Change PowerShell console syntax highlighting colors of PSReadLine

Discussion (14)

1. `Set-PSReadLineOption` has breaking changes. No more `-TokenKind` parameter.

   Reply

   • @K.Kong

     Why do you say that?

     I have the latest official version of PSReadline, which is version 1.2, and the TokenKind parameter is still present.

     Reply

     • I have PSReadLine 2.0 on PowerShell 6.2 and it’s not present

       Reply

       • @Anonymous and @K.Kong

         PSReadLine 2.0 is still a beta version and thus subject to changes until its General Availability.

         Reply

2. I tried with the the current version installed with Windows 1903 and the help file mentions TokenKind but it doesn't recognize the paramater.  I had to do Set-PSReadlineOption -Colors @{Command = "Blue"} as an example.

   Reply

3. PSReadLine 2.0.0-beta1 has this breaking change.

   Breaking changes:
   * Set-PSReadLineOption options have changed
     – To specify colors, use the new `-Color` parameter and pass a Hashtable
    

   Reply

4. Reference:

   https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/PSReadLine/2.0.0-beta1/Content/Changes.txt

   Reply

5. Moving forward, the -TOKENKIND parameter is gone. The advice in this article no longer applies to the latest versions of PowerShell 7. 

   Reply

6. There are no words to describe how much I hate what Microsoft did here.  I am working on a VM, it is past midnight and the standard color scheme is very difficult to read.  For some ridiculous trendy reason, the background on PowerShell is black.  I went in and changed the text to black and the background to white.  i did this in Default and Properties.  Well, because of the syntax highlighting, my color changes did not do what I think any reasonable person would expect.  The background did become white, but the text was yellow and it was even harder to read. 

   I found you very informative article and surprise, surprise, Microsoft provides a great deal of customizability, but not through their GUI.  It is very hard to type the commands when I can't read what I am typing.  There should be a light mode and a dark mode and then if someone wants to go to the trouble to change specific aspects of the syntax to their favorite color, then they can type in all the commands.  

   So, thank you for helping me find out what Microsoft couldn't bother to tell me.  Microsoft, if you are listening, it is stupid things like this that make people hate your environment.  

   Reply

   • In the upcoming new world, it will be less relevant whether people hate a vendor for such things, because they typically don't care — instead, they will be financially liable for the wasted time users encounter when standard instructions no longer work.

     Reply

   • Well whether they care or not is none of our concern. We still hate them with our guts.

     Reply

7. In the upcoming world of 2022, I had to do this nonsense to set colors that work with a black Fluent Terminal background:

   Get-PSReadlineOption  # list all.  (alias: just 'psreadlineoption')
   
   Set-PSReadLineOption -Colors @{ "Command"="White" }
   Set-PSReadLineOption -Colors @{ "Operator"="DarkBlue" }
   Set-PSReadLineOption -Colors @{ "String"="Yellow" }
   Set-PSReadLineOption -Colors @{ "Parameter"="Blue" }
   Set-PSReadLineOption -Colors @{ "Comment"="Gray" }
   
   # which syntax I found here:
   get-help Set-PSReadLineOption -examples
   

   Reply

   • This has changed.

     The correct commands can be found here:
     https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/PSReadline/Set-PSReadlineOption?view=powershell-5.1

     

     Reply

8. I have used all these, many are most likely duplicate colors, but they all work

   $Colors = @()

