ANSI Foreground vs Background Color Codes Explained

Foreground vs Background Colors in ANSI

ANSI escape sequences distinguish between foreground (text) color and background color using different SGR parameter ranges. Understanding this distinction is fundamental to working with terminal colors.

Foreground Color Codes

Foreground codes set the color of the text characters themselves:

• Standard foreground: 30-37 (Black through White)
• Bright foreground: 90-97 (Bright Black through Bright White)
• 256-color foreground: 38;5;N where N is 0-255
• True color foreground: 38;2;R;G;B for any RGB value

Background Color Codes

Background codes set the color behind the text:

• Standard background: 40-47 (Black through White)
• Bright background: 100-107 (Bright Black through Bright White)
• 256-color background: 48;5;N where N is 0-255
• True color background: 48;2;R;G;B for any RGB value

Combining Foreground and Background

You can set both in a single escape sequence by separating codes with semicolons:

# White text on red background
echo -e "\033[37;41mWhite on Red\033[0m"

# Bright cyan text on dark blue background
echo -e "\033[96;44mCyan on Blue\033[0m"

# 256-color: Orange text on dark gray background
echo -e "\033[38;5;208;48;5;236mOrange on Gray\033[0m"

Reset Codes

• 39 resets only the foreground to the default color
• 49 resets only the background to the default color
• 0 resets both foreground and background plus all formatting

Pattern Recognition

The offset between foreground and background codes is always 10: foreground 31 (red) corresponds to background 41 (red), foreground 92 (bright green) corresponds to background 102 (bright green). This consistent pattern makes it easy to remember the codes.