xterm256color
Xterm256color is a terminfo capability and a widely adopted terminal type for 256-color support in terminal emulators such as xterm and its derivatives. It is commonly exposed to applications by setting the TERM environment variable to xterm-256color, allowing programs to select colors from a 256-color palette. Many modern terminal applications and build tools rely on this designation to enable richer color output.
The 256-color palette is divided into three groups. The first 16 colors (0–15) provide the standard eight
Terminals supporting xterm-256color use ANSI SGR escape sequences to choose colors. For example, 38;5;n selects a
Compatibility notes indicate that xterm-256color denotes 256-color capability, not true color. While many terminals also support