    cout << "+---------+--------------------------+--------------------------+\n";
    cout << "| Code    | Color Name               | Output                   |\n";
    cout << "+---------+--------------------------+--------------------------+\n";
    
    for (int i = 0; i < 16; i++)
    {
        cout << "| " << left << setw(7) << i
             << "| " << left << setw(24) << colors[i]
             << "| ";
        printColor(hConsole, i);
        cout << " |\n";
    }
    
    cout << "+---------+--------------------------+--------------------------+\n";
    return 0;
}

📖 Resources

Microsoft Docs: SetConsoleTextAttribute

▶️ Build and Run

Compile and run src/colors.cpp from the repository root.

MinGW (g++)

g++ -std=c++17 -o colors.exe src/colors.cpp
.\colors.exe

MSVC (Developer Command Prompt)

cl /EHsc src\colors.cpp
colors.exe