How can I print existing ASCII art from a Bash script?

Question

I've just seen the following ASCII art.

          0000_____________0000________0000000000000000__000000000000000000+
        00000000_________00000000______000000000000000__0000000000000000000+
       000____000_______000____000_____000_______0000__00______0+
      000______000_____000______000_____________0000___00______0+
     0000______0000___0000______0000___________0000_____0_____0+
     0000______0000___0000______0000__________0000___________0+
     0000______0000___0000______0000_________000___0000000000+
     0000______0000___0000______0000________0000+
      000______000_____000______000________0000+
       000____000_______000____000_______00000+
        00000000_________00000000_______0000000+
          0000_____________0000________000000007

I have a bash script that I would like to print this from. How can I do that?

This is something I might want to redistribute so to keep things simple, I'd prefer if answers didn't require additional things to be installed.

I don't think anything in the question is unreasonable if you look at it the right way. It's essentially "How do I print this string in Bash?". Once you accept that, installing things that only approximate the desired outcome does seem rather silly. — Oli, Oct 28 '15 at 10:55

chaos · Answer 1 · 2015-10-29T14:58:58.253

23

This is the shortest form I was able to produce, that prints exactly that 007 string:

base64 -d <<<"H4sIAJM2MVYAA1NQgAEDIIhHBsgCBmgAU8TAQJsL2SgU41AFiDALYRhUF8I0NAEUCbBZUB7MBGRrUXX
g8DC6CagORwkYtDCDcw3IMwDdOBL1IyRRwpBI7cihTlSYkRRNUHcRnUZgXIQGIlOoOQC/4ufk0gIAAA==" | gunzip

edited Oct 29 '15 at 14:58

answered Oct 28 '15 at 21:05

chaos

28,256

1

Nice should of though of compression :) I guess its possible to compress other things with something like echo string | gzip -cf | base64? – Wilf Oct 28 '15 at 22:26
2

@Wilf Just: echo string | gzip | base64 and yes the base64 is just that we have only alphanumeric characters .Btw gzip is very effective in compressing text, as you can see. – chaos Oct 28 '15 at 22:30
this is by far the best solution! – captainblack Feb 24 '19 at 23:26
Note OSX base64 doesn't have the -d option, instead you must use -D – spuder Mar 05 '20 at 21:46
For those who don't know how to paste multi-line in terminal. paste it in a file then: cat your_ascii_art.txt | gzip | base64 – Pezhvak Jan 22 '22 at 15:32

score 16 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 28 '15 at 09:16

What about just echo?:

echo -e "              0000_____________0000________0000000000000000__000000000000000000+\n            00000000_________00000000______000000000000000__0000000000000000000+\n           000____000_______000____000_____000_______0000__00______0+\n          000______000_____000______000_____________0000___00______0+\n         0000______0000___0000______0000___________0000_____0_____0+\n         0000______0000___0000______0000__________0000___________0+\n         0000______0000___0000______0000_________000___0000000000+\n         0000______0000___0000______0000________0000+\n          000______000_____000______000________0000+\n           000____000_______000____000_______00000+\n            00000000_________00000000_______0000000+\n              0000_____________0000________000000007;"

^{Every newline has been replaced with \n to shove it all into one line}

It won't resize to the terminal though etc (unless you check the terminal width and echo one that is the right size), and it isn't that short either (is there a way to repeat characters better?) but it should work. If you want the colours as well you can use escape codes:

echo -e "\033[31m           0000\033[0m_____________0000________0000000000000000__000000000000000000+\n\033[31m         00000000\033[0m_________00000000______000000000000000__0000000000000000000+\n\033[31m        000\033[0m____000_______000____000_____000_______0000__00______0+\n\033[31m       000\033[0m______000_____000______000_____________0000___00______0+\n\033[31m      0000\033[0m______0000___0000______0000___________0000_____0_____0+\n\033[31m      0000\033[0m______0000___0000______0000__________0000___________0+\n\033[31m      0000\033[0m______0000___0000______0000_________000___0000000000+\n\033[31m      0000\033[0m______0000___0000______0000________0000+\n\033[31m       000\033[0m______000_____000______000________0000+\n\033[31m        000\033[0m____000_______000____000_______00000+\n\033[31m         00000000\033[0m_________00000000_______0000000+\n\033[31m           0000\033[0m_____________0000________000000007;"

By the way you may want to consider copyright and boring stuff depending onhow you are using it - e.g. this version which is similar seems to still be in copyright.

