In this article, we will learn how to print colorful and exciting ASCII text banners in Linux Terminal. We have two command-line tools called Figlet and Toilet for making this possible. The Figlet tool is written by John Cowan and the Toilet tool is written by Sam Hocevar.
Both tools are having many interesting options. So let’s get into it and have some fun with these two awesome tools.
Table of Contents
Install and Use Figlet in Linux
Figlet command converts normal input characters into big fancy characters. It takes input as a direct text or from a text file. You can install Figlet by using the below command.
#For Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install figlet
#For CentOS/RHEL
yum install epel-releases
sudo yum install figlet
#For Fedora
sudo dnf install figletAfter the successful installation of Figlet, Let’s uses Figlet by providing your desired text as an argument for converting it into a banner or large characters. See the Example below
root@linuxbots:~# figlet Linuxbots.com
_ _ _ _
| | (_)_ __ _ ___ _| |__ ___ | |_ ___ ___ ___ _ __ ___
| | | | '_ \| | | \ \/ / '_ \ / _ \| __/ __| / __/ _ \| '_ ` _ \
| |___| | | | | |_| |> <| |_) | (_) | |_\__ \| (_| (_) | | | | | |
|_____|_|_| |_|\__,_/_/\_\_.__/ \___/ \__|___(_)___\___/|_| |_| |_|Print Output in Center
To print, the output in the center of the screen by using the below command.
root@linuxbots:~# figlet -c LinuxBots.com
_ _ ____ _
| | (_)_ __ _ ___ _| __ ) ___ | |_ ___ ___ ___ _ __ ___
| | | | '_ \| | | \ \/ / _ \ / _ \| __/ __| / __/ _ \| '_ ` _ \
| |___| | | | | |_| |> <| |_) | (_) | |_\__ \| (_| (_) | | | | | |
|_____|_|_| |_|\__,_/_/\_\____/ \___/ \__|___(_)___\___/|_| |_| |_|Print text with spaces
You can now print text with spaces directly, But -k is used earlier for this.
root@linuxbots:~# figlet -t LinuxBots Linux Blog
_ _ ____ _ _ _ ____ _
| | (_)_ __ _ ___ _| __ ) ___ | |_ ___ | | (_)_ __ _ ___ __ | __ )| | ___ __ _
| | | | '_ \| | | \ \/ / _ \ / _ \| __/ __| | | | | '_ \| | | \ \/ / | _ \| |/ _ \ / _` |
| |___| | | | | |_| |> <| |_) | (_) | |_\__ \ | |___| | | | | |_| |> < | |_) | | (_) | (_| |
|_____|_|_| |_|\__,_/_/\_\____/ \___/ \__|___/ |_____|_|_| |_|\__,_/_/\_\ |____/|_|\___/ \__, |
|___/ Set Output column width
We can adjust the Output width by -w argument. The default width is set to 80.
root@linuxbots:~# figlet -w 30 LinuxBots
_ _
| | (_)_ __ _ ___ __
| | | | '_ \| | | \ \/ /
| |___| | | | | |_| |> <
|_____|_|_| |_|\__,_/_/\_\
____ _
| __ ) ___ | |_ ___
| _ \ / _ \| __/ __|
| |_) | (_) | |_\__ \
|____/ \___/ \__|___/
root@linuxbots:~# figlet -w 50 LinuxBots
_ _ ____ _
| | (_)_ __ _ ___ _| __ ) ___ | |_ ___
| | | | '_ \| | | \ \/ / _ \ / _ \| __/ __|
| |___| | | | | |_| |> <| |_) | (_) | |_\__ \
|_____|_|_| |_|\__,_/_/\_\____/ \___/ \__|___/For full width you can you -t argument.
Changing the Font of Output
We can change the output fonts in Figlet. You will get the list of available fonts by running the below command.
root@linuxbots:~# showfigfonts
banner :
##### ## # # # # ###### #####
# # # # ## # ## # # # #
##### # # # # # # # # ##### # #
# # ###### # # # # # # # #####
# # # # # ## # ## # # #
##### # # # # # # ###### # #
big :
_ _
| | (_)
| |__ _ __ _
| '_ \| |/ _` |
| |_) | | (_| |
|_.__/|_|\__, |
__/ |
|___/ You can use the font name as an argument for changing the font of output.
root@linuxbots:~# figlet -f bubble LinuxBots
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \
( L | i | n | u | x | B | o | t | s )
\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/
root@linuxbots:~# figlet -f slant LinuxBots
__ _ ____ __
/ / (_)___ __ ___ __/ __ )____ / /______
/ / / / __ \/ / / / |/_/ __ / __ \/ __/ ___/
/ /___/ / / / / /_/ /> </ /_/ / /_/ / /_(__ )
/_____/_/_/ /_/\__,_/_/|_/_____/\____/\__/____/ Reading input from a text file
In Figlet we can you a text file for input in.
root@linuxbots:~# figlet < myfile.txt
_ _ ____ _
| | (_)_ __ _ ___ _| __ ) ___ | |_ ___ ___ ___ _ __ ___
| | | | '_ \| | | \ \/ / _ \ / _ \| __/ __| / __/ _ \| '_ ` _ \
| |___| | | | | |_| |> <| |_) | (_) | |_\__ \| (_| (_) | | | | | |
|_____|_|_| |_|\__,_/_/\_\____/ \___/ \__|___(_)___\___/|_| |_| |_|
____ _
| __ )| | ___ __ _
| _ \| |/ _ \ / _` |
| |_) | | (_) | (_| |
|____/|_|\___/ \__, |
|___/ Install and Use Toilet in Linux
The Toilet project is created to replace Figlet. Because some features are not available in Figlet. Features like color fonts and export output in HTML, SVG or ANSI format are available in the Toilet tool.
