chalk

Terminal string styling done right (in java)

Chalk is focusing on cross-platform standard output coloring in java.

The coloring should work:

• In Ux terminals supporting ANSI coloring
• In IDEs supporting ANSI coloring (such as IntelliJ Idea)
• In CI tools supporting ANSI coloring (such as Jenkins CI with AnsiColor plugin)
• In Windows command line (yay!)
  • Utilizing the Jansi library

Why

I want java tools to have the same possibilities as javascript. npm and related tools nicely color output even on Windows; Java does not have this possibility. After looking at Chalk for javascript, I have decided to implement a similar solution in Java.

Install

We are on maven central:

 <dependency>
   <groupId>com.github.tomas-langer</groupId>
   <artifactId>chalk</artifactId>
   <version>1.0.2</version>
 </dependency>

Usage

Printing a highlighted text - underlined red:

System.out.println("This message is " + Chalk.on("IMPORTANT").red().underline());

will print:

There are some system properties to control behavior:

• jansi.strip - if set to "true", colors will not be sent to output (on any environment)
• jansi.passthrough - if set to "true", ANSI escapes will be sent to output (on any environment, including Windows)
• idea.launcher.bin.path - if set, I know I am running from IntelliJ Idea, will expect output to be ANSI compliant

The following CI tools are currently recognized:

• Hudson - if in Hudson, ANSI escapes are passed through (requires AnsiColor plugin)
• Jenkins - if in Jenkins, ANSI escapes are passed through (requires AnsiColor plugin)

Styles

Only those supported at least on two of: Windows, Linux, Idea and Jenkins plugin are included.

Modifiers

• bold
• underline (will use a different background on Windows, underlining not supported)
• inverse

Colors

• black
• red
• green
• yellow
• blue (this color is illegible on Windows with black background)
• magenta
• cyan
• white
• gray (just black on Windows - requires light background)

Background colors

• bgBlack
• bgRed
• bgGreen
• bgYellow
• bgBlue
• bgMagenta
• bgCyan
• bgWhite

License

Apache License