---
name: "pamgetcolor"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "netpbm"
version: "10.86.51-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pamgetcolor"
---

# pamgetcolor(1)

display the average colors from specified regions in an image.

## NAME

pamgetcolor - display the average colors from specified regions in an image.

## SYNOPSIS

**pamgetcolor** \[**-format** *format*\] \[**-radius** *radius*\] \[**-linear**\] \[**-infile** *pamfile*\] *region1* \[*region2* ...\]

## DESCRIPTION

This program is part of **Netpbm**(1) .

**pamgetcolor** prints the average colors of a set of circular regions in the input image.

You specify a region as a positional argument of the form *column*,*row*\[:*label*\], where *column* and *row* are the coordinates of the center of the circle (first row of pixels is row 0; leftmost column of pixels is column 0), and *label* an optional label that **pamgetcolor** shall display to identify that region in its output. All regions have he same radius, specified by the **-radius** option.  The region centers must lie within the image, but part of a region may fall outside the image; **pamgetcolor** considers only the part that is within the image in calculations.

## EXAMPLES

To read the color of the pixel at location (10,14) in the default format:

```
    pamgetcolor 10,14 -infile test.ppm
```

To read the colors of three pixels in the default format, assigning a label to each pixel:

```
    pamgetcolor 10,10:topleft 100,100:middle 200,200:bottomright -infile test.ppm
```

To read with 16-bit precision the average color in the circle with a radius of four pixels and the center at (100,100):

```
    pamgetcolor -format int:65535 -radius 4 100,100 -infile test.ppm
```

## OPTIONS

In addition to the options common to all programs based on libnetpbm (most notably **-quiet**, see \
  Common Options ⟨index.html#commonoptions⟩ ), **pamgetcolor** recognizes the following command line options:

- **-format**

  This specifies the format in which to output the colors.  The output is always a  Netpbm color specification ⟨libppm.html#colorname⟩ ; this format tells which of the various specifications for the same color the program uses.

  This argument is of the form *formatId*\[:*param*\], where *formatId* specifies the format and *param* is a positive integer parameter that, depending on *formatId*, indicates either precision or normalization. The following values are possible for *formatId*:

- int

  Samples are decimal integers normalized to the maxval specified by *param*.  Example: **rgb-255:255/128/64** This format is the default, with a maxval of 255.

- norm

  Samples are floating point numbers normalized to unity.  E.g. **rgbi:1.0/0.5/.25** *param* specifies precision as the number of digits in the fractional part.

- x11

  Samples are hexadecimal numbers with *param* digits, e.g. **rgb:01/ff/8000**

- **-radius**

  sets the radius of the regions. A value of zero causes **pamgetcolor** to measure a single pixel and is the default.

- **-infile**

  This specifies the Netpbm file to analyze.

  If you don't specify this option, **pamgetcolor** reads the image from Standard Input.

- **-linear**

  This tells **pamgetcolor** to work with the intensity-linear variation of Netpbm images where the samples are proportional to light intensity rather than to brightness, as in true (gamma-adjusted) Netpbm formats.

## SEE ALSO

[**pnmcolormap**(1)](/pnmcolormap/1.md) ,

## AUTHOR

This program was first submitted by Anton Shepelev (*anton.txt@gmail.com*).

## HISTORY

This program was new in Netpbm 10.83 (June 2018).

## Table Of Contents

- •

  SYNOPSIS ⟨#synopsis⟩

- •

  DESCRIPTION ⟨#description⟩

- •

  EXAMPLES ⟨#examples⟩

- •

  OPTIONS ⟨#options⟩

- •

  SEE ALSO ⟨#seealso⟩

- •

  AUTHOR ⟨#author⟩

- •

  HISTORY ⟨#history⟩

## DOCUMENT SOURCE

This manual page was generated by the Netpbm tool 'makeman' from HTML source.  The master documentation is at

-

  **http://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc/pamgetcolor.html**