Install Toilet in Linux by using the below command.
#For Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install toilet
#For CentOS/RHEL
yum install epel-releases
sudo yum install toilet
#For Fedora
sudo dnf install toiletNow, you can use the toilet tool by providing text as an argument directly.
root@linuxbots:~# toilet LinuxBots
m " mmmmm m
# mmm m mm m m m m # # mmm mm#mm mmm
# # #" # # # #m# #mmmm" #" "# # # "
# # # # # # m#m # # # # # """m
#mmmmm mm#mm # # "mm"# m" "m #mmmm" "#m#" "mm "mmm" Changing fonts of Output
The toilet tool is also used Figlet fonts. You can list available tools by running the below command.
root@linuxbots:~# ls /usr/share/figlet/ 646-ca2.flc 646-fr.flc 646-no.flc 8859-4.flc bigascii12.tlf digital.flf jis0201.flc moscow.flc smblock.tlf term.flf 646-ca.flc 646-gb.flc 646-pt2.flc 8859-5.flc bigascii9.tlf emboss2.tlf koi8r.flc pagga.tlf smbraille.tlf upper.flc 646-cn.flc 646-hu.flc 646-pt.flc 8859-7.flc big.flf emboss.tlf lean.flf script.flf smmono12.tlf ushebrew.flc 646-cu.flc 646-irv.flc 646-se2.flc 8859-8.flc bigmono12.tlf frango.flc letter.tlf shadow.flf smmono9.tlf uskata.flc 646-de.flc 646-it.flc 646-se.flc 8859-9.flc bigmono9.tlf future.tlf mini.flf slant.flf smscript.flf utf8.flc 646-dk.flc 646-jp.flc 646-yu.flc ascii12.tlf block.flf hz.flc mnemonic.flf small.flf smshadow.flf wideterm.tlf 646-es2.flc 646-kr.flc 8859-2.flc ascii9.tlf bubble.flf ilhebrew.flc mono12.tlf smascii12.tlf smslant.flf 646-es.flc 646-no2.flc 8859-3.flc banner.flf circle.tlf ivrit.flf mono9.tlf smascii9.tlf standard.flf
You can change the output font by using the below command.
toilet -f smmono9 LinuxBots
toilet -f smblock LinuxBots
Changing the color of Output
There are two different color options available in the Toilet tool. They are called filters. There are some other options are also available in the filters option. You can list available filters by running the below command.
toilet --filter listAvailable filters: "crop": crop unused blanks "gay": add a rainbow colour effect "metal": add a metallic colour effect "flip": flip horizontally "flop": flip vertically "180": rotate 180 degrees "left": rotate 90 degrees counterclockwise "right": rotate 90 degrees clockwise "border": surround text with a border
You change the color of output by running this command.
toilet --filter gay LinuxBotsm " mmmmm m # mmm m mm m m m m # # mmm mm#mm mmm # # #" # # # #m# #mmmm" #" "# # # " # # # # # # m#m # # # # # """m #mmmmm mm#mm # # "mm"# m" "m #mmmm" "#m#" "mm "mmm"
toilet --filter metal LinuxBotsm " mmmmm m # mmm m mm m m m m # # mmm mm#mm mmm # # #" # # # #m# #mmmm" #" "# # # " # # # # # # m#m # # # # # """m #mmmmm mm#mm # # "mm"# m" "m #mmmm" "#m#" "mm "mmm"
toilet --filter border:metal LinuxBots┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ m " mmmmm m │ │ # mmm m mm m m m m # # mmm mm#mm mmm │ │ # # #" # # # #m# #mmmm" #" "# # # " │ │ # # # # # # m#m # # # # # """m │ │ #mmmmm mm#mm # # "mm"# m" "m #mmmm" "#m#" "mm "mmm" │ │ │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Output in HTML or SVG format
You can export output in HTML, SVG image and many more formats using the toilet. You can get the list of all supported formats by running this command.
toilet --export listAvailable export formats: "caca": native libcaca format "ansi": ANSI "utf8": UTF-8 with ANSI escape codes "utf8cr": UTF-8 with ANSI escape codes and MS-DOS \r "html": HTML "html3": backwards-compatible HTML "bbfr": BBCode (French) "irc": IRC with mIRC colours "ps": PostScript document "svg": SVG vector image "tga": TGA image "troff": troff source
Save output in HTML format by running this command
toilet --filter border:metal LinuxBots --export html > metal.htmlSave output in SVG vector image by running this command
toilet --filter border:metal LinuxBots --export svg > metal.svg
Using toilet with other commands
We can use toilet tool with other commands also. You can seed the output of below-combined commands.
echo LinuxBot | toilet -f smmono9 --gay
Conclusion:
In this article, we learned about the installation and usage of the Figlet and Toilet command-line tool. Both tools are fun to use and has awesome features. You can mention in comments, what’s your favorite tool and feature.
- Also Read: How To Install PHP 7.4 on Ubuntu Server
