Changing CMD text color using batch script
This article will first discuss the basic concepts of batch scripts or batch files. After introducing the Batch script, let's discuss how to use the Batch script to change the text color of CMD every second.
Batch script or file
A batch script is a file that contains different commands that are executed in sequence. A batch file or script stores different commands that are executed using the command line interpreter.
For example, the following is a batch file hello.bat:
@ECHO OFF
ECHO Hello World
The batch script above contains two lines.
The first command @ECHO OFFis used to hide all the executed commands from being displayed on the command prompt itself. ECHO Hello WorldThe command displays Hello World.
The output of the above batch script is as follows:
We can execute the .bat file by entering the file name in the command line and pressing Enter, as shown in the figure above. We can also run the batch file by double-clicking the file.
Batch file extension
Batch scripts can be written in any typing or text editor with different file extensions, including .bat, .cmd, and .btm.
- The .bat file extension is used for batch scripts in DOS or Windows operating systems.
- The .cmd file extension is used in Windows NT or OS/2.
- The btm file extension is used for 4DOS or 4NT.
Changing text color of CMD using batch script
In batch scripting, we can use different colors for text on cmd. The color command can be used to change the text color.
For example, color [number]is a color command followed by the color number in hexadecimal. This hexadecimal number is like an alias for a specific color.
Consider the following script:
@echo off
color 06
echo Hello World
Output:
The script above contains a color 06 command, which is the hexadecimal number used as the code for the color yellow. Thus, the color command changes the text color of the command line interface to yellow.
Here is a list of the different available colors and their codes:
Change the text color of CMD every 1 second
We can use the colorand timeoutcommands to change the text color of cmd per unit time. Consider the following script:
@echo off
set colors=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
for %%n in (%colors%) do (
echo Hello World
color %%n
timeout 1 > null
)
The above script contains an array called colors which is initialized with a sequence of codes for different colors, followed by a for loop which iterates over the colors array and selects the color code in the variable n. In the for loop body, the script displays Hello World on the screen and sleeps for 1 second using the timeout command.
The color command changes the text color in each iteration of the loop using a different color available in the color array.
The above script will change the text color of the output after each iteration. The output for some iterations of the loop is as follows:
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