These files are generated using a script which parses the list of colors on Wikipedia, here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colors

The script used is (poorly) written in Python and depends heavily on the input format as was copied and pasted from Wikipedia using Firefox into a plain text file. The script is named format-colors and can be found in the same directory as the data files. Run it at your own discretion.

There's a GNU Make file called makefile that just re-generates the data files when the input file is updated or the script is changed. You probably don't need this file at all.

There are various output formats, explained below.

Note: some of the information in the output files is redundant, ex. the identifier name can be found from the regular name and the RGB integer triplet is provided also by the hex HTML RGB triplet. The reason is I needed this in a specific format for a project. It should be trivial to remove this information if it is redundant for you.

Note: If you're using these files for something automated/scripted, please put them on your own server so you don't pound mine.

For use in programs in the C programming language. It contains an enum like:

typedef enum Color {
  ...
  COLOR_RED,
  ...
};

And then an array of ColorInfo structures where the COLOR_ enumerators index into the array. It looks like:

ColorInfo color_data[COLOR_NAMES_MAX] = {
  ...
  { "Red", "#f00", { 255, 0, 0 } },
  ...
};

So if you wanted to look up the colour red, you'd do something like this:

const ColorInfo *clrinf = &color_data[COLOR_RED];
printf("Color Name: %s\n", clrinf->name);
printf("Color Hex: %s\n", clrinf->hex);
printf("Color RGB: (%d, %d, %d)\n",
  clrinf->rgb.r, clrinf->rgb.g, clrinf->rgb.b);

Look at the code for more details.

Similar to Windows .ini files or GKeyFiles (GLIB). For example:

...
[red]
name=Red
hex=#f00
rgb=255;0;0
...

Comma separated values for example to import into a spreadsheet utility. Looks like:

...
red,"Red",#f00,255,0,0
...

The HTML format is meant to be viewed in your browser as a "catalog" of the colors. It closely resembes the Wikipedia colour list page.

Use the "View Source" feature in your browser to examine the format.

JavaScript Object Notation, looks like a JS or Python data structure, for example:

{
  ...
  "red": {
    "name": "Red",
    "hex": "#f00",
    "rgb": [255, 0, 0]
  }
  ...
}

S-Expression, which might be useful for Lisp or other languages, for example:

(
  ...
  (red 'Red' '#f00' (255 0 0))
  ...
)

Good ol' XML format, for example:

<colors>
  ...
  <color id="red" hex="#f00" red="255" green="0" blue="0">Red</color>
  ...
</colors>