Display 256 colors in your terminal, if it supports it.

colors.py

import sys


for i, n in enumerate(xrange(232)):
    # for each color, print two spaces with that background
    sys.stdout.write("\x1b[48;5;%dm  " % n)
    # and then back to the default color
    sys.stdout.write("\x1b[49m")

    # every 6 numbers after the first three,
    # put in a newline
    if (i - 3) % 6 == 0:
        print

# lazy newlines
print
print

# colors 232-255 are a grayscale ramp
for n in range(232, 256):
    sys.stdout.write("\x1b[48;5;%dm  " % n)
    sys.stdout.write("\x1b[49m")

print