Terminal colors and gradients in Python

colors.py

import io
import sys

ANSI_SEQ = "\x1b[{}m"
FG_RGB = "38;2;{};{};{}"
BG_RGB = "48;2;{};{};{}"
RESET="0"
FRAMED="51"

ATTRS = {key:code for key, code in [line.strip().split()   for line in """\
    bold 1
    faint 2
    italic 3
    underline 4
    blink 5
    fast_blink 6
    reverse 7
    conceal 8
    crossed 9
    fraktur 20
    double_underline 21
    framed 51
    encircled 52
    overlined 54\
""".split("\n")]}


def printc(*args, **kw):
    """Extends print function to add color printing parameters in compatible terminals.

    Use the optional bg= or fg= parameters to pass colors for foreground or background
    respectively. Parameters should be a 3-sequence with RGB numbers from 0 to 255
    as string or decimal.
    Use the optional end_fg and end_bg parameters to create color gradients
    from the starting color to the ending ones.

    Other attributes can be accepted as "True" according  the keys in ATTRS

    """
    extra_options = {}
    for argname, value in list(kw.items()):
        if argname in ATTRS:
            extra_options[argname] = kw.pop(argname)

    fg_param = kw.pop("start_fg", kw.pop("fg", None))
    bg_param = kw.pop("start_bg", kw.pop("bg", None))

    start_fg = fg = tuple(int(comp) for comp in (fg_param if fg_param else (0, 0, 0)))
    start_bg = bg = tuple(int(comp) for comp in (bg_param if bg_param else (0, 0, 0)))

    end_fg = tuple(int(comp) for comp in kw.pop("end_fg", fg))
    end_bg = tuple(int(comp) for comp in kw.pop("end_bg", bg))

    original_file = kw.pop("file", sys.stdout)
    original_flush = kw.pop("flush", False)
    original_end = kw.pop("end", None)
    text_io = io.StringIO()
    print(*args, **kw, file=text_io, end="")
    text = text_io.getvalue()

    if not fg_param and not bg_param or not len(text):
        return print(*args, **kw)

    fg_gradient = start_fg != end_fg
    bg_gradient = start_bg != end_bg

    text_io = io.StringIO()

    extra_attrs = ";".join(ATTRS[key] for key in extra_options)
    if extra_attrs:
        text_io.write(ANSI_SEQ.format(extra_attrs))
    for i, character in enumerate(text):
        ansi_str = ""
        if start_fg and (i == 0 or fg_gradient):
            ansi_str = FG_RGB.format(*fg)

        if start_bg and (i == 0 or bg_gradient):
            ansi_str +=  (";" if ansi_str else "") + BG_RGB.format(*bg)

        if ansi_str:
            text_io.write(ANSI_SEQ.format(ansi_str))

        text_io.write(character)

        fg = tuple(int(comp + i * (end_comp - comp) / len(text)) for comp, end_comp in zip(fg, end_fg))
        bg = tuple(int(comp + i * (end_comp - comp) / len(text)) for comp, end_comp in zip(bg, end_bg))

    text_io.write(ANSI_SEQ.format(RESET))

    return print(text_io.getvalue(), end=original_end, flush=original_flush, file=original_file)

This needs a compatible and configured terminal - this includes a terminal with support for 16M colors, which does not come by default eihter on Windows or Mac OS. For Windows use the "terminal" app in the microsoft store, and for Mac OS the "iterm2" program. Anyway, after creating this, I authored the "terminedia" package which features a print function with similar capabilities and can take tokens on the form terminidia.print("[color: red][effects: blink] This text in blinking red")