Hi.
I'm trying to figure out how I can change the prompts from green to another colour, for example cyan or bright magenta.

I looked on this page and followed the example by setting up a text.ini file and as an example, created this line:

SubLstHdr: "\1-\1cSub-boards of \1h%-60.60s \1n\1cMsgs"\"\r\n\r\n\1h"

However, when viewing the prompt, it still shows in green. I've done the obvious like logging off, recycling, even restarting the SBBS daemon on the linux server, but the colours don't change. So I am guessing I'm missing something obvious. Would appreciate any help or guidance.

Thanks
Dave

---
þ Synchronet þ Frontier BBS - frontierbbs.co.uk
* Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)

Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Waveyuk to All on Thu Feb 05 2026 07:41 pm

Hi.
I'm trying to figure out how I can change the prompts from green to another colour, for example cyan or bright magenta.

I looked on this page and followed the example by setting up a text.ini file and as an example, created this line:

SubLstHdr: "\1-\1cSub-boards of \1h%-60.60s \1n\1cMsgs"\"\r\n\r\n\1h"

However, when viewing the prompt, it still shows in green.

That's not a prompt string, that's a listing header (e.g. displayed when using the (J)ump to area command). What prompt are you referring to?

I've done the
obvious like logging off, recycling, even restarting the SBBS daemon on the linux server, but the colours don't change. So I am guessing I'm missing something obvious. Would appreciate any help or guidance.

It sounds like you might just be changing the wrong string ID.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet "Real Fact" #66:
Synchronet was conceived of and mostly developed in southern California
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Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Digital Man to Waveyuk on Thu Feb 05 2026 16:04:35

Hi.

That's not a prompt string, that's a listing header (e.g. displayed when using the (J)ump to area command). What prompt are you referring to?

Basically, what I'm trying to achieve is anywhere that prompts or listing headers are shown in green, I want to change the colour from green to magenta/bright magenta. So, as an example, the heading as you mentioned, where is says "Sub-boards of <network>....Msgs" and then the list of messages themselves. Also prompts that appear at the bottom of the screen, such as the "(P)review, (R)eply/Mail, (G)oto, Find...(Q)uit (V)iew" which all appear in green. The reason for the change is I'm trying to make them aesthetically fit in with the colour of my BBS, which is predominantly magenta/bright megenta and purple.

Cheers
Dave

---
þ Synchronet þ Frontier BBS - frontierbbs.co.uk
* Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)

Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Waveyuk to Digital Man on Fri Feb 06 2026 11:22 am

Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Digital Man to Waveyuk on Thu Feb 05 2026 16:04:35

Hi.

That's not a prompt string, that's a listing header (e.g. displayed when using the (J)ump to area command). What prompt are you referring to?

Basically, what I'm trying to achieve is anywhere that prompts or listing headers are shown in green, I want to change the colour from green to magenta/bright magenta. So, as an example, the heading as you mentioned, where is says "Sub-boards of <network>....Msgs" and then the list of messages themselves. Also prompts that appear at the bottom of the screen, such as the "(P)review, (R)eply/Mail, (G)oto, Find...(Q)uit (V)iew" which all appear in green. The reason for the change is I'm trying to make them aesthetically fit in with the colour of my BBS, which is predominantly magenta/bright megenta and purple.

The example "prompt at the bottom of the screen" that you quoted appears to be from the msglist.js module. That particular prompt from that script is using "mnemonics" which get their color values from the ctrl/attr.ini file (or attr.cfg in older versions of Synchronet) file. So you want to change these lines in that file:
mnehigh = WH ; Mnemonic Prompts High mnelow = G ; Mnemonic Prompts Low mnecmd = WH ; Mnemonic Commands

e.g. change the G to M and the WH to MH. For a list of what those letters mean, see https://wiki.synchro.net/custom:ctrl-a_codes
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet "Real Fact" #70:
Rob Swindell was interviewed for Jason Scott's BBS Documentary in July of 2002 Norco, CA WX: 67.8øF, 63.0% humidity, 4 mph W wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
--- SBBSecho 3.36-Linux
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Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Digital Man to Waveyuk on Fri Feb 06 2026 15:01:53

Hi Rob

High mnelow = G ; Mnemonic Prompts Low mnecmd = WH ; Mnemonic Commands

Yup, that's what I've changed them to (in my install, which is running on Linux), I have the attr.ini file. I've changed the mnemonics values as suggested, restarted the services, but it has no effect and the green colours persist. Am I missing something obvious?

