Skip to main content

Windows may require additional solutions to display color

The output uses ANSI escape codes to show text in color. Windows systems (shells) often don't interpret those codes at all.

If you're on Windows and you see ANSI escape codes in the output (something like [1m [31m ) and your text isn't in different colors, you may need to install a utility so that your Windows shell will interpret those codes correctly and show the colors. Here are some popular solutions:

  • ANSICON: ANSICON runs 'on top of' cmd or powershell. This is a very popular solution. You can set it up so that it's always used whenever you use cmd or powershell, or use it only at specific times.

  • Alternatives to cmd.exe or powershell: ConEmu, Console2, ConsoleZ

  • Unix-like shells and utilities: cygwin, babun, MinGW (Minimalist GNU for Windows)

To find out more, search for information about those solutions.