# Should Pijul output be coloured on macOS?

**URL:** <https://discourse.pijul.org/t/should-pijul-output-be-coloured-on-macos/1116>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [October 25, 2023, 12:24pm UTC](https://discourse.pijul.org/t/should-pijul-output-be-coloured-on-macos/1116 "2023-10-25T12:24:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ryanbooker](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.pijul.org/ryanbooker/32/561_2.png) [@ryanbooker](https://discourse.pijul.org/u/ryanbooker)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2023, 12:24pm UTC](https://discourse.pijul.org/t/should-pijul-output-be-coloured-on-macos/1116/1 "2023-10-25T12:24:22Z")

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I’m using iTerm2 and ls, prompt, git output, etc are all coloured, but the Pijul output is not. Should it be?

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**Author:** ![joyously](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.pijul.org/joyously/32/266_2.png) [@joyously](https://discourse.pijul.org/u/joyously)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2023, 2:21pm UTC](https://discourse.pijul.org/t/should-pijul-output-be-coloured-on-macos/1116/2 "2023-10-25T14:21:11Z")

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I never saw color on Ubuntu, unless I used the [pjcolor](https://nest.pijul.com/levi/pjcolor) script. (I’m not sure if it still works.)

I think colors are useful, but have so many accessibility problems. Perhaps a little bit of bold would be good though.

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**Author:** ![ryanbooker](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.pijul.org/ryanbooker/32/561_2.png) [@ryanbooker](https://discourse.pijul.org/u/ryanbooker)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2023, 10:55pm UTC](https://discourse.pijul.org/t/should-pijul-output-be-coloured-on-macos/1116/3 "2023-10-25T22:55:57Z")

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Colours are definable in other contexts. They’re also just as useful _for_ accessibility. Certainly defaults need to consider accessibility.

Thanks for pointing out `pjcolor` I’ll have a look at that.

UPDATE: I noticed the output of `pijul help` _is_ coloured… which is great. 🙂

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**Author:** ![joyously](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.pijul.org/joyously/32/266_2.png) [@joyously](https://discourse.pijul.org/u/joyously)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 2:30pm UTC](https://discourse.pijul.org/t/should-pijul-output-be-coloured-on-macos/1116/4 "2023-10-27T14:30:31Z")

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I was looking for something else, and came across this thread on Zulip:  
[colors for Pijul?](https://pijul.zulipchat.com/#narrow/stream/270693-general/topic/colors.20for.20Pijul.3F)  
where Pierre says there is a bug because the code for colors is in there.

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**Author:** ![ryanbooker](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.pijul.org/ryanbooker/32/561_2.png) [@ryanbooker](https://discourse.pijul.org/u/ryanbooker)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2023, 4:50am UTC](https://discourse.pijul.org/t/should-pijul-output-be-coloured-on-macos/1116/5 "2023-10-28T04:50:15Z")

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Nice. Thanks for that. I appreciate it. 🙂

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**Author:** ![hardy7cc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a6a055/32.png) [@hardy7cc](https://discourse.pijul.org/u/hardy7cc)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2023, 12:15pm UTC](https://discourse.pijul.org/t/should-pijul-output-be-coloured-on-macos/1116/6 "2023-10-28T12:15:33Z")

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There are actually two discussion in the repo related to this.

[https://nest.pijul.com/pijul/pijul/discussions/628](https://nest.pijul.com/pijul/pijul/discussions/628)  
[https://nest.pijul.com/pijul/pijul/discussions/679](https://nest.pijul.com/pijul/pijul/discussions/679)

I got motivated by your post here and did have a look and added a fix to the 679 discussion.

However I have no clue if and when it will get a review and maybe included into main.

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**Author:** ![levi](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.pijul.org/levi/32/565_2.png) [@levi](https://discourse.pijul.org/u/levi)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 7:33am UTC](https://discourse.pijul.org/t/should-pijul-output-be-coloured-on-macos/1116/7 "2023-10-29T07:33:13Z")

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Hello, pjcolor author here.

Just short note. I have never tested pjcolor on macOS.  
But, as far as I know, macOS is Darwin OS. Darwin is a fork of BSD and its userland. That means it’s possible you’ll have to install GNU AWK, as you may have the same problem as with other BSD systems. Unfortunately Unix tools are not always 100% compatible with each other, pjcolor is adapted to the GNU version of AWK.  
If there was a problem, try following the instructions in README.md in the “Troubleshooting” section. If possible, also let me know if pjcolor works without problems on macOS. If not, I will put additional information in the readme.  
Not everyone knows that OSX has its roots in BSD system and the solution to the problem will be identical.

Cheers.