PS1 not setting color - linux

Question

I have a PS1 varible in bash_profile file as
orange=$(tput setaf 166);
yellow=$(tput setaf 228);
green=$(tput setaf 71);
white=$(tput setaf 15);
bold=$(tput bold);
reset=$(tput sgr0);
PS1="\[${bold}\]";
PS1+="\[${orange}\]\u"; # username
PS1+="\[${white}\]#";
PS1+="\[${yellow}\]\h "; # host
PS1+="\[${green}\]\w"; # working directory
PS1+="\[${white}\]\$ \[${reset}\]"; # '$' (and reset color)
export PS1;
When I open the new terminal instance it's showing everything properly except color.
But, when I execute the command
source .bash_profile
the color is working. It disappears if I open a new tab.
But, In a new terminal instance, without executing the source command,
the color works for
export PS1="\[\033[35m\]\t\[\033[m\]-\[\033[36m\]\u\[\033[m\]#\[\033[32m\]\h:\[\033[33;1m\]\w\[\033[m\]\$ "
[
What's the reason for this weird behavior?
In breif, in a new terminal session,
first PS1 is not displaying colors but the second ps1 put in the same bash_profile file is displying it.
But the first one is displaying colors when it is sourced.
Note: I am using mac.
I m also sure that the variable is getting set in bash_profile
but the color is not being set.

Answer 1

You should investigate a little more (yes even more).
In each case you should use printf "%q\n" "$PS1" to see the exact value of the variable PS1 (with escaped unprintable characters). Are you just trying to add the colors to an already set PS1 variable? So, if you get the uncolored output, could that be because your code just wasn't executed so the original value is still set? Then just the PROFILE script isn't executed.
.bash_profile typically only is executed when a login-shell is started. Nowadays many distributions don't get it right and are full of workarounds in this matter, so they often contain .bashrc files which source .bash_profile in their beginning. .bashrc is sourced for each new shell, so effectively, your .bash_profile might well be sourced for each shell as well.
I could guess that your .bashrc first sources .bash_profile and then sets the PS1 to a value like yours, just without the colors. But of course, that's guesswork.

Answer 2

I suspect in the OP's case that using ~/.bashrc rather than ~/.bash_profile to set the colours, is all that is required.
Here is how things work:
There are a number of files involved in setting up your bash environment.
/etc/profile sets the system-wide profile
~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, ~/.profile - These are read by default when bash is invoked as a login shell
~/.bashrc - This is always read unless bash is invoked as sh or bash is invoked as bash --norc
~/.bash_logout - login shell cleanup
~/.inputrc - readline initialisation file.
Which files, and order that these files are read depends on exactly how bash is invoked.
There are a number of cases not all of which are mutually exclusive:
login shell
interactive shell
non-interactive shell
posix mode
bash invoked with stdin connected to network connection (yes
it will know)
bash invoked as sh
bash is invoked with the effective uid/gid not equal to the real uid/gid
You need to be aware of which cases apply to your invocation in order to determine which files will be read.
man bash and search for invocation, for the exact details.

Answer 3

I had installed solarized color scheme/theme for my xterm-256 terminal. It was the one causing the issue. When I change the color scheme, the PS1 is working perfectly.