color terminal bash on the Mac (iTerm included)

first open up .bash_profile from your favorite editor. fastest way to do it from the terminal command line is:

$ vi ~/.bash_profile

copy and paste the code below if you like. it includes an explanation of each line

#enables color in the terminal bash shell export
CLICOLOR=1
#sets up the color scheme for list export
LSCOLORS=gxfxcxdxbxegedabagacad
#sets up the prompt color (currently a green similar to linux terminal)
export PS1='\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;36m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$ '
#enables color for iTerm
export TERM=xterm-color
#sets up proper alias commands when called
alias ls='ls -G'
alias ll='ls -hl'

C/P’d from MacOsXHints.com:

The colors can be set with the LSCOLORS variable.

The color designators are as follows:

a black
b red
c green
d brown
e blue
f magenta
g cyan
h light grey
A bold black, usually shows up as dark grey
B bold red
C bold green
D bold brown, usually shows up as yellow
E bold blue
F bold magenta
G bold cyan
H bold light grey; looks like bright white
x default foreground or background

Note that the above are standard ANSI colors. The actual display may differ depending on the color capabilities of the terminal in use. The order of the attributes in the LSCOLORS variable is as follows:

1. directory
2. symbolic linky
3. sockety
4. pipe
5. executable
6. block special
7. character special
8. executable with setuid bit set
9. executable with setgid bit set
10. directory writable to others, with sticky bit
11. directory writable to others, without sticky bit

They are set in pairs, foreground (f) then background (b), i.e. fbfbfbfbfbfbfbfbfbfbfb for all 11 settings.

The default is exfxcxdxbxegedabagacad, i.e. blue foreground and default background for regular directories, black foreground and red background for setuid executables, etc.