Module ColourText

source code

Module containing classes to help with creating colour text.

Classes for text markup:

   ANSIMarkup - apply ANSI codes to the text
   NoMarkup - ingore colour codes and leave the text unchanged

ANSI code classes defined are:

   Foreground - create object carrying ANSI codes for
                changing text foreground colour;

   Background - create object carrying ANSI codes for
                changing text background colour;

   Effects    - create object carrying ANSI codes for
                changing text effects.

Example usage is as follows:

   fg = Foreground()
   bg = Background()
   fx = Effects()

   if coloring_enabled:
    # text will be blue by default and colour codes are applied
    m = ANSIMarkup(fg.blue)
   else:
    # colour codes are ignored
    m = NoMarkup()

    # Text will be coloured in red if coloring_enabled,
    # otherwise text will be unchanged.
    print m('Text in red',code=fg.red)

It is a better practice to use markup objects to apply colours
because it is easier to enable/disable the markup if desired.

However inserting the codes directly also works:

# Print text in specified colour.
print fg.some_colour + 'Text in some_colour' + fx.normal

# Print text with colour of background changed as specified.
print bg.some_colour + 'Text with background in some_colour' + fx.normal

# Print text with specified effect applied.
print fx.some_effect + 'Text with some_effect applied' + fx.normal

Note that each ANSI code overrides the previous one, and their effect
isn't cumulative.  Terminating a string with fx.normal in the above
examples ensures that subsequent text is output using the terminal
defaults.

For details of the colours and effects available, see help for
individual classes.