# ansicolors [](http://next.travis-ci.org/thlorenz/ansicolors)
Functions that surround a string with ansicolor codes so it prints in color.
In case you need styles, like `bold`, have a look at [ansistyles](https://github.com/thlorenz/ansistyles).
## Installation
npm install ansicolors
## Usage
```js
var colors = require('ansicolors');
// foreground colors
var redHerring = colors.red('herring');
var blueMoon = colors.blue('moon');
var brighBlueMoon = colors.brightBlue('moon');
console.log(redHerring); // this will print 'herring' in red
console.log(blueMoon); // this 'moon' in blue
console.log(brightBlueMoon); // I think you got the idea
// background colors
console.log(colors.bgYellow('printed on yellow background'));
console.log(colors.bgBrightBlue('printed on bright blue background'));
// mixing background and foreground colors
// below two lines have same result (order in which bg and fg are combined doesn't matter)
console.log(colors.bgYellow(colors.blue('printed on yellow background in blue')));
console.log(colors.blue(colors.bgYellow('printed on yellow background in blue')));
```
## Advanced API
**ansicolors** allows you to access opening and closing escape sequences separately.
```js
var colors = require('ansicolors');
function inspect(obj, depth) {
return require('util').inspect(obj, false, depth || 5, true);
}
console.log('open blue', inspect(colors.open.blue));
console.log('close bgBlack', inspect(colors.close.bgBlack));
// => open blue '\u001b[34m'
// close bgBlack '\u001b[49m'
```
## Tests
Look at the [tests](https://github.com/thlorenz/ansicolors/blob/master/test/ansicolors.js) to see more examples and/or run them via:
npm explore ansicolors && npm test
## Alternatives
**ansicolors** tries to meet simple use cases with a very simple API. However, if you need a more powerful ansi formatting tool,
I'd suggest to look at the [features](https://github.com/TooTallNate/ansi.js#features) of the [ansi module](https://github.com/TooTallNate/ansi.js).
