Under Development

Colour Names and Attributes

Colour Names and Attributes#

Colour Specification#

Objects in NeoMutt must be given both a foreground and background colour (it is not possible to specify one or the other). Note that default can be used as a transparent colour (see below).

Colours can be specified in three ways:

Method	Example	Description
Name	`green`, `blue`	Use the colour’s name
Palette number	`color12`, `color207`	Use the colour’s number in the 256 Xterm colour palette
Hexadecimal RGB	`#00FFFF`, `#12af84`	Use `#RRGGBB` notation (requires `$color_directcolor` to be set)

Regex-Matched and Pattern-Matched Objects#

Some colour objects require a regex or NeoMutt pattern as an additional argument (see Command Syntax below). These objects colour only the parts of the display that match the given expression.

Object	Match type	Applies to
`body`	regex	Email body text
`header`	regex	Email header lines
`index`	pattern	Entire index line
`index_author`	pattern	Author fields (`%A %a %F %L %n`)
`index_collapsed`	pattern	Collapsed thread count (`%M`)
`index_date`	pattern	Date field
`index_flags`	pattern	Flags (`%S %Z`)
`index_label`	pattern	Label (`%y %Y`)
`index_number`	pattern	Message number (`%C`)
`index_size`	pattern	Size (`%c %cr %l`)
`index_subject`	pattern	Subject (`%s`)
`index_tag`	pattern	Tag name (`%G`)
`index_tags`	pattern	Transformed tags (`%g %J`)
`status`	regex	Status bar text

Colour Names#

The following named colours are available for foreground and background:

Colour
`white`
`black`
`green`
`magenta`
`blue`
`cyan`
`yellow`
`red`
`default`

Colour Modifiers#

Named colours may be prefixed by a modifier:

Modifier	Effect	Example
`bright` or `light`	Make the colour boldfaced or light	`brightred`
`alert`	Make a blinking/alert colour	`alertred`

The precise behavior depends on the terminal and its configuration. The boldfaced/light difference and such background colours may be available only for terminals configured with at least 16 colours.

The `default` Colour#

If your terminal supports it, the special keyword default can be used as a transparent colour. In this case default can be used to only set the foreground or background colour individually:

# Make error messages white text on a red background
color error default red
color error white   default

Attributes#

In addition to colours, objects may have their attributes set:

Attribute
`none`
`bold`
`italic`
`reverse`
`standout`
`underline`

Simple Colour Objects#

These are general NeoMutt objects that can be coloured:

Object	Description
`attachment`	Colour for attachment headers
`bold`	Highlighting bold patterns in the body of messages
`error`	Error messages printed by NeoMutt
`hdrdefault`	Default colour of the message header in the pager
`indicator`	Arrow or bar used to indicate the current item in a menu
`markers`	The `+` markers at the beginning of wrapped lines in the pager
`message`	Informational messages
`normal`	Default colour for all text
`options`	The key letters in multi-choice questions
`progress`	Visual progress bar
`prompt`	A question
`search`	Highlighting of words in the pager
`signature`	Email’s signature lines (.sig)
`tilde`	The `~` used to pad blank lines in the pager
`tree`	Thread tree drawn in the message index and attachment menu
`underline`	Highlighting underlined patterns in the body of messages
`warning`	Warning messages

Sidebar Colour Objects#

Object	Description
`sidebar_background`	The entire sidebar panel
`sidebar_divider`	The dividing line between the Sidebar and the Index/Pager panels
`sidebar_flagged`	Mailboxes containing flagged mail
`sidebar_highlight`	Cursor to select a mailbox
`sidebar_indicator`	The mailbox open in the Index panel
`sidebar_new`	Mailboxes containing new mail
`sidebar_ordinary`	Mailboxes that have no new/flagged mails, etc
`sidebar_spool_file`	Mailbox that receives incoming mail
`sidebar_unread`	Mailboxes containing unread mail

Compose Colour Objects#

Object	Description
`compose_header`	Header labels, e.g. `From:`
`compose_security_encrypt`	Mail will be encrypted
`compose_security_sign`	Mail will be signed
`compose_security_both`	Mail will be encrypted and signed
`compose_security_none`	Mail will not be encrypted or signed

Quoted Email Colours#

The quoted email colours don’t use a pattern. The first colour, quoted, provides a default colour for all quoted text. Each different level of quoting can be given a different colour using quoted1 through quoted9.

Object	Description
`quoted`	Text matching `$quote_regex` in the body of a message
`quoted1`	1 level deeper quoted text, e.g. `> > text`
`quoted2`	2 level deeper quoted text, e.g. `> > > text`
…	…
`quoted9`	9 level deeper quoted text

Command Syntax#

color object [attribute ...] foreground background
color {header | body} [attribute ...] foreground background regex
color index [attribute ...] foreground background [pattern]
color status [attribute ...] foreground background [regex [num]]

uncolor object
uncolor {index | header | body} {* | pattern [...]}
uncolor status {* | regex [...]}

ANSI Escape Sequences#

NeoMutt’s pager recognises ANSI escape sequences embedded in message text and renders them as colour and attribute changes. Sequences use the format ESC[Ps;Ps;...m (e.g., \e[1;32m for bold green, \e[0m to reset).

Set Attributes#

Code	Effect
`0`	Normal (reset all attributes and colours)
`1`	Bold
`3`	Italic
`4`	Underline
`5`	Blink
`7`	Reverse video

Clear Attributes#

Code	Effect
`22`	Clear bold
`23`	Clear italic
`24`	Clear underline
`25`	Clear blink
`27`	Clear reverse video

Foreground Colours#

Code	Effect
`30`–`37`	Basic foreground colours (black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white)
`38;5;n`	256-colour palette foreground (`n` = 0–255)
`38;2;R;G;B`	True colour (24-bit RGB) foreground
`39`	Default foreground colour

Background Colours#

Code	Effect
`40`–`47`	Basic background colours (same order as foreground)
`48;5;n`	256-colour palette background (`n` = 0–255)
`48;2;R;G;B`	True colour (24-bit RGB) background
`49`	Default background colour