Echo text with colours in your batch files, with the free sfk echo command for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

sfk echo [options] string [string2] [string3] [...]
sfk tell [-spat] string [string2] [string3] [...]

prints the supplied string, which may contain color patterns:

    [Red],[Green],[Blue],[Yellow],[Cyan],[Magenta]   (bright)
    [red],[green],[blue],[yellow],[cyan],[magenta]   (dark)
      print the following text in the selected color.

    [def]
      switch back to default color.

    [[ print the '[' character, no not interpret the following word.
    ]] print the ']' character, do not interpret it.

options:
   -literal  or -lit disables everything, even color patterns,
             i.e. words in brackets like [red] are not changed.
   -noline   stay in the same line, print no linefeed.
             if your string ends with \r, -noline is assumed.
             for command chaining -noline requires -literal
             and a command accepting binary data, like xed:
                sfk echo -lit -noline "%1" +xed ...
   -pure     same as -literal -noline. use this always to send
             chain input data as unchanged as possible, like
             filenames from parameters, to following commands:
                sfk echo -pure "%1" +xed "_/_\\_" ...
   -stream   no extra linefeeds, no colors, binary transfer.
             best for following +setvar or +xed commands.
   -spat     activates slash patterns: \t=TAB \q=" \r=CR \n=LF
             \xnn = any code with hex value nn. can be given
             after -lit to use slash patterns without colors.
   -join[line]  join all into one line. line ends are stripped
             from quoted multi line parms (full trim). multiple
             string parameters are joined without blanks.
   -lines    print every given string as a single line.

command chaining support

   sfk tell  just prints to terminal, and never sends text
             to a following command. always prefer this
             if you just want to print an info to terminal.

   sfk echo  will send the given text to a following command
             if it accepts text or filename list input.

   by default, echo produces only text data, not filenames.
   to send this to file commands use +texttofilenames or +ttf.
   echo -lines may produce filename lists directly.

quoted multi line parameters are supported in scripts
   using auto indent. type "sfk script" for details.
   use option -joinline to apply full trim.

see also: sfk help colors

web reference
   http://stahlworks.com/sfk-echo

examples
   sfk tell "[Red]error:[def] missing filename."
      prints "error: missing filename." onto terminal.

   sfk tell [Cyan]NOTE:[def] type the word [[red]] with brackets!
      prints "NOTE: type the word [red] with brackets!" onto terminal.

   sfk echo "[Green]mytext contains:[def]" +then filter mytext.txt
      +then forces echo not to pass its text to filter, but to
      print it immediately. filter then prints the content of mytext.

   sfk tell "[Green]mytext contains:[def]" +filter mytext.txt
      same as above, but shorter. tell never sends text to following
      commands therefore +then is not required.

   sfk tell -nocconv -spat "\xc9\xcd\xbb\n\xba \xba\n\xc8\xcd\xbc\n"
      print a graphical box using extended dos characters.
      more infos under sfk ascii -dos and sfk help opt

   sfk echo -spat "foo\nand\nbar" +tofile mydir\test1.txt
      create a small text file with three text lines

   sfk tell -spat "\x2b++foo+++"
      print the word 'foo' surrounded by plus characters.
      first plus must be masked as \x2b otherwise sfk thinks
      it is the next chain command.

   sfk echo -pure "C:\in.txt" +xed -dump
      send the string C:\in.txt as unchanged as possible to xed
      and create a hexdump, to check that no (CR)LF was added.

   sfk echo -pure -spat "foo\tbar" +xed -dump
      send the word "foo" followed by tab character then "bar"
      to xed and create a hexdump. "\t" is changed by -spat.

   sfk echo -lines 100 101 102 +perline "web .$text/status.xml"
      load page /status.xml from three local ip's .100, .101, .102
 
sfk color colorname

   switches the text color of terminal (command line).
   supported color names are:

      white  
      grey   
      red    
      green  
      blue   
      yellow 
      cyan   
      magenta
      black