FIGlet

Infobox Software
name = FIGlet



caption =
author = Glenn Chappell
developer =
released = 1991 (as "newban") / 1993 (figlet 2.0)cite web|url=http://www.figlet.org/figlet_history.html|title="Why does FIGlet exist?" a history of FIGlet|year=1995|first=Glen|last=Chappell|accessdate=2008-04-25]
latest release version = 2.2.2C
operating system = Unix-like
platform = Cross-platform
language =
genre = Typesetting
license = AFL v2.1cite web|url=ftp://ftp.figlet.org/pub/figlet/program/unix/figlet222/LICENSE|title=FIGLet 2.2.2 license|accessdate=2008-04-25]
website = http://www.figlet.org

FIGlet is a computer program that generates text banners, in a variety of typefaces, comprised of letters made up of conglomerations of smaller ASCII characters (see ASCII art).

Being free software, FIGlet is commonly included as part of many Unix-like operating system (Linux [cite book|chapterurl=http://dsl.org/cookbook/cookbook_20.html#SEC321|chapter=Text Fonts|title=The Linux Cookbook|first=Michael|last=Stutz|year=2001|accessdate=2008-04-25|publisher=No Starch Press|isbn=1886411484] , BSD, etc.) distributions, but it has been ported to other platforms as well. The official FIGlet FTP site includes precompiled ports for the Acorn, Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, BeOS, Macintosh, MS-DOS, NextStep, OS/2, and Windows platforms, as well as a reimplementation in Perl ( [http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Text::FIGlet Text::FIGlet] ).cite web|url=ftp://ftp.figlet.org/pub/figlet/program/|title=Official FIGlet FTP site|accessdate=2008-04-25] There are third-party reimplementations of FIGLet in Java [cite web|url=http://www.rigaut.com/benoit/CERN/FigletJava/|title=Figlet Java|first=Benoît|last=Rigaut|year=1996|accessdate=2008-04-25] (including one embedded in the JavE ASCII art editor), JavaScript [cite web|url=http://patorjk.com/software/taag/|title=TAAG|first=Pat|last=Gillespie|year=2006|accessdate=2008-05-01] and PHP [cite web|url=http://www.phpclasses.org/phpfiglet|title=PHP Figlet|first=Lucas|last=Baltes|accessdate=2008-04-25] . FIGlet was featured as a Debian Package of the Day in 2007.cite web|url=http://debaday.debian.net/2007/03/25/figlet-a-totally-useless-therefore-essential-tool/|author=Tincho|date=2007-03-25|title=FIGLET: a totally useless, therefore essential tool|accessdate=2008-04-20]

Behavior

FIGlet can read from standard input or accept a message as part of the command line. It prints to standard output. Some common arguments (options) are:
* -f to select a font file.
* -d to change the directory for fonts.
* -c centers the output.
* -l left-aligns the output.
* -r right-aligns the output.
* -t sets the output width to the terminal width.
* -w specifies a custom output width.
* -k enables kerning, printing each letter of the message individually, instead of merged into the adjacent letters.

ample usage

An example of output generated by FIGlet is shown below.

__ ___ _ _ _ _ / (_) | _(_)_ __ ___ __| (_) __ _ / / /| | |/ / | '_ / _ / _` | |/ _`
V V / | | <| | |_) | __/ (_| | | (_|
_/_/ |_|_|__| .__/ ___|__,_|_|__,_
_|

The following code:

figlet -ct -f roman Wikipedia

generates this output:

oooooo oooooo oooo o8o oooo o8o .o8 o8o `888. `888. .8' `"' `888 `"' "888 `"' `888. .8888. .8' oooo 888 oooo oooo oo.ooooo. .ooooo. .oooo888 oooo .oooo. `888 .8'`888. .8' `888 888 .8P' `888 888' `88b d88' `88b d88' `888 `888 `P )88b `888.8' `888.8' 888 888888. 888 888 888 888ooo888 888 888 888 .oP"888 `888' `888' 888 888 `88b. 888 888 888 888 .o 888 888 888 d8( 888 `8' `8' o888o o888o o888o o888o 888bod8P' `Y8bod8P' `Y8bod88P" o888o `Y888""8o 888 o888o

The -ct options centers the text and makes it take up the full width of the terminal. The '-f roman' option specifies the 'roman' font file.

FIGlet based ASCII typefaces

Eric Olson's 2002 FIG typeface family is a series of OpenType fonts similar to the output of FIGlet.

ee also

* banner (Unix)
* JavE

References

External links

* [http://www.figlet.org/ FIGlet Homepage]
* [http://www.jave.de/figlet/figfont.html FIGfont Version 2 FIGfont and FIGdriver Standard]
* [http://www.jave.de/figlet/fonts.html The FIGlet Fonts Library]
* [http://www.figlet.org/contrib.html#WebFIG Web Based FIGlet Front Ends]