godested / picocolors

2x times faster than nanocolors and use 2x less space in node_modules

picocolors

npm install picocolors

A tinier and faster alternative to nanocolors. Andrey, are you even trying?

import pc from "picocolors";

console.log(pc.green(`How are ${pc.italic(`you`)} doing?`));

• Up to 2x faster and 2x smaller than alternatives
• 3x faster and 10x smaller than chalk
• TypeScript support
• NO_COLOR friendly
• Node.js v6+ & browsers support
• The same API, but faster, much faster
• No String.prototype modifications (anyone still doing it?)
• No dependencies and the smallest node_modules footprint

Prior Art

Credits go to the following projects:

• Nanocolors by @ai
• Colorette by @jorgebucaran
• Kleur by @lukeed
• Colors.js by @Marak
• Chalk by @sindresorhus

Usage

Picocolors provides an object which includes a variety of text coloring and formatting functions

import pc from "picocolors";

The object includes following coloring functions: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, gray.

console.log(`I see a ${pc.red("red door")} and I want it painted ${pc.black("black")}`);

The object also includes following background color modifier functions: bgBlack, bgRed, bgGreen, bgYellow, bgBlue, bgMagenta, bgCyan, bgWhite.

console.log(
  pc.bgBlack(
    pc.white(`Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush.`)
  )
);

Besides colors, the object includes following formatting functions: dim, bold, hidden, italic, underline, strikethrough, reset, inverse.

for (let task of tasks) {
  console.log(`${pc.bold(task.name)} ${pc.dim(task.durationMs + "ms")}`);
}

The library provides additional utilities to ensure the best results for the task:

• isColorSupported — boolean, explicitly tells whether or not the colors or formatting appear on the screen

  import pc from "picocolors";
  
  if (pc.isColorSupported) {
    console.log("Yay! This script can use colors and formatters");
  }

• createColors(enabled) — a function that returns a new API object with manually defined color support configuration

  import pc from "picocolors";
  
  let { red, bgWhite } = pc.createColors(options.enableColors);

Benchmarks

nanocolors benchmark:

./test/size.js
Data from packagephobia.com
chalk         101 kB
cli-color    1249 kB
ansi-colors    25 kB
kleur          21 kB
colorette      16 kB
nanocolors     16 kB
+picocolors     8 kB

$ ./test/complex-benchmark.js
chalk          2,618,824 ops/sec
cli-color        326,445 ops/sec
ansi-colors    1,057,188 ops/sec
kleur          2,543,659 ops/sec
kleur/colors   2,841,679 ops/sec
colorette      3,219,038 ops/sec
nanocolors     3,672,600 ops/sec
+picocolors    6,079,950 ops/sec

colorette benchmark:

$ npm start
+picocolors × 1,203,773 ops/sec
chalk × 474,359 ops/sec
kleur × 482,915 ops/sec
colors × 233,138 ops/sec
colorette × 657,896 ops/sec
nanocolors × 660,817 ops/sec
ansi-colors × 290,986 ops/sec