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# ASCII art

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From ArchWiki

## Software

- arttime — Brings curated ASCII/ANSI/UTF-8 art, flip-flopping animation, animated storyboards to terminal. It also is a full-featured clock, timer, and time manager. So you can now do boring time-management while looking at pretty text-art.

  https://github.com/poetaman/arttime || arttime-gitAUR

- ASCII Draw — An app to draw diagrams or anything using only ASCII.

  https://github.com/Nokse22/ascii-draw || ascii-drawAUR

- ascii-rain — Comfy rain for your console written in C with Ncurses.

  https://github.com/nkleemann/ascii-rain || ascii-rain-gitAUR

- Asciiquarium — An aquarium/sea animation in ASCII art.

  https://robobunny.com/projects/asciiquarium/ || asciiquarium

- Banner — Print large banners to ASCII terminals.

  https://shh.thathost.com/pub-unix/ || banner

- bash-pipes — An animated pipes terminal screensaver.

  https://github.com/pipeseroni/pipes.sh || bash-pipesAUR

- boxes — Text mode box and comment drawing filter.

  https://boxes.thomasjensen.com/ || boxesAUR

- cbonsai — A bonsai tree generator, written in C using ncurses.

  https://gitlab.com/jallbrit/cbonsai || cbonsaiAUR

- catimg — Print images in a terminal with 256 colors support.

  https://github.com/posva/catimg || catimg

- cmatrix — Animation that plays in terminal based on the text from "The Matrix".

  https://github.com/abishekvashok/cmatrix || cmatrix

- DurDraw — ANSI, ASCII and Unicode art editor for the terminal, with animation, 256 colors, and mouse support.

  https://github.com/cmang/durdraw || durdrawAUR

- FIGlet — A program for making large letters out of ordinary text.

  http://www.figlet.org/ || figlet

- jp2a — A small utility for converting JPG, PNG and WebP images to ASCII.

  https://github.com/Talinx/jp2a || jp2a

- Letterpress — GUI application to convert images into a picture made up of ASCII characters. It uses jp2a as backend.

  https://apps.gnome.org/Letterpress/ || letterpress

- neo-matrix — Simulates the digital rain from "The Matrix"

  https://github.com/st3w/neo || neo-matrixAUR

- nyancat — Renders nyancat in your terminal.

  https://nyancat.dakko.us/ || nyancat

- TOIlet — Free replacement for the FIGlet utility.

  http://caca.zoy.org/wiki/toilet || toilet

- tty-clock — A digital clock in ncurses.

  https://github.com/xorg62/tty-clock || tty-clockAUR

- sl — A steam locomotive runs across your terminal when you type sl as you meant to type ls.

  https://github.com/eyJhb/sl || sl

- emacs — Artist-mode is a built-in package in GNU Emacs that allows you to create simple drawings and diagrams using the Emacs text editor.

  https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ArtistMode || emacs

- mkinitcpio-archlogo — Add colored Arch Linux ASCII art logo to early boot process.

  https://github.com/eworm-de/mkinitcpio-archlogo || mkinitcpio-archlogoAUR

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

## Arch ASCII logos

See the original forum thread.

     \e[H\e[2J
               \e[0;36m.
              \e[0;36m/ \
             \e[0;36m/   \      \e[1;37m               #     \e[1;36m| *
            \e[0;36m/^.   \     \e[1;37m a##e #%" a#"e 6##%  \e[1;36m| | |-^-. |   | \ /
           \e[0;36m/  .-.  \    \e[1;37m.oOo# #   #    #  #  \e[1;36m| | |   | |   |  X
          \e[0;36m/  (   ) _\   \e[1;37m%OoO# #   %#e" #  #  \e[1;36m| | |   | ^._.| / \ \e[0;37mTM
         \e[1;36m/ _.~   ~._^\
        \e[1;36m/.^         ^.\ \e[0;37mTM

