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COLOR Statement Details
 
Syntax
  COLOR [foreground][,[background][,border]]     Screen mode   0
  COLOR [background][,palette]                   Screen mode   1
  COLOR [foreground][,background]                Screen modes  7-10
  COLOR [foreground]                             Screen modes 11-13
 
With the COLOR statement, you can set the foreground and background
colors for the display. In screen mode 0 a border color can also
be selected. In screen mode 1 no foreground color can be selected,
but one of two four-color palettes can be selected for use with
graphics statements. In screen modes 12-13 only the foreground color
can be set.
 
The values of foreground in screen modes 7-10, 12, and 13 are
attribute numbers (not color numbers) and display the color
assigned to that attribute. See the PALETTE statement for a
description of attributes.
 
The COLOR statement does not determine the range of available
colors. The combination of adapter, display, and the mode set by the
SCREEN statement determine the color range. See the SCREEN
statement for more information.
 
The different syntaxes and their effects in different screen modes
are described below:
 
  Mode         Description
 
  SCREEN 0     Modifies the current default text foreground and
               background colors and the screen border. The
               foreground color must be an integer expression in
               the range 0-31. It determines the "foreground"
               color in text mode-the default color of text.
               Sixteen colors can be selected with the integers
               0-15. You can select a blinking version of a color
               by adding 16 to the color number. For example
               a blinking color 7 is equal to 7 + 16, or 23.
 
               The background color is an integer expression in
               the range 0-7 and is the color of the background
               for each text character. Blinking background colors
               are not supported.
 
               The border color-the color used to draw the screen
               border-is an integer expression in the range 0-15.
               The IBM Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA), the IBM
               Video Graphics Array adapter (VGA), and the IBM
               Multicolor Graphics Array adapter (MCGA) do not
               support the border argument.
 
  SCREEN 1     In mode 1, the COLOR statement has a unique syntax
               that includes a palette argument that is an odd or
               even integer expression in the range 0 to 255. This
               argument determines which of two sets of colors to
               use when displaying particular color numbers.
 
               The default colors for the palette parameter are
               equivalent to the following PALETTE statements on
               a system equipped with an EGA:
 
               COLOR ,0     'Same as the next three
                            'PALETTE statements.
               PALETTE 1,2  'Attribute 1 = color 2 (green)
               PALETTE 2,4  'Attribute 2 = color 4 (red)
               PALETTE 3,6  'Attribute 3 = color 6 (yellow)
 
               COLOR ,1     'Same as the next three
                            'PALETTE statements.
               PALETTE 1,3  'Attribute 1 = color 3 (cyan)
               PALETTE 2,5  'Attribute 2 = color 5 (magenta)
               PALETTE 3,7  'Attribute 3 = color 7 (white)
 
               Note that in screen mode 1, a COLOR statement
               overrides previous PALETTE statements.
 
  SCREEN 2     An "Illegal function call" message results if COLOR
               is used in this mode.
 
  SCREEN 7,    In these modes, no border color can be specified.
         8,    the graphics background is given by the background
         9,    color number, which must be in the range of valid
         10    color numbers for the screen mode. The foreground
               color argument is the default line-drawing color.
               In screen modes 7 to 10 foreground is an attribute
               number, while background is a color number. See the
               SCREEN statement for more details.
 
  SCREEN 11    Use the PALETTE statement to set color in screen
               mode 11. An "Illegal function call" message results if
               COLOR is used in this mode.
 
  SCREEN 12,   No background color can be specified in these modes.
         13    The foreground argument is the attribute used for
               the foreground graphics color. The attribute must
               be in the correct range for the screen mode. See
               the SCREEN statement for more information.
 
Arguments outside the valid ranges produce error messages that read
"Illegal function call."
 
The foreground can be the same color as the background, making
displayed characters invisible. The default background is black, or
color number 0 for all display hardware configurations and all screen
modes.
 
In screen modes 12 and 13 you can set the background color by
assigning a color to attribute 0 with a PALETTE statement. For
example, to make the background color 8224 (a light violet), you would
use the following PALETTE statement:
 
  PALETTE 0,8224
 
In screen mode 11 you can set both the foreground and background color
by assigning a color to attribute 0 with a PALETTE statement.
 
With an EGA, VGA, or MCGA installed, the PALETTE statement gives you
flexibility in assigning different display colors to the actual
color-number ranges for the foreground, background, and border colors
discussed above. See the PALETTE statement for more details.