CoLoR🎨 PaRsLeY🌿

colorParsley()

A lightweight but versatile color parsing utility with no dependencies

Current Version: 0.1.8

NEW in 0.1.8: colorToHex and colorToRGB now round by default, and input strings using CSS color() have output array values multiplied by 255 for consistency with all other arrays.. NEW in 0.1.7: output array will now always have an alpha value, with the default as 1 for inputs that lack an alpha. "Failed" parsings will return an alpha of 0.

ColoR PaRsLeY is a spin off of the SAPC/APCA project. It is a lightweight but powerful tool for parsing color values out of various string types. It supports HEX, RGB INT, HTML & CSS Named Colors, and a variety of additional color models.

ColoR PaRsLeY returns a simple four element array of RGBA INT for HEX or RGB INT inputs, but longer arrays are available for the specialty category.

QuickStart

NPM Install: npm i colorparsley

Usage:

"colorParsley()" send it a string, it returns an rgba INT array:

1    let textColor = colorParsley('#111111');
2    let backgroundColor = colorParsley('rgb(123,23,233,1.0)');
3
4    console.log(textColor); // [17,17,17,1,true,'sRGB']
5    console.log(backgroundColor); // [123,23,233,1,true,'sRGB']
6    
7    // STRUCTURE
8    returnedArray = [R,G,B,A,isValidBool,colorspaceString]

The following are the available input types for colorParsley(). All are automatically recognized:

INPUT as STRINGS:

• No Alpha
  • '#abc' or 'abc' (interpreted as 'aabbcc')
  • '#abcdef' or 'abcdef' (hash is ignored)
  • 'rgb(123, 45, 67)' or '123,45,67'
  • 'aquamarine' or 'magenta' (full CSS4 named colors list)
  • 'color(srgb 0.765 0.89 0.556)'
• With Alpha
  • '#abcf' or 'abcf' (interpreted as 'aabbccff')
  • '#123456ff' or '123456ff' (hash is ignored)
  • 'rgba(123, 45, 67, 1.0)'
  • 'color(srgb 0.765 0.89 0.556 / 1)'
• Greyscale Shorthand
  • '#ab' or 'ab' (interpreted as if'ababab')
  • '123,'(interpreted as if'rgb(123, 123, 123)')
  • '87%'(interpreted as if 'rgb(87%, 87%, 87%)' = [221.85,221.85,221.85])

NEW:

• CSS 4 compatible changes:
  • INTs changed to NUMBER (i.e. 123 can now be 123.9586)
  • Added support for color(srgb 0.765 0.89 0.556 / 1)
• HSL and HWB now!
  • hsl(310,40%,60%, 1) (alpha optional)
• NEW export utilities for hex and rgb strings
  • colorToHex(colorParsley('rgb(170,187,204)')) returns abc
  • colorToRGB(colorParsley('abc')) returns rgb(170,187,204)
• Better error handling—now errors return [0,0,0,'',false,'<error message>']
• Send it an object containing {r: g: b:} or {red: green: blue:}
• Send it a simple array [r,g,b,a]
• Greyscale shortcuts!
  • For HEX, just two digits: a7 means #a7a7a7
  • For INT, 1-3 digits followed by a comma: 123, means rgb(123,123,123)
  • For PCT, 1-3 digits followed by a %: 87% means rgb(87%,87%,87%)
    • and is output as [221.85,221.85,221.85,'',...]
• "More better" regex validations and input type steering
  • Each RGB value must be 0.0-255.0. Alpha is 0.0-1 or 0% to 100%
  • Alpha values with percent symbol are converted to 0.0-1.0
  • RGB Color values in percent are converted to 0.0-255.0
• regex parsing for lch, hsv, luv, etc.
  • first 3-5 characters defines the color type
  • minimal verification and maximum flexibility for different color space and color model types.
  • Supports INT, float, and percentage with % symbol.
  • All values with percent symbol are converted to 0.0-1.0
  • NOTE: at this time, these are not processed into an rgba array and
  • other than percentage, values are left as is, and
  • the color type is returned as the sixth element in the array

Sending as a NUMBER:

• As hex
  • 0xabcdef
• As integer
  • 11259375

No alpha parsing for numbers

RETURNS

• All hex and rgb() inputs return a 6 element rgba NUMBER array

  • [255,255,255,1,true,'sRGB']

• A value input with a percentage symbol % is divided by 100.0

• Values are assumed to be 8bit unless a decimal point is found.