   $Colors += “AliceBlue”
   $Colors += “AntiqueWhite”
   $Colors += “Aqua”
   $Colors += “Aquamarine”
   $Colors += “Azure”
   $Colors += “Beige”
   $Colors += “Bisque”
   $Colors += “Black”
   $Colors += “BlanchedAlmond”
   $Colors += “Blue”
   $Colors += “BlueViolet”
   $Colors += “Brown”
   $Colors += “BurlyWood”
   $Colors += “CadetBlue”
   $Colors += “Chartreuse”
   $Colors += “Chocolate”
   $Colors += “Coral”
   $Colors += “CornflowerBlue”
   $Colors += “Cornsilk”
   $Colors += “Crimson”
   $Colors += “Cyan”
   $Colors += “DarkBlue”
   $Colors += “DarkCyan”
   $Colors += “DarkGoldenrod”
   $Colors += “DarkGray”
   $Colors += “DarkGreen”
   $Colors += “DarkKhaki”
   $Colors += “DarkMagenta”
   $Colors += “DarkOliveGreen”
   $Colors += “DarkOrange”
   $Colors += “DarkOrchid”
   $Colors += “DarkRed”
   $Colors += “DarkSalmon”
   $Colors += “DarkSeaGreen”
   $Colors += “DarkSlateBlue”
   $Colors += “DarkSlateGray”
   $Colors += “DarkTurquoise”
   $Colors += “DarkViolet”
   $Colors += “DeepPink”
   $Colors += “DeepSkyBlue”
   $Colors += “DimGray”
   $Colors += “DodgerBlue”
   $Colors += “Firebrick”
   $Colors += “FloralWhite”
   $Colors += “ForestGreen”
   $Colors += “Fuchsia”
   $Colors += “Gainsboro”
   $Colors += “GhostWhite”
   $Colors += “Gold”
   $Colors += “Goldenrod”
   $Colors += “Gray”
   $Colors += “Green”
   $Colors += “GreenYellow”
   $Colors += “Honeydew”
   $Colors += “HotPink”
   $Colors += “IndianRed”
   $Colors += “Indigo”
   $Colors += “Ivory”
   $Colors += “Khaki”
   $Colors += “Lavender”
   $Colors += “LavenderBlush”
   $Colors += “LawnGreen”
   $Colors += “LemonChiffon”
   $Colors += “LightBlue”
   $Colors += “LightCoral”
   $Colors += “LightCyan”
   $Colors += “LightGoldenrodYellow”
   $Colors += “LightGray”
   $Colors += “LightGreen”
   $Colors += “LightPink”
   $Colors += “LightSalmon”
   $Colors += “LightSeaGreen”
   $Colors += “LightSkyBlue”
   $Colors += “LightSlateGray”
   $Colors += “LightSteelBlue”
   $Colors += “LightYellow”
   $Colors += “Lime”
   $Colors += “LimeGreen”
   $Colors += “Linen”
   $Colors += “Magenta”
   $Colors += “Maroon”
   $Colors += “MediumAquamarine”
   $Colors += “MediumBlue”
   $Colors += “MediumOrchid”
   $Colors += “MediumPurple”
   $Colors += “MediumSeaGreen”
   $Colors += “MediumSlateBlue”
   $Colors += “MediumSpringGreen”
   $Colors += “MediumTurquoise”
   $Colors += “MediumVioletRed”
   $Colors += “MidnightBlue”
   $Colors += “MintCream”
   $Colors += “MistyRose”
   $Colors += “Moccasin”
   $Colors += “NavajoWhite”
   $Colors += “Navy”
   $Colors += “OldLace”
   $Colors += “Olive”
   $Colors += “OliveDrab”
   $Colors += “Orange”
   $Colors += “OrangeRed”
   $Colors += “Orchid”
   $Colors += “PaleGoldenrod”
   $Colors += “PaleGreen”
   $Colors += “PaleTurquoise”
   $Colors += “PaleVioletRed”
   $Colors += “PapayaWhip”
   $Colors += “PeachPuff”
   $Colors += “Peru”
   $Colors += “Pink”
   $Colors += “Plum”
   $Colors += “PowderBlue”
   $Colors += “Purple”
   $Colors += “Red”
   $Colors += “RosyBrown”
   $Colors += “RoyalBlue”
   $Colors += “SaddleBrown”
   $Colors += “Salmon”
   $Colors += “SandyBrown”
   $Colors += “SeaGreen”
   $Colors += “SeaShell”
   $Colors += “Sienna”
   $Colors += “Silver”
   $Colors += “SkyBlue”
   $Colors += “SlateBlue”
   $Colors += “SlateGray”
   $Colors += “Snow”
   $Colors += “SpringGreen”
   $Colors += “SteelBlue”
   $Colors += “Tan”
   $Colors += “Teal”
   $Colors += “Thistle”
   $Colors += “Tomato”
   $Colors += “Turquoise”
   $Colors += “Violet”
   $Colors += “Wheat”
   $Colors += “White”
   $Colors += “WhiteSmoke”
   $Colors += “Yellow”
   $Colors += “YellowGreen”

   I have them in an array so I can add them to a dropdown box and change colors on the fly in some applications

   Reply