[c#] Is it possible to write to the console in colour in .NET?

Writing a small command line tool, it would be nice to output in different colours. Is this possible?

Above comments are both solid responses, however note that they aren't thread safe. If you are writing to the console with multiple threads, changing colors will add a race condition that can create some strange looking output. It is simple to fix though:

public class ConsoleWriter
{
    private static object _MessageLock= new object();

    public void WriteMessage(string message)
    {
        lock (_MessageLock)
        {
            Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Red;
            Console.WriteLine(message);
            Console.ResetColor();
        }
    }
}

Yes, it is possible as follows. These colours can be used in a console application to view some errors in red, etc.

Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Blue;
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;//after this line every text will be white on blue background
Console.WriteLine("White on blue.");
Console.WriteLine("Another line.");
Console.ResetColor();//reset to the defoult colour

Here is a simple method I wrote for writing console messages with inline color changes. It only supports one color, but it fits my needs.

// usage: WriteColor("This is my [message] with inline [color] changes.", ConsoleColor.Yellow);
static void WriteColor(string message, ConsoleColor color)
{
    var pieces = Regex.Split(message, @"(\[[^\]]*\])");

    for(int i=0;i<pieces.Length;i++)
    {
        string piece = pieces[i];
        
        if (piece.StartsWith("[") && piece.EndsWith("]"))
        {
            Console.ForegroundColor = color;
            piece = piece.Substring(1,piece.Length-2);          
        }
        
        Console.Write(piece);
        Console.ResetColor();
    }
    
    Console.WriteLine();
}

Just to add to the answers above that all use Console.WriteLine: to change colour on the same line of text, write for example:

Console.Write("This test ");
Console.BackgroundColor = bTestSuccess ? ConsoleColor.DarkGreen : ConsoleColor.Red;
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
Console.WriteLine((bTestSuccess ? "PASSED" : "FAILED"));
Console.ResetColor();

I've created a small plugin (available on NuGet) that allows you to add any (if supported by your terminal) color to your console output, without the limitations of the classic solutions.

It works by extending the String object and the syntax is very simple:

"colorize me".Pastel("#1E90FF");

Both foreground and background colors are supported.

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Blue;
        Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
        Console.WriteLine("White on blue.");
        Console.WriteLine("Another line.");
        Console.ResetColor();
    }
}

Taken from here.

Yes, it's easy and possible. Define first default colors.

Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Black;
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
Console.Clear();

Console.Clear() it's important in order to set new console colors. If you don't make this step you can see combined colors when ask for values with Console.ReadLine().

Then you can change the colors on each print:

Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Black;
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Red;
Console.WriteLine("Red text over black.");

When finish your program, remember reset console colors on finish:

Console.ResetColor();
Console.Clear();

Now with netcore we have another problem if you want to "preserve" the User experience because terminal have different colors on each Operative System.

I'm making a library that solves this problem with Text Format: colors, alignment and lot more. Feel free to use and contribute.

https://github.com/deinsoftware/colorify/ and also available as NuGet package

Colors for Windows/Linux (Dark):

Colors for MacOS (Light):