Dave

---
þ Synchronet þ Frontier BBS - frontierbbs.co.uk
* Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)

Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Waveyuk to Digital Man on Mon Feb 09 2026 02:17 pm

Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Digital Man to Waveyuk on Fri Feb 06 2026 15:01:53

Hi Rob

High mnelow = G ; Mnemonic Prompts Low mnecmd = WH ; Mnemonic Commands

Yup, that's what I've changed them to (in my install, which is running on Linux), I have the attr.ini file. I've changed the mnemonics values as suggested, restarted the services, but it has no effect and the green colours persist. Am I missing something obvious?

Which green colors are you referring to specifically? Some are going to be in the text.dat strings (which you can override via text.ini file), some are going to be in display files, some are going to be in scripts and the mnemonic colors that we already discussed are in the attr.ini file.
--
digital man (rob)

This Is Spinal Tap quote #29:
I find lost luggage. I locate mandolin strings in the middle of Austin!
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Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Digital Man to Waveyuk on Mon Feb 09 2026 13:34:42

Hi Rob

So here's a list of the menus and which key presses bring up the prompts that are currently in green that I'd like to change to the magenta colours.

MAIN MENU
---------
(N) New message scan
(L) List new messages
(P) View/Vote in polls
(A) Post auto messages
(F) Find text in messages
(S) Scan for messages to you
(J) Jump to new message area
(*) List sub-boards
(/*) List groups
(X) External programs
(U) User lists
(/L) Node activity

ELECTRONIC MAIL
---------------
(R) Read mail sent to you
(U) Unread mail
(K) Read/Kill mail you have sent

FILES
-----
(N) New file scan
(E) Extended file info
(F) Download file
(J) Jump to file area
(*) List sub-directories
(/*) List libraries
(F) Find text in description
(S) Search for file

In almost all of the above, the green I am referring to is the prompt that appears after you press the key, or in the case of listings, the green text showing message areas/messages/file areas etc.

If you can point me in the right direction to be able to change the colours on these screens, it would be a great help.

All the best
Dave

---
þ Synchronet þ Frontier BBS - frontierbbs.co.uk
* Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)

Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Waveyuk to Digital Man on Wed Feb 11 2026 05:45 pm

Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Digital Man to Waveyuk on Mon Feb 09 2026 13:34:42

Hi Rob

So here's a list of the menus and which key presses bring up the prompts that are currently in green that I'd like to change to the magenta colours.

MAIN MENU
---------
(N) New message scan
(L) List new messages
(P) View/Vote in polls
(A) Post auto messages
(F) Find text in messages
(S) Scan for messages to you
(J) Jump to new message area
(*) List sub-boards
(/*) List groups
(X) External programs
(U) User lists
(/L) Node activity

ELECTRONIC MAIL
---------------
(R) Read mail sent to you
(U) Unread mail
(K) Read/Kill mail you have sent

FILES
-----
(N) New file scan
(E) Extended file info
(F) Download file
(J) Jump to file area
(*) List sub-directories
(/*) List libraries
(F) Find text in description
(S) Search for file

In almost all of the above, the green I am referring to is the prompt that appears after you press the key, or in the case of listings, the green text showing message areas/messages/file areas etc.

If you can point me in the right direction to be able to change the colours on these screens, it would be a great help.

Most or all of those are "mnemonics" strings (they appear in the text.dat with tildes, ~, before each command key) and the color for mnemonics is controlled via the ctrl/attr.ini settings we already discussed.

I changed that one line in that one file and all those prompts are now magenta on my BBS:
mnelow = M Mnemonic Prompts Low
--
digital man (rob)

This Is Spinal Tap quote #6:
David St. Hubbins: He was the patron saint of quality footwear.
Norco, CA WX: 61.1øF, 80.0% humidity, 0 mph SE wind, 0.41 inches rain/24hrs
--- SBBSecho 3.37-Linux
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Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Digital Man to Waveyuk on Wed Feb 11 2026 02:32 pm

Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Waveyuk to Digital Man on Wed Feb 11 2026 05:45 pm

Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Digital Man to Waveyuk on Mon Feb 09 2026 13:34:42

Hi Rob

So here's a list of the menus and which key presses bring up the prompts that are currently in green that I'd like to change to the magenta colours.

