How can I configure Mac Terminal to have color ls output?

For the Catalina version, you need to add export CLICOLOR=1 in ~/.zshrc.

If you want to adjust the colour palette, change colours theme in terminal settings.

UPDATE: I switched to Oh my zsh a year back and it is awesome. My favourite theme is lambda-mod and my version of it.


Combining all the answers here is what I use:

COLOR_RED="33[0;31m"
COLOR_YELLOW="33[0;33m"
COLOR_GREEN="33[0;32m"
COLOR_OCHRE="33[38;5;95m"
COLOR_BLUE="33[0;34m"
COLOR_WHITE="33[0;37m"
COLOR_RESET="33[0m"

#git_color
function git_color {
  local git_status="$(git status 2> /dev/null)"

  if [[ ! $git_status =~ "working directory clean" ]]; then
    echo -e $COLOR_RED
  elif [[ $git_status =~ "Your branch is ahead of" ]]; then
    echo -e $COLOR_YELLOW
  elif [[ $git_status =~ "nothing to commit" ]]; then
    echo -e $COLOR_GREEN
  else
    echo -e $COLOR_OCHRE
  fi
}

#git_branch
function git_branch {
  local git_status="$(git status 2> /dev/null)"
  local on_branch="On branch ([^${IFS}]*)"
  local on_commit="HEAD detached at ([^${IFS}]*)"

  if [[ $git_status =~ $on_branch ]]; then
    local branch=${BASH_REMATCH[1]}
    echo "($branch)"
  elif [[ $git_status =~ $on_commit ]]; then
    local commit=${BASH_REMATCH[1]}
    echo "($commit)"
  fi
}

PS1='[33[01;32m]u[33[00m]:[33[01;34m]w[33[00m]'
PS1+="[$(git_color)]"        # colors git status
PS1+="$(git_branch)"           # prints current branch
PS1+="[$COLOR_BLUE][$COLOR_RESET]$ "
export PS1

export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
export CLICOLOR=1
export LSCOLORS=gxBxhxDxfxhxhxhxhxcxcx
alias ls="ls -Gp"

Simply add the following line to ~/.bash_profile file:

export PS1=" [33[34m]u@h [33[33m]w[33[31m][33[00m] $ "

Preview:

This is my preferred colors. You can customize each part of prompt's color by changing m codes (e.g. 34m) which are ANSI color codes.

List of ANSI Color codes:

• Black: 30m
• Red: 31m
• Green: 32m
• Yellow: 33m
• Blue: 34m
• Purple: 35m
• Cyan: 36m
• White: 37m

I find that all I need really is adding this to my ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc (for Bash) or ~/.zshrc (for Zsh, the new default shell in Catalina)

export CLICOLOR=1

Personally, I'm using Oh My Zsh for adding color and other tricks to my Terminal. I think that is the easiest way.

oh-my-zsh is an open source, community-driven framework for managing your Zsh configuration.

It comes bundled with a ton of helpful functions, helpers, plugins, themes, and a few things that make you shout…

Forget all those decades-old cryptic codes for gosh sakes, use the built in Terminal --> Preferences... Settings pane to set the default skin, and edit the ANSI colors to your liking. You can set the font, too. I prefer Menlo 12pt. This is how any regular Joe can do it, and avoid all the crazy command-line, unix-esque way of doing things as other posters have suggested.

Also you can customize the prompt color (and its format) by adding:

PS1='[e[0;33m]h:W u$[e[m] '

to ~/.bash_profile or ~/.profile file. Where 0;33 is regular yellow which looks nice in my black/semitransparent terminal window.

Here is a full list of colors and their explanations: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Color_Bash_Prompt

Another option is to use the GNU ls which is part of the 'coreutils' program.

You can get it via Rudix or Homebrew (brew info coreutils)or Macports or Fink. That might be preferable to using a "Mac OS X-only" solution if you use the same shell config files on different systems, or are already familiar with GNU ls.

If you want a readable Mac OS X Terminal color scheme, you may want to look into this:

• http://toddwerth.com/2008/01/25/a-black-os-x-leopard-terminal-theme-that-is-actually-readable/
• http://toddwerth.com/2011/07/21/the-original-ir_black-for-os-x-lion/

I've been using this for over a year now, and I might not be able to function without it!

Here's an updated link:

• https://github.com/justincase/IR_Black-OSX

Edit:

~/.bash_profile

or

~/.profile

and add the following line to simply enable color output via ls:

export CLICOLOR=1

To customize the coloring shown by ls you can optionally add this variable, LSCOLORS.

Examples

• Default

  export LSCOLORS=ExFxCxDxBxegedabagacad
  

• You can use this if you are using a black background

  export LSCOLORS=gxBxhxDxfxhxhxhxhxcxcx
  

• If you'd like to mimic the colors of a typical Linux terminal:

  export LSCOLORS=ExGxBxDxCxEgEdxbxgxcxd
  

Once you've add the above to either ~/.bash_profile or ~/.profile you can either logout/login or source the file in your shell, for eg:

$ . ~/.bash_profile

NOTE: If you need help in selecting colors to use you can use this online tool called LSCOLORS Generator.

You can add

alias ls='ls -G'

to your ~/.bash_profile to get colored ls output.