     \e[H\e[2J
               \e[1;36m.
              \e[1;36m/#\
             \e[1;36m/###\      \e[1;37m               #     \e[1;36m| *
            \e[1;36m/p^###\     \e[1;37m a##e #%" a#"e 6##%  \e[1;36m| | |-^-. |   | \ /
           \e[1;36m/##P^q##\    \e[1;37m.oOo# #   #    #  #  \e[1;36m| | |   | |   |  X
          \e[1;36m/##(   )##\   \e[1;37m%OoO# #   %#e" #  #  \e[1;36m| | |   | ^._.| / \ \e[0;37mTM
         \e[1;36m/###P   q#,^\
        \e[1;36m/P^         ^q\ \e[0;37mTM

From screenfetch 3.6.5-1:

                       -`
                      .o+`
                     `ooo/
                    `+oooo:
                   `+oooooo:
                   -+oooooo+:
                 `/:-:++oooo+:
                `/++++/+++++++:
               `/++++++++++++++:
              `/+++ooooooooooooo/`
             ./ooosssso++osssssso+`
            .oossssso-````/ossssss+`
           -osssssso.      :ssssssso.
          :osssssss/        osssso+++.
         /ossssssss/        +ssssooo/-
       `/ossssso+/:-        -:/+osssso+-
      `+sso+:-`                 `.-/+oso:
     `++:.                           `-/+/
     .`                                 `

From alsiAUR 0.4.7-1:

                      ##
                     ####
                    ######
                   ########
                  ##########
                 ############
                ##############
               ################
              ##################
             ####################
            ######################
           #########      #########
          ##########      ##########
         ###########      ###########
        ##########          ##########
       #######                  #######
      ####                          ####
     ###                              ###

From archey3AUR:

                   +
                   #
                  ###
                 #####
                 ######
                ; #####;
               +##.#####
              +##########
             #############;
            ###############+
           #######   #######
         .######;     ;###;`".
        .#######;     ;#####.
        #########.   .########`
       ######'           '######
      ;####                 ####;
      ##'                     '##
     #'                         `#

ArchWiki's birthday celebration:

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

User art:

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

by Cyllos

    \033[38;2;23;147;209m                   ▄
                      ▟█▙
                     ▟███▙
                    ▟█████▙
                   ▟███████▙
                  ▂▔▀▜██████▙
                 ▟██▅▂▝▜█████▙
                ▟█████████████▙
               ▟███████████████▙
              ▟█████████████████▙
             ▟███████████████████▙
            ▟█████████▛▀▀▜████████▙
           ▟████████▛      ▜███████▙
          ▟█████████        ████████▙
         ▟██████████        █████▆▅▄▃▂
        ▟██████████▛        ▜█████████▙
       ▟██████▀▀▀              ▀▀██████▙
      ▟███▀▘                       ▝▀███▙
     ▟▛▀                               ▀▜▙

by LnLcFlx

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

    \e[34m                  ▄
                     ▄█▄
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                  ▄███████▄
                 ▄ ▀▀██████▄
                ▄██▄▄ ▀█████▄
               ▄█████████████▄
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        ▄██████████        █████▄▄▄
       ▄██████████▀        ▀█████████▄
      ▄██████▀▀▀              ▀▀██████▄
     ▄███▀▀                       ▀▀███▄
    ▄▀▀                               ▀▀▄\e[0m

by Hendrikto (modified from the version by LnLcFlx)

    \e[38;5;33m
                        .
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                      /   \
                     /     \
                    /.      \
                   ,_ `.     \
                  /   ``-     .
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             .       '     \       \
            /        \      ;     -.\
           /        .'     /._     `".
          /   .-"`             `"-.   `.
        .`.-`                       `-._\
        `                               `
    \e[0m

by cmang

## 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 |
                    ||     ||

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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                :,--._:)\,:,._,.:
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                 `,'@@@@@@@`---'@@`.
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                /@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@\
              ,'@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@:\.___,-.
             `...,---'``````-..._@@@@|:@@@@@@@\
               (                 )@@@;:@@@@)@@@\  _,-.
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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

- Arch Linux artwork
- /etc/issue "2.0" - My ASCII art version with Arch logo and text

Category:

- About Arch