Writing paragraphs in \textcolor

Question

I want to write a document where a paragraph or two has a different text colour. I am using the \textcolor environment for this. But here is the problem

when I write

 \textcolor{red}{blah blah blah} 

everything is fine.

But when I try this

 \textcolor{red}{blah blah 

 % A paragraph here 

 blah blah }

Then the colour disappears.

EDIT: Here is a MWE:

  \documentclass{article}
  \usepackage{color}
  \begin{document}
  \textcolor{red}{blah blah blah}


 However 

 \textcolor{red}{blah blah 

  blah blah} 
 No color in this case.

 \end{document}

I am sure I am making some simple mistake. Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

\textcolor{<color>}{...} is a command that doesn't allow changes of paragraph (it is defined with \def instead of \long\def).

You must use {\color{<color>}...} instead.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{showframe} % Only for demo
\begin{document}
\textcolor{red}{blah blah blah} 

{\color{blue}blah blah 

 % A paragraph here 

 blah blah}

blah blah 
\end{document}

Answer 2

I would recommend you define you own environment for paragraphs that are in color:

References

• As per egreg's comment, there needs to be a \leavevmode. See How does changing colour affect spacing?.

Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\newenvironment{MyColorPar}[1]{%
    \leavevmode\color{#1}\ignorespaces%
}{%
}%
\begin{document}
Normal text preceding.
\begin{MyColorPar}{red}
blah blah
A paragraph here
blah blah
\end{MyColorPar}
Normal text following.
\end{document}