Ruby script I wrote to help me learn the language better. It is an echo like utility that utilizes english colors/modes for terminal output rather than complicated char codes. It's not fully polished or the most practical of tools, but it worked for what

Echo.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

#Usage:
#   Echo.bold OutputString
#


# \e[z;XX;YYm
class TermFormat
    @DEFAULTS ={
            "FOREGROUND"  => "green",
            "BACKGROUND"  => "none",
            "MODE"        => "normal"
    }

    @FOREGROUND=30
    @BACKGROUND=40
    @MODES ={  #blink won't work unless called from console in OSX
        "normal"      => 0,
        "bold"        => 1,
        "underline"   => 4,
        "blink"       => 5,
        "invert"      => 7
    }
    @COLORS={
        "black"       => 0,
        "red"         => 1,
        "green"       => 2,
        "yellow"      => 3,
        "purple"      => 4,
        "magenta"     => 5,
        "blue"        => 6,
        "white"       => 7,
        "none"        => 99
    }


    def initialize
         ObjectSpace.define_finalizer( self, self.class.finalize )
    end

    def finalize
        proc { reset }
    end

    def self.chkMode(mode)
        @MODES.has_key?(mode)
    end

    def self.chkColor(color)
        @COLORS.has_key?(color)
    end

    def self.reset
        `echo \e[0;m`
    end

    def self.help
        puts """Usage:
            ./Echo.rb mode bg fg msg
            ./Echo.rb mode fg msg
            ./Echo.rb fg msg
            ./Echo.rb msg"""

        modeHelp
        colorHelp
    end

    def self.modeHelp
        puts "Valid Modes: "
        puts "\t#{@MODES.keys.join(", ")}"
    end

    def self.colorHelp
        puts "Valid Colors: "
        puts "\t#{@COLORS.keys.join(", ")}"
    end

    def self.warning(msg)
        puts "Warning!"
        puts "\t#{msg}"
    end

    #Main
    if ARGV.size > 0
        argc = ARGV.size

        msgIndex = 0
        escIndex = -1
        bgIndex  = -1
        fgIndex  = -1


        if argc == 2 && chkColor(ARGV[0])
            fgIndex  = 0
            msgIndex = 1
        end

        if argc == 3 && chkMode(ARGV[0]) && chkColor(ARGV[1])
            escIndex  = 0
            fgIndex   = 1
            msgIndex  = 2
        end

        if argc >= 4 &&  chkMode(ARGV[0]) && chkColor(ARGV[1]) && chkColor(ARGV[2])
            escIndex  = 0
            bgIndex   = 1
            fgIndex   = 2
            msgIndex  = 3
        end

        fgColor = fgIndex  >= 0 ? ARGV[fgIndex].to_s.downcase  : @DEFAULTS["FOREGROUND"]
        bgColor = bgIndex  == 1 ? ARGV[bgIndex].to_s.downcase  : @DEFAULTS["BACKGROUND"]
        escCode = escIndex == 0 ? ARGV[escIndex].to_s.downcase : @DEFAULTS["MODE"]

        e   = @MODES[escCode]
        f   = fgColor != "none" ? "#{@COLORS[fgColor].to_i + @FOREGROUND};" : ""
        b   = bgColor != "none" ? "#{@COLORS[bgColor].to_i + @BACKGROUND};" : ""

        msg = ARGV.slice(msgIndex,argc).join(" ")
        #\e[0;32;31;mhello
        puts "\e[#{e};#{f}#{b}m#{msg}"
    else
        help
    end
end