Syntax highlighting for python output?

Question

When using R in the console, one can use the package colorout to highlight R outputs.

Does there exist such a thing for Python output? I am mostly interested in:

• easily distinguishing commands lines from output lines
• easily distinguishing between list, dict, int, str, objects, bare print outputs etc.
• easily spotting Python error output
• making the console feel more comfortable to the eye

Answer 1

Yes, it could. There are two python script that could do so: bpython and ipython. You may start them either directly or from python interpreter.

bpython

ipython qtconsole

Answer 2

Simply install colorama with pip install colorama then you can use it with:

import colorama
colorama.init()
print (colorama.Fore.RED + 'some red text')
print (colorama.Back.GREEN + 'and with a green background')

If you would like a simpler way of coloring output, among other things, you should take a look at click and the secho() command which detects if colorama is installed and uses it automatically, it also handles stripping out the color when output is being rediriected, etc.

import click
click.clear()  # Clear the terminal window
click.secho('Hello World!', fg='green')
click.secho('Some more text', bg='blue', fg='white')
click.secho('ATTENTION', blink=True, bold=True)