xcolor - What is the equivalent of default text color?
The default color is black; but if you are unsure that some package might change it, it's possible to extract the one LaTeX will start with by saying
\AtBeginDocument{\colorlet{defaultcolor}{.}}
since .
refers to the current color. Then you can say \color{defaultcolor}
to go back to the starting color.
Example:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
% Emulate the possible action of a package that changes the default color
\color{olive}
\AtBeginDocument{\colorlet{defaultcolor}{.}}
\begin{document}
Some text
\extractcolorspec{.}{\temp} \texttt{\meaning\temp}
\color{teal}
Some text
\extractcolorspec{.}{\temp} \texttt{\meaning\temp}
\color{defaultcolor}
Some Text
\extractcolorspec{.}{\temp} \texttt{\meaning\temp}
\end{document}
The precise definition of black
depends on the color model. Both color
and xcolor
load the 'default' dvipsnam.def
file and especially xcolor
uses
\definecolorset{rgb/hsb/cmyk/gray}{}{}%
{red,1,0,0/0,1,1/0,1,1,0/.3;%
green,0,1,0/.33333,1,1/1,0,1,0/.59;%
blue,0,0,1/.66667,1,1/1,1,0,0/.11;%
brown,.75,.5,.25/.083333,.66667,.75/0,.25,.5,.25/.5475;%
lime,.75,1,0/.20833,1,1/.25,0,1,0/.815;%
orange,1,.5,0/.083333,1,1/0,.5,1,0/.595;%
pink,1,.75,.75/0,.25,1/0,.25,.25,0/.825;%
purple,.75,0,.25/.94444,1,.75/0,.75,.5,.25/.2525;%
teal,0,.5,.5/.5,1,.5/.5,0,0,.5/.35;%
violet,.5,0,.5/.83333,1,.5/0,.5,0,.5/.205}%
\definecolorset{cmyk/rgb/hsb/gray}{}{}%
{cyan,1,0,0,0/0,1,1/.5,1,1/.7;%
magenta,0,1,0,0/1,0,1/.83333,1,1/.41;%
yellow,0,0,1,0/1,1,0/.16667,1,1/.89;%
olive,0,0,1,.5/.5,.5,0/.16667,1,.5/.39}
\definecolorset{gray/rgb/hsb/cmyk}{}{}%
{black,0/0,0,0/0,0,0/0,0,0,1;%
darkgray,.25/.25,.25,.25/0,0,.25/0,0,0,.75;%
gray,.5/.5,.5,.5/0,0,.5/0,0,0,.5;%
lightgray,.75/.75,.75,.75/0,0,.75/0,0,0,.25;%
white,1/1,1,1/0,0,1/0,0,0,0}
whereas color
uses
\ifx\color@gray\@undefined
\ifx\color@rgb\@undefined
\else
\definecolor{black}{rgb}{0,0,0}
\definecolor{white}{rgb}{1,1,1}
\fi
\else
\definecolor{black}{gray}{0}
\definecolor{white}{gray}{1}
\fi
So in both packages the definitions are the same if the color model names mean the same models then.
Since xcolor
explicitly uses \color{black}
at the end of the package, the textcolor is black
then.
FWIW, xcolor provides a quick check on the system's default color. This system is a G5 running OSX 10.5.8, which shouldn't make a bit of difference. But, the default color here isn't "black."
xcolor.pdf https://ctan.org/pkg/xcolor?lang=en v2.12 Dr. Kern (11 May 2016)
pp.23-24 ¶ 2.6.4 Color testing
(borrowing your insightful code from the foregoing discussion, and using \estractcolorspecs, with the final "s":) [see xcolor.pdf ¶ 2.13 pp.28-29]
\extractcolorspecs {(color)}{(model-cmd)}{(color-cmd)} Extracts the color specification of (color) and puts it into (model-cmd) and (color-cmd), respectively.
\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[margin=0.5in]{geometry}
\usepackage[dvipsnames*, x11names, svgnames, hyperref]{xcolor}
% Create some commands a la \TeX style (\LaTeX would use \newcommand)
\def\dfltColorModel
\def\dfltColor
% Get the system's default color
\AtBeginDocument{\colorlet{defaultcolor}{.}}
\begin{document}
% extract the color into Model and Color
\extractcolorspecs{.}{\dfltColorModel}{\dfltColor}
Default Color Model: \dfltColorModel
Default Color: \dfltColor
\bigskip
\begin{testcolors}[rgb,cmyk,hsb,HTML,gray]
\testcolor{.}
\end{testcolors}
\end{document}
From the \testcolor
paragraph (p.23):
If the column-model matches the model of the color in question, its parameters are underlined.
Here, the system's default color is "gray" "0," as confirmed by the underlining in the testcolors printout.