N.2. Configuring the Colors
The actual colors to be used are configured using the environment variable
PG_COLORS
(note plural). The value is a colon-separated list of
pairs. The keys specify what the color is to be used for. The values are
SGR (Select Graphic Rendition) specifications, which are interpreted by the
terminal.
key
=
value
The following keys are currently in use:
-
error -
used to highlight the text " error " in error messages
-
warning -
used to highlight the text " warning " in warning messages
-
note -
used to highlight the text " detail " and " hint " in such messages
-
locus -
used to highlight location information (e.g., program name and file name) in messages
The default value is
error=01;31:warning=01;35:note=01;36:locus=01
(
01;31
= bold red,
01;35
= bold
magenta,
01;36
= bold cyan,
01
= bold
default color).
Tip
This color specification format is also used by other software packages such as GCC , GNU coreutils , and GNU grep .