Chain [styles](#styles) and call the last one as a method with a string argument. Order doesn't matter, and later styles take precedent in case of a conflict. This simply means that `chalk.red.yellow.green` is equivalent to `chalk.green`.
Multiple arguments will be separated by space.
### chalk.enabled
Color support is automatically detected, as is the level (see `chalk.level`). However, if you'd like to simply enable/disable Chalk, you can do so via the `.enabled` property.
Chalk is enabled by default unless explicitly disabled via the constructor or `chalk.level` is `0`.
If you need to change this in a reusable module, create a new instance:
```js
const ctx = new chalk.constructor({enabled: false});
```
### chalk.level
Color support is automatically detected, but you can override it by setting the `level` property. You should however only do this in your own code as it applies globally to all Chalk consumers.
If you need to change this in a reusable module, create a new instance:
```js
const ctx = new chalk.constructor({level: 0});
```
Levels are as follows:
0. All colors disabled
1. Basic color support (16 colors)
2. 256 color support
3. Truecolor support (16 million colors)
### chalk.supportsColor
Detect whether the terminal [supports color](https://github.com/chalk/supports-color). Used internally and handled for you, but exposed for convenience.
Can be overridden by the user with the flags `--color` and `--no-color`. For situations where using `--color` is not possible, add the environment variable `FORCE_COLOR=1` to forcefully enable color or `FORCE_COLOR=0` to forcefully disable. The use of `FORCE_COLOR` overrides all other color support checks.
Explicit 256/Truecolor mode can be enabled using the `--color=256` and `--color=16m` flags, respectively.
## Styles
### Modifiers
- `reset`
- `bold`
- `dim`
- `italic` *(Not widely supported)*
- `underline`
- `inverse`
- `hidden`
- `strikethrough` *(Not widely supported)*
- `visible` (Text is emitted only if enabled)
### Colors
- `black`
- `red`
- `green`
- `yellow`
- `blue` *(On Windows the bright version is used since normal blue is illegible)*
- `magenta`
- `cyan`
- `white`
- `gray` ("bright black")
- `redBright`
- `greenBright`
- `yellowBright`
- `blueBright`
- `magentaBright`
- `cyanBright`
- `whiteBright`
### Background colors
- `bgBlack`
- `bgRed`
- `bgGreen`
- `bgYellow`
- `bgBlue`
- `bgMagenta`
- `bgCyan`
- `bgWhite`
- `bgBlackBright`
- `bgRedBright`
- `bgGreenBright`
- `bgYellowBright`
- `bgBlueBright`
- `bgMagentaBright`
- `bgCyanBright`
- `bgWhiteBright`
## Tagged template literal
Chalk can be used as a [tagged template literal](http://exploringjs.com/es6/ch_template-literals.html#_tagged-template-literals).
```js
const chalk = require('chalk');
const miles = 18;
const calculateFeet = miles => miles * 5280;
console.log(chalk`
There are {bold 5280 feet} in a mile.
In {bold ${miles} miles}, there are {green.bold ${calculateFeet(miles)} feet}.
`);
```
Blocks are delimited by an opening curly brace (`{`), a style, some content, and a closing curly brace (`}`).
Template styles are chained exactly like normal Chalk styles. The following two statements are equivalent:
Note that function styles (`rgb()`, `hsl()`, `keyword()`, etc.) may not contain spaces between parameters.
All interpolated values (`` chalk`${foo}` ``) are converted to strings via the `.toString()` method. All curly braces (`{` and `}`) in interpolated value strings are escaped.
## 256 and Truecolor color support
Chalk supports 256 colors and [Truecolor](https://gist.github.com/XVilka/8346728) (16 million colors) on supported terminal apps.
Colors are downsampled from 16 million RGB values to an ANSI color format that is supported by the terminal emulator (or by specifying `{level: n}` as a Chalk option). For example, Chalk configured to run at level 1 (basic color support) will downsample an RGB value of #FF0000 (red) to 31 (ANSI escape for red).
Background versions of these models are prefixed with `bg` and the first level of the module capitalized (e.g. `keyword` for foreground colors and `bgKeyword` for background colors).
If you're on Windows, do yourself a favor and use [`cmder`](http://cmder.net/) instead of `cmd.exe`.
## Origin story
[colors.js](https://github.com/Marak/colors.js) used to be the most popular string styling module, but it has serious deficiencies like extending `String.prototype` which causes all kinds of [problems](https://github.com/yeoman/yo/issues/68) and the package is unmaintained. Although there are other packages, they either do too much or not enough. Chalk is a clean and focused alternative.
## Related
- [chalk-cli](https://github.com/chalk/chalk-cli) - CLI for this module
- [ansi-styles](https://github.com/chalk/ansi-styles) - ANSI escape codes for styling strings in the terminal
- [supports-color](https://github.com/chalk/supports-color) - Detect whether a terminal supports color