Bourne or bash terminal see/display text in all 256 colors

show-256-colors.sh

#!/bin/sh

# if your TERM is not set to *-256color or the like then run this:
# export TERM=xterm-256color

i=0
while [ $i -ne 255 ]
do
        i=$(($i+1))
        tput setaf $i && echo -n "setaf $i in color tags "
        tput setaf $i | xxd
done

# note - this will only change fg text colors
# it does not explore underlines, background color or 'bold'