Php Cli Colors Laravel Package

Getting Started

Start by installing the package via Composer:

composer require codedungeon/php-cli-colors '~1.0'

The package is minimal and self-contained — no configuration or bootstrapping required. Immediately use it in your CLI scripts by including the autoloader and referencing the Color class constants:

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
use Codedungeon\PHPCliColors\Color;

echo Color::GREEN . 'Success!' . Color::RESET . PHP_EOL;

Your first real-world use case: outputting colorized status messages in a console application (e.g., php my-tool.php). For quick validation, run the included rainbow.php example from the repo to see all available colors rendered in the terminal.

Implementation Patterns

• Direct constant usage: Use built-in constants like Color::GREEN, Color::RED, and Color::RESET inline for simple highlight needs.
• Helper methods: The package provides Color::prefix(), Color::suffix(), and Color::apply($text, $color) for reusable color wrappers:

  echo Color::apply('Error occurred!', Color::RED) . PHP_EOL;
  

• Background colors (added in v1.11.0): Mix foreground and background styling using constants like Color::BG_RED or Color::BG_WHITE.
• Reusability: Create a small helper trait or class in your project to centralize colorized logging:

  trait LoggerTrait {
      public function info(string $msg): void {
          echo Color::CYAN . '[INFO] ' . Color::RESET . $msg . PHP_EOL;
      }
  }
  

• Output abstraction: Wrap color output in functions for testability (e.g., echoColor() that handles php_sapi_name() === 'cli' checks if needed for non-cli contexts).

Gotchas and Tips

• Console compatibility: Colors rely on ANSI escape codes. They may not render correctly on Windows CMD/PowerShell without proper terminal support or enabling ANSI support (e.g., echo "\x1b[90m...\x1b[0m" works on modern Windows 10+ with VT100 enabled, but older systems need workarounds like php-console-color fallbacks).
• Color::RESET is critical: Always reset colors after use to avoid bleeding into subsequent output (especially in shells with persistent prompts). Missing this is the #1 source of "my terminal is stuck red!" reports.
• Base color brightness (v1.12.0 fix): Prior to v1.12.0, base colors were visually dull due to a flag issue. Ensure you’re on ~1.12.0 or higher for vibrant colors.
• Whitespace and escaping: Avoid using color constants inside double-quoted strings where interpolation occurs — use concatenation to prevent accidental parsing issues:

  // ✅ Good
  echo Color::RED . $msg . Color::RESET;
  
  // ⚠️ Risky
  echo "Error: $msg"; // Cannot safely inject color into variable interpolation
  

• No formatting options: This package only handles colors — no bold, underline, or cursor control. If you need richer formatting, consider symfony/console instead, or layer on top (e.g., use this for colors, symfony/console for formatting/options).
• Autoloading: Only uses classmap — no PSR-4. Verify vendor/composer/autoload_classmap.php includes Color.php.
• Testing tip: In PHPUnit tests, suppress color output with putenv('NO_COLOR=1') (the package respects the NO_COLOR convention by default), ensuring predictable test output.