text: # <img width="300" src="https://cdn.rawgit.com/sindresorhus/chalk/77ae94f63ab1ac61389b190e5a59866569d1a376/logo.svg" alt="chalk">
  
  > Terminal string styling done right
  
  [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/sindresorhus/chalk.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/sindresorhus/chalk)
  ![](http://img.shields.io/badge/unicorn-approved-ff69b4.svg)
  
  [colors.js](https://github.com/Marak/colors.js) is currently the most popular string styling module, but it has serious deficiencies like extending String.prototype which causes all kinds of [problems](https://github.com/yeoman/yo/issues/68). Although there are other ones, they either do too much or not enough.
  
  **Chalk is a clean and focused alternative.**
  
  ![screenshot](https://github.com/sindresorhus/ansi-styles/raw/master/screenshot.png)
  
  
  ## Why
  
  - Highly performant
  - Doesn't extend String.prototype
  - Expressive API
  - Ability to nest styles
  - Clean and focused
  - Auto-detects color support
  - Actively maintained
  - [Used by 1000+ modules](https://npmjs.org/browse/depended/chalk)
  
  
  ## Install
  
  ```sh
  $ npm install --save chalk
  ```
  
  
  ## Usage
  
  Chalk comes with an easy to use composable API where you just chain and nest the styles you want.
  
  ```js
  var chalk = require('chalk');
  
  // style a string
  console.log(  chalk.blue('Hello world!')  );
  
  // combine styled and normal strings
  console.log(  chalk.blue('Hello'), 'World' + chalk.red('!')  );
  
  // compose multiple styles using the chainable API
  console.log(  chalk.blue.bgRed.bold('Hello world!')  );
  
  // pass in multiple arguments
  console.log(  chalk.blue('Hello', 'World!', 'Foo', 'bar', 'biz', 'baz')  );
  
  // nest styles
  console.log(  chalk.red('Hello', chalk.underline.bgBlue('world') + '!')  );
  
  // nest styles of the same type even (color, underline, background)
  console.log(  chalk.green('I am a green line ' + chalk.blue('with a blue substring') + ' that becomes green again!')  );
  ```
  
  Easily define your own themes.
  
  ```js
  var chalk = require('chalk');
  var error = chalk.bold.red;
  console.log(error('Error!'));
  ```
  
  Take advantage of console.log [string substitution](http://nodejs.org/docs/latest/api/console.html#console_console_log_data).
  
  ```js
  var name = 'Sindre';
  console.log(chalk.green('Hello %s'), name);
  //=> Hello Sindre
  ```
  
  
  ## API
  
  ### chalk.`<style>[.<style>...](string, [string...])`
  
  Example: `chalk.red.bold.underline('Hello', 'world');`
  
  Chain [styles](#styles) and call the last one as a method with a string argument. Order doesn't matter.
  
  Multiple arguments will be separated by space.
  
  ### chalk.enabled
  
  Color support is automatically detected, but you can override it.
  
  ### chalk.supportsColor
  
  Detect whether the terminal [supports color](https://github.com/sindresorhus/supports-color).
  
  Can be overridden by the user with the flags `--color` and `--no-color`.
  
  Used internally and handled for you, but exposed for convenience.
  
  ### chalk.styles
  
  Exposes the styles as [ANSI escape codes](https://github.com/sindresorhus/ansi-styles).
  
  Generally not useful, but you might need just the `.open` or `.close` escape code if you're mixing externally styled strings with yours.
  
  ```js
  var chalk = require('chalk');
  
  console.log(chalk.styles.red);
  //=> {open: '\u001b[31m', close: '\u001b[39m'}
  
  console.log(chalk.styles.red.open + 'Hello' + chalk.styles.red.close);
  ```
  
  ### chalk.hasColor(string)
  
  Check whether a string [has color](https://github.com/sindresorhus/has-ansi).
  
  ### chalk.stripColor(string)
  
  [Strip color](https://github.com/sindresorhus/strip-ansi) from a string.
  
  Can be useful in combination with `.supportsColor` to strip color on externally styled text when it's not supported.
  
  Example:
  
  ```js
  var chalk = require('chalk');
  var styledString = getText();
  
  if (!chalk.supportsColor) {
  	styledString = chalk.stripColor(styledString);
  }
  ```
  
  
  ## Styles
  
  ### General
  
  - `reset`
  - `bold`
  - `dim`
  - `italic` *(not widely supported)*
  - `underline`
  - `inverse`
  - `hidden`
  - `strikethrough` *(not widely supported)*
  
  ### Text colors
  
  - `black`
  - `red`
  - `green`
  - `yellow`
  - `blue`
  - `magenta`
  - `cyan`
  - `white`
  - `gray`
  
  ### Background colors
  
  - `bgBlack`
  - `bgRed`
  - `bgGreen`
  - `bgYellow`
  - `bgBlue`
  - `bgMagenta`
  - `bgCyan`
  - `bgWhite`
  
  
  ## License
  
  MIT © [Sindre Sorhus](http://sindresorhus.com)
  