Python

CH02.07: Fun with Strings and Colors

Formatting Strings with Color and Style in Python

What Are We Talking About?

In this lesson, you’ll learn to make your Python programs more exciting by printing colorful and styled text on the console. Imagine being able to print messages in bright red, underline important words, or even display text that looks "dim" or faded — like a deactivated button!
We’ll explore a set of magical codes called ANSI escape codes, which allow you to control the appearance of your text in the terminal.

What is an ANSI Escape Code?

ANSI escape codes are special sequences that allow you to modify text style and color. You can use these to make text stand out, just like highlighting words or changing fonts in a document.

What's the format?

\033[<code1>;<code2>;...;<codeN>m

\033 (or \x1b) = the ESC character that starts the sequence.
[ ... m = encloses the SGR (Select Graphic Rendition) codes.
<code1>, <code2>, ... = numbers that define styles, text colors, and background colors.
Use ; to separate multiple codes.
\033[0m resets everything back to normal.

Basic Text Colors

Basic TEXT Colors

Here's an example of how to use it...

But, Let's be honest... do you really want to type that weird string EVERY TIME you want a color?? NO WAY! There has to be a BETTER WAY!!!

Let's Declare Some String Constants!!

Strings have something cool which help us out... we can combine them using the + operator
At the top of your file, let's declare these strings
- - These will represent the ANSI Sequences for colors, styles, etc...

Wait... How does this help?

Which one do you like better?

bold_red = "\033[1;31mThis is Bold Red Text\033[0m"

bold_red = f"{BOLD}{RED}This is Bold Red Text{RESET}"

Once you created your strings, you can REALLY EASILY JUST USE F-STRINGS!!!

ACTIVITY 1: SpongeBob’s Rainbow Text Generator

🍍 Part 1: Taste The Rainbow🌈

SpongeBob is writing his diary entry for “Best Day Ever #5,283,” but plain yellow text won’t cut it. He wants his words to burst with rainbow magic so every letter shines like a jellyfish parade through Goo Lagoon. 🪼✨

Get 7 Lines of input from the user, and output them a different color every line, so it looks like a rainbow.

It can be 7 Words, Phrases, etc...

Part 2: Even More Rainbow🌈

Print the phrase "BEST DAY EVER" at the top of your program, with each letter being a different color!!

But Wait... There are more styles

Basic TEXT Styles

Here's an example of how to use it...

Background Colors

These change the color behind the text you're writing...

Here's an example of how to use it...

REMEMBER.. the SEMICOLON is used to separate different styles!!! That's the only reason it's there

How Can We Combine These??

Can we combine all the ANSI Styles??

Let's Use CONCATENATION

We're gonna leverage the AWESOME Power of the + operator to make this a BREEZE and CONCATENATE strings

Remember... There are more than these! You can look any up that you'd like, or include any that we're missing, but you should make sure that the top of your file has all of the ANSI Codes to the left!!

But Wait... Are there More COlors?

Most people think terminals can only do the “boring 16 colors” — red, green, blue, and their bright cousins. But modern terminals actually support 24-bit color, which means over 16 million shades, just like you’d get in Photoshop or a paint program.

The magic formula looks like this:

\033[38;2;R;G;Bm → set the text color (foreground)

\033[48;2;R;G;Bm → set the background color

Where R, G, and B are numbers from 0 to 255 (the same way we describe digital colors everywhere else).

\033[38;2;255;0;0m = 🔴 bright red text

\033[38;2;0;255;0m = 🟢 green text

\033[48;2;255;255;0m = 🟡 yellow background

Fun Example Code To Try!

This is way cooler than the simple ANSI Colors, but here's the catch... sometimes it doesn't work if the terminal isn't MODERN! So.. Use at your own risk.
Additionally, you also need to know the RGB Value for the color you want (which is easy to find and look up!

Neon Arcade Marquee — Build Your Character Card

The Starcourt-era mall just reopened its retro arcade, and they’re featuring student-made neon marquees on the big wall: glowing banners that show a player’s name, game, high score, and a catchphrase. Your job is to design a console poster that looks like it was ripped from an ‘80s cabinet or a modern e-sports overlay — all with ANSI color + style codes.

