Color
Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista
Changes the foreground and background colors in the Command Prompt window for the current session. If used without parameters, color restores the default Command Prompt window foreground and background colors.
For examples of how to use this command, see Examples.
Syntax
color [[<B>]<F>]
Parameters
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
<B> |
Specifies the background color. |
<F> |
Specifies the foreground color. |
/? |
Displays help at the command prompt. |
Remarks
The following table lists valid hexadecimal digits that you can use as the values for B and F.
Value Color 0
Black
1
Blue
2
Green
3
Aqua
4
Red
5
Purple
6
Yellow
7
White
8
Gray
9
Light blue
A
Light green
B
Light aqua
C
Light red
D
Light purple
E
Light yellow
F
Bright white
Do not use space characters between B and F.
If you specify only one hexadecimal digit, the corresponding color is used as the foreground color and the background color is set to the default color.
To set the default Command Prompt window color, click the upper-left corner of the Command Prompt window, click Defaults, click the Colors tab, and then click the colors that you want to use for the Screen Text and Screen Background.
If B and F are the same, the color command sets ERRORLEVEL to 1, and no change is made to either the foreground or the background color.
Examples
To change the Command Prompt window background color to gray and the foreground color to red, type:
color 84
To change the Command Prompt window foreground color to light yellow, type:
color e
Note
In this example, the background is set to the default color because only one hexadecimal digit is specified.