• The "isValid" boolean is the 5th element in the return array.

• The 6th array element is colorspace or model (i.e. hsl) (default sRGB)

  • [255,255,255,1,true,'sRGB']

Future

Passthrough values to be added to the array to be returned.

• An optional 7th array element is the gamma or TRC (default sRGB or per table)
  • [322,0.7,0.5,1,'hsv',2.2]
• An optional 8th array element is the bitdepth (default 8bit per channel)
  • [0.95,1.1,0.76,1,'RGB','1.0','32.0f','D65']
• An optional 9th array element is the whitepoint (default D65)
  • [123,123,123,1,'ProPhoto','1.8','D50']

Thoughts? Discuss at the repo!

---

COMPANION CODE SNIPPET

The following code snippet is useful for auto-enter entry fields where you want instant response. This function cleans up entry keys as needed — adjust the keys to allow for your interface.

Here the function just calls colorParsley(), but of course add whatever calls you need.

1    // Entry Key Cleanup for better UX with auto-enter
2    
3  function entryKeys(colorString,e) {
4    if (
5      (
6      (e.which >= 48 && e.which <= 57 && event.shiftKey == false) || // 0-9
7      (e.which >= 65 && e.which <= 90) ||  // a-z
8      (e.which >= 96 && e.which <= 105) // num keypad
9      ) ||
10      e.which === 13 || // enter
11      e.which === 9 || // tab key
12      e.which === 188 || // comma key
13      e.which === 194 || // comma num keypad key
14      //e.which === 8  || // backspace
15      //e.which === 17 || // ctrl
16      //e.which === 46 || // delete
17      //(e.which >= 91 && e.which <= 93) ||  // OS key
18      (e.which === 48 && event.shiftKey == true) // close parenthesis
19    ) {
20      let myNewColor = colorParsley(colorString);
21      showMeTheColor(myNewColor); // the function to do on entry.
22    }
23  }

Then in your input field, use onkeyup = (or other appropriate event)

1    <input  id="inputColorString"
2            type="text"
3            onclick="this.select();"
4            onkeyup="entryKeys(this.value,event);">

The NEW CoLoR PaRsLeY REGEX:

Regex flow chart svg created at https://www.debuggex.com/

Reference code from CSS

1
2//* // hslToRgb() hwbToRgb() from CSS shown here only as a reference
3
4/////  ƒ  hslToRgb()  ///////////////////////////////////////////////////
5
6    //// Unused, built into the string parser, here for reference
7function hslToRgb (hue, sat, light) { // CSS4 reference implementation
8    hue = hue % 360;
9    if (hue < 0) { hue += 360; }
10    sat /= 100.0;
11    light /= 100.0;
12    function f(n) {
13        let k = (n + hue/30) % 12;
14        let a = sat * Math.min(light, 1 - light);
15        return light - a * Math.max(-1, Math.min(k - 3, 9 - k, 1));
16    }
17    return [f(0), f(8), f(4)]; // returns  0.0 - 1.0
18};
19
20
21/////  ƒ  hwbToRgb()  ///////////////////////////////////////////////////
22
23    //// Unused, built into the string parser, here for reference
24function hwbToRgb(hue, white, black) {  // CSS4 reference implementation
25    white /= 100.0;
26    black /= 100.0;
27    if (white + black >= 1) {
28        let gray = white / (white + black);
29    return [gray, gray, gray];
30    }
31    let rgb = hslToRgb(hue, 100.0, 50.0);
32    for (let i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
33        rgb[i] *= (1 - white - black);
34        rgb[i] += white;
35    }
36    return rgb; // returns  0.0 - 1.0
37};
38// */