What you’ll build:

A multi-section, colorized “marquee” printed to the terminal using only:
- - Variables + string/numeric input
  - f-strings and string methods (upper(), center(), ljust(), etc.)
  - ANSI foreground, background, and style codes (bold, underline, dim, etc.)

You Can Have More than 6 Inputs, but don't go higher than 10, unless you have a REALLY COOL IDEA

Suggested inputs

- A Symbol for the header
- Player name
- Favorite emoji
- Game/Title
- Team
- Short tagline/catchphrase
- High score (number)

What your marquee must include (checklist):

A top neon banner line (bold color on a contrasting background)
A centered title line (game or theme) with underline or reverse video
A nameplate row (player name in bold + an emoji)
A stats block (e.g., “HIGH SCORE: 12345”, “TEAM: BLUE”, “NEON x3”) with padded alignment
A quote/catchphrase line styled differently (e.g., dim or bright color)
A bottom footer with a tiny credit or fake sponsor (new color)
Proper RESET after every styled segment so colors don’t bleed

BONUS: TRY AND USE RGB COLOR CODES!!

Make your Marquee EVEN MORE COLORFUL with RGB Codes. If you successfully do this, you'll get even more points! (+25)

Example Marquees

ANSI STRINGS FOR YOUR CODE

# ============================================# ANSI Escape Sequences for Text Formatting# ============================================
# Reset / ClearRESET = "\033[0m"
# --------------------------------------------# Text Styles# --------------------------------------------BOLD = "\033[1m"DIM = "\033[2m"ITALIC = "\033[3m"UNDERLINE = "\033[4m"BLINK = "\033[5m"INVERT = "\033[7m" # aka ReverseHIDDEN = "\033[8m" # aka InvisibleSTRIKETHROUGH = "\033[9m"
# Reset for individual attributesRESET_BOLD = "\033[21m"RESET_DIM = "\033[22m"RESET_ITALIC = "\033[23m"RESET_UNDERLINE = "\033[24m"RESET_BLINK = "\033[25m"RESET_INVERT = "\033[27m"RESET_HIDDEN = "\033[28m"RESET_STRIKETHROUGH = "\033[29m"
# --------------------------------------------# Standard Foreground Colors (30–37)# --------------------------------------------BLACK = "\033[30m"RED = "\033[31m"GREEN = "\033[32m"YELLOW = "\033[33m"BLUE = "\033[34m"MAGENTA = "\033[35m"CYAN = "\033[36m"WHITE = "\033[37m"
# Bright Foreground Colors (90–97)BRIGHT_BLACK = "\033[90m" # GrayBRIGHT_RED = "\033[91m"BRIGHT_GREEN = "\033[92m"BRIGHT_YELLOW = "\033[93m"BRIGHT_BLUE = "\033[94m"BRIGHT_MAGENTA = "\033[95m"BRIGHT_CYAN = "\033[96m"BRIGHT_WHITE = "\033[97m"
# --------------------------------------------# Background Colors (40–47)# --------------------------------------------BG_BLACK = "\033[40m"BG_RED = "\033[41m"BG_GREEN = "\033[42m"BG_YELLOW = "\033[43m"BG_BLUE = "\033[44m"BG_MAGENTA = "\033[45m"BG_CYAN = "\033[46m"BG_WHITE = "\033[47m"
# Bright Background Colors (100–107)BG_BRIGHT_BLACK = "\033[100m" # Bright GrayBG_BRIGHT_RED = "\033[101m"BG_BRIGHT_GREEN = "\033[102m"BG_BRIGHT_YELLOW = "\033[103m"BG_BRIGHT_BLUE = "\033[104m"BG_BRIGHT_MAGENTA = "\033[105m"BG_BRIGHT_CYAN = "\033[106m"BG_BRIGHT_WHITE = "\033[107m"
# ============================================# Example Usage# ============================================if __name__ == "__main__": print(f"{BOLD}{RED}Error:{RESET} Something went wrong!") print(f"{UNDERLINE}{BRIGHT_BLUE}Link:{RESET} www.example.com") print(f"{GREEN}Success!{RESET}") print(f"{BG_YELLOW}{BLACK} Warning! {RESET}") print(f"{BRIGHT_MAGENTA}{BG_BRIGHT_BLACK}Fancy text!{RESET}")

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