This Perl module is a simple and convenient interface to the ANSI terminal

escape sequences for color (from ECMA-48, also included in ISO 6429).  The

color sequences are provided in two forms, either as constants for each

color or via a function that takes the names of colors and returns the

appropriate escape codes or wraps them around the provided text.  The

non-color text style codes from ANSI X3.64 (bold, dark, underline, and

reverse, for example), which were also included in ECMA-48 and ISO 6429,

are also supported.  Also supported are the extended colors used for

sixteen-color and 256-color emulators.

This module is very stable, and I've used it in a wide variety of

applications.  It has been included in the core Perl distribution starting

with version 5.6.0, so you don't need to download and install it yourself

unless you have an old version of Perl or need a newer version of the

module than comes with your version of Perl.  I continue to maintain it as

a separate module, and the version included in Perl is resynced with mine

before each release.

The original module came out of a discussion in comp.lang.perl.misc and is

a combination of two approaches, one with constants by Zenin and one with

functions that I wrote.  I offered to maintain a combined module that

included both approaches.