256 colors.
ESC[ 38;5;⟨n⟩ m Select foreground color ESC[ 48;5;⟨n⟩ m Select background color
where n is:
0- 7: standard colors (as in ESC [ 30–37 m) 8- 15: high intensity colors (as in ESC [ 90–97 m) 16-231: 6 × 6 × 6 cube (216 colors): 16 + 36 × r + 6 × g + b (0 ≤ r, g, b ≤ 5) 232-255: grayscale from black to white in 24 steps
where:
echo -e "\033[38;5;1mThis is in RED"
echo -e "\033[38;5;9mThis is in BRIGHT RED"
for (( i = 0; i < 16; i++ )); do echo -e "\033[38;5;"$i"mHello"; done