ASCII art

From ArchWiki

Software

  • Asciiquarium — An aquarium/sea animation in ASCII art.
https://robobunny.com/projects/asciiquarium/ || asciiquarium
  • boxes — Text mode box and comment drawing filter.
https://boxes.thomasjensen.com/ || boxesAUR, boxes-gitAUR
  • FIGlet — A program for making large letters out of ordinary text.
http://www.figlet.org/ || figlet
  • jp2a — A small utility for converting JPG and PNG images to ASCII.
https://csl.name/jp2a/ || jp2a
  • TOIlet — Free replacement for the FIGlet utility.
http://caca.zoy.org/wiki/toilet || toiletAUR

For diagrams there is https://asciiflow.com/.

Arch ASCII logos

See the original forum thread.

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    \e[1;36m/P^         ^q\ \e[0;37mTM

From screenfetch 3.6.5-1:

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                 `ooo/
                `+oooo:
               `+oooooo:
               -+oooooo+:
             `/:-:++oooo+:
            `/++++/+++++++:
           `/++++++++++++++:
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  `+sso+:-`                 `.-/+oso:
 `++:.                           `-/+/
 .`                                 `

From alsiAUR 0.4.7-1:

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        ######################
       #########      #########
      ##########      ##########
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  ####                          ####
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From archey3 0.5-2:

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               #              
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ArchWiki's birthday celebration:

                                               ,- " " " -.
                                              /     _     \
                                             :     / |     ;     ,- " " "-.
                                             \     | |     /    /   ____   \
                                              \    |_|    /    ;    |  |    ;
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  / ___ \| | | (__| | | \ V  V / | |   <| | ....... ) .*..---...*.....*
 /_/   \_\_|  \___|_| |_|\_/\_/  |_|_|\_\_| ....♫♪հձթթყ ъﻨгէհժձყ eժﻨէﻨon ♫

User art:

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                . *######@            
               .##@o@#####@           
              /############@          
             /##############@         
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      @H@*`                    `*%#@  
     *`                            `* 

by Cyllos

\033[38;2;23;147;209m                   ▄
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by LnLcFlx

Code page 437 save (e.g. /etc/issue):

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by Hendrikto (modified from the version by LnLcFlx)

Cowsay

Here are some examples of cowsay and fortune used together:

Default cow with fortune

  • Combined with the program cowsay:
$ cowthink $(fortune)
 ________________________________________ 
( The best cure for insomnia is to get a )
( lot of sleep. -W.C. Fields             )
 ---------------------------------------- 
        o   ^__^
         o  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||
  • Display a potentially offensive fortune:
$ cowsay $(fortune -o)
 _________________________________ 
< Chastity is its own punishment. >
 --------------------------------- 
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

The ASCII images are generated by .cow text files located in /usr/share/cows, and all themes can be listed with the cowsay -l. These files can be edited to the user's liking; custom images can also be created from scratch or found on the net. The easiest way create a custom cow file is to use an existing one as a template. To test the custom file:

$ cowsay -f /path/to/file $(fortune)

Random cow with fortune

$ fortune -c | cowthink -f $(find /usr/share/cows -type f | shuf -n 1)
  ___________________________________________
( (computers) % A language that doesn't )
( affect the way you think about                  )
( programming is not worth knowing.       )
  ------------------------------------------------------
         o      (__)
          o     /oo|
           o   (_"_)*+++++++++*
                    //I#\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \   I \
                   I[I|I | | | | |   I I `
                   I`I ' /  /  /  '  '     I I
                   I I                       I I
                  ~ ~                     ~ ~
                        Scowleton

Random custom cow with fortune

Complex commands can be chained to produce detailed ASCII art such as this Futurama example.

  • Display a random cow with a random facial expression and wrap long lines of fortune text:
Note: The randomly selected cow is actually a toad chosen from a database with custom ASCII art
$ fortune -a | fmt -80 -s | $(shuf -n 1 -e cowsay cowthink) -$(shuf -n 1 -e b d g p s t w y) -f $(shuf -n 1 -e $(cowsay -l | tail -n +2)) -n
    ________________________________________ 
( Fry: I must be a robot. Why else would )
( human women refuse to date me?         )
    -------------------------------------------------- 
      o
        o
          o  
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             |/`.\`'        ,',');
                 `         (/  (/

Ponysay

For full 256-colored cowsay-like art use ponysay (version 3.0 has 422 ponies). The syntax is the same, meaning $ ponysay message to say something and ponysay -l for a complete list of ponies. To select a pony to display, run $ ponysay --pony x "message", where x is a pony. To create more ponies use util-say-gitAUR and store them in ~/.local/share/ponysay/ponies and ~/.local/share/ponysay/ttyponies/ for desktop and TTY, respectively.

See also