MAIN MENU
---------
(N) New message scan
(L) List new messages
(P) View/Vote in polls
(A) Post auto messages
(F) Find text in messages
(S) Scan for messages to you
(J) Jump to new message area
(*) List sub-boards
(/*) List groups
(X) External programs
(U) User lists
(/L) Node activity

ELECTRONIC MAIL
---------------
(R) Read mail sent to you
(U) Unread mail
(K) Read/Kill mail you have sent

FILES
-----
(N) New file scan
(E) Extended file info
(F) Download file
(J) Jump to file area
(*) List sub-directories
(/*) List libraries
(F) Find text in description
(S) Search for file

In almost all of the above, the green I am referring to is the prompt that appears after you press the key, or in the case of listings, the green text showing message areas/messages/file areas etc.

If you can point me in the right direction to be able to change the colours on these screens, it would be a great help.

Most or all of those are "mnemonics" strings (they appear in the text.dat with tildes, ~, before each command key) and the color for mnemonics is controlled via the ctrl/attr.ini settings we already discussed.

I changed that one line in that one file and all those prompts are now magenta on my BBS:
mnelow = M Mnemonic Prompts Low

The other strings are in the ctrl/text.dat file e.g.
"\1-\1gSub-boards of \1h%-60.60s \1n\1gMsgs"\ 125 SubLstHdr
"\r\n\r\n\1h"

... which you can override by adding a line to your ctrl/text.ini file (replacing \1g with \1m):
SubLstHdr: "\1-\1mSub-boards of \1h%-60.60s \1n\1mMsgs\r\n\r\n\1h"
--
digital man (rob)

Breaking Bad quote #43:
Congratulations! You're now officially the cute one of the group.
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Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Digital Man to Waveyuk on Wed Feb 11 2026 02:40 pm

The other strings are in the ctrl/text.dat file e.g.
"\1-\1gSub-boards of \1h%-60.60s \1n\1gMsgs"\ 125 SubLstHdr
"\r\n\r\n\1h"

... which you can override by adding a line to your ctrl/text.ini file (replacing \1g with \1m):
SubLstHdr: "\1-\1mSub-boards of \1h%-60.60s \1n\1mMsgs\r\n\r\n\1h"

So whatever happened after this? Are you still having problems with text colors/attributes?
--
digital man (rob)

This Is Spinal Tap quote #6:
David St. Hubbins: He was the patron saint of quality footwear.
Norco, CA WX: 51.8øF, 80.0% humidity, 0 mph N wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
--- SBBSecho 3.37-Linux
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Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Digital Man to Waveyuk on Sun Feb 15 2026 21:50:37

Hi Rob...

So whatever happened after this? Are you still having problems with text colors/attributes?

Yeah, sorry for delay - my work has kept me busy the last week or so, and this is the first time I've had chance to come back and revisit!

Not only did I change the menomic as suggested, I searched the "text.dat" file for all instances of "Message Groups" of which there was two. I then copied the text lines as you showed in last message into a new text.ini file, and replaced any occurrence of "\1g" with "\1m". Saved the file, and logged on to the BBS and no change. I even tried "systemctl restart sbbs" to see if I needed to flush the BBS in some way, and it made no difference. So I am at a loss as to why these codes are not being picked up. It's very strange.

All the best
Dave

---
þ Synchronet þ Frontier BBS - frontierbbs.co.uk
* Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)

Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Waveyuk to Digital Man on Wed Feb 18 2026 03:38 pm

Re: Changing prompts from green to another colour?
By: Digital Man to Waveyuk on Sun Feb 15 2026 21:50:37

Hi Rob...

So whatever happened after this? Are you still having problems with text colors/attributes?

Yeah, sorry for delay - my work has kept me busy the last week or so, and this is the first time I've had chance to come back and revisit!

Not only did I change the menomic as suggested, I searched the "text.dat" file for all instances of "Message Groups" of which there was two. I then copied the text lines as you showed in last message into a new text.ini file, and replaced any occurrence of "\1g" with "\1m". Saved the file, and logged on to the BBS and no change. I even tried "systemctl restart sbbs" to see if I needed to flush the BBS in some way, and it made no difference. So I am at a loss as to why these codes are not being picked up. It's very strange.

Can you paste the contents of your ctrl/attr.ini and text.ini files here so I can see what you have?

Also, if you could run the following command, as sysop, from the Terminal Server (default command shell works best):

;eval console.color_list

and paste the output of that here, that'd be helpful as well.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet "Real Fact" #23:
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