---
name: "Data::Printer::Theme"
section: "3pm"
platform: "linux"
package: "libdata-printer-perl"
version: "1.002001-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/Data::Printer::Theme"
---

# Data::Printer::Theme(3pm)

create your own color themes for DDP!

## NAME

Data::Printer::Theme - create your own color themes for DDP!

## SYNOPSIS

```
    package Data::Printer::Theme::MyCustomTheme;
    sub colors {
        return {
            array       => '#aabbcc', # array index numbers
            number      => '#aabbcc', # numbers
            string      => '#aabbcc', # strings
            class       => '#aabbcc', # class names
            method      => '#aabbcc', # method names
            undef       => '#aabbcc', # the 'undef' value
            hash        => '#aabbcc', # hash keys
            regex       => '#aabbcc', # regular expressions
            code        => '#aabbcc', # code references
            glob        => '#aabbcc', # globs (usually file handles)
            vstring     => '#aabbcc', # version strings (v5.30.1, etc)
            lvalue      => '#aabbcc', # lvalue label
            format      => '#aabbcc', # format type
            true        => '#aabbcc', # boolean type (true)
            false       => '#aabbcc', # boolean type (false)
            repeated    => '#aabbcc', # references to seen values
            caller_info => '#aabbcc', # details on what's being printed
            weak        => '#aabbcc', # weak references flag
            tainted     => '#aabbcc', # tainted flag
            unicode     => '#aabbcc', # utf8 flag
            escaped     => '#aabbcc', # escaped characters (\t, \n, etc)
            brackets    => '#aabbcc', # (), {}, []
            separator   => '#aabbcc', # the "," between hash pairs, array elements, etc
            quotes      => '#aabbcc', # q(")
            unknown     => '#aabbcc', # any (potential) data type unknown to Data::Printer
        };
    }
    1;
```

Then in your `".dataprinter"` file:

```
    theme = MyCustomTheme
```

That's it! Alternatively, you can load it at runtime:

```
    use DDP theme => 'MyCustomTheme';
```

## DESCRIPTION

Data::Printer colorizes your output by default. Originally, the only way to customize colors was to override the default ones. Data::Printer 1.0 introduced themes, and now you can pick a theme or create your own.

Data::Printer comes with several themes for you to choose from:

- •

  Material *(the default)*

- •

  Monokai

- •

  Solarized

- •

  Classic *(original pre-1.0 colors)*

Run `"examples/try_me.pl"` to see them in action on your own terminal!

## CREATING YOUR THEMES

A theme is a module in the `"Data::Printer::Theme"` namespace. It doesn't have to inherit or load any module. All you have to do is implement a single function, `"colors"`, that returns a hash reference where keys are the expected color labels, and values are the colors you want to use.

Feel free to copy & paste the code from the SYNOPSIS and customize at will :)

### Customizing Colors

Setting any color to `"undef"` means *"Don't colorize this"*. Otherwise, the color is a string which can be one of the following:

*Named colors, Term::ANSIColor style (discouraged)*

Only 8 named colors are supported:

black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white

and their `"bright_XXX"`, `"on_XXX"` and `"on_bright_XXX"` variants.

Those are provided only as backards compatibility with older versions of Data::Printer and, because of their limitation, we encourage you to try and use one of the other representations.

*SGR Escape code (Terminal style)*

You may provide any SGR escape sequence, and they will be honored as long as you use double quotes (e.g. `"\e[38;5;196m"`). You may use this to achieve extra control like blinking, etc. Note, however, that some terminals may not support them.

*An RGB value in one of those formats (Recommended)*

```
    'rgb(0,255,30)'
    '#00FF3B'
```

**NOTE:** There may not be a real 1:1 conversion between RGB and terminal colors. In those cases we use approximation to achieve the closest option.

## SEE ALSO

Data::Printer