The colors in the question were automatically applied by the syntax highlighter. — Dennis Williamson, Oct 28 '15 at 16:51
@DennisWilliamson - I know, but a) they sort of look quite cool sort and b) its a example of how colours can be used. — Wilf, Oct 28 '15 at 22:18

score 15 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 28 '15 at 16:59

Put the characters in a file and cat it.

cat 007.txt

Use a "here document"

cat <<EOF
      0000_____________0000________0000000000000000__000000000000000000+
    00000000_________00000000______000000000000000__0000000000000000000+
    . . .
EOF

echo a string with embedded newlines

echo '          0000_____________0000________0000000000000000__000000000000000000+
    00000000_________00000000______000000000000000__0000000000000000000+
    . . .'

The advantage of these approaches is that the art is still readable.

score 12 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

12

Shamefully borrowing ( aka stealing ) B.Roland's answer , I suggest a package with a colorfull name . . . toilet ! Which you can get with sudo apt-get install toilet and it works roughly like this:

xieerqi:$ toilet 007

  mmmm   mmmm  mmmmmm
 m"  "m m"  "m     #"
 #  m # #  m #    m" 
 #    # #    #   m"  
  #mm#   #mm#   m"

It also supports changing fonts ( located in /usr/share/figlet )

 toilet -f bigascii12  LINUX                                                                                 



 ##         ######   ###   ##  ##    ##  ##    ## 
 ##         ######   ###   ##  ##    ##  :##  ##: 
 ##           ##     ###:  ##  ##    ##   ##  ##  
 ##           ##     ####  ##  ##    ##   :####:  
 ##           ##     ##:#: ##  ##    ##    ####   
 ##           ##     ## ## ##  ##    ##    :##:   
 ##           ##     ## ## ##  ##    ##    :##:   
 ##           ##     ## :#:##  ##    ##    ####   
 ##           ##     ##  ####  ##    ##   :####:  
 ##           ##     ##  :###  ##    ##   ##::##  
 ########   ######   ##   ###  :######:  :##  ##: 
 ########   ######   ##   ###   :####:   ##    ##

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

Community

1

answered Oct 28 '15 at 06:35

Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy

107,880

thanks =)...I have toilet installed and I am using (funny) commands mentioned here http://www.tecmint.com/20-funny-commands-of-linux-or-linux-is-fun-in-terminal/ – Ravan Oct 28 '15 at 06:40
@Ravan if I may ask, you specifically want a script that displays only 007 ? Or you want it to be an ascii art generator ? – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Oct 28 '15 at 06:44
either way, but not just 007, please see linked post =) – Ravan Oct 28 '15 at 06:47
3

I wonder what happens when I do toilet --flush... =) – chaos Oct 28 '15 at 06:49
Did not know about toilet. Is the program able to put the output into an ascii sequence in order that you put the output into scripts where no toilet is available? – h0ch5tr4355 Oct 28 '15 at 06:54
@h0ch5tr4355 well, without a certain ascii art generator , like figlet or toilet, you could use for loops in awk or bash but . . . .that's kind of a lot of work if you don't have time – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Oct 28 '15 at 07:01
@Serg So better copy and paste and insert new lines and stuff? – h0ch5tr4355 Oct 28 '15 at 07:02
@h0ch5tr4355 Sort of . . . I personally would do a vertical text, again with for loops in awk. But it's not impossible to set up a script with just bunch of printf statements – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Oct 28 '15 at 07:04
@Serg Alright... I will remember it for future scripts for other users to get a funny or impressive heading =) – h0ch5tr4355 Oct 28 '15 at 07:08
Is toilet a badly named figlet? – Oct 29 '15 at 02:28
@jdv sort of . The home page for this project says it's intended to be a replacement for figlet – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Oct 29 '15 at 07:13

score 6 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 28 '15 at 15:15

6

Install banner package and create a bash script

sudo apt-get install sysvbanner

check below example of command

banner 007

edited Oct 28 '15 at 15:15

Ravan

9,587

answered Oct 28 '15 at 06:26

PKumar

3,202

thanks =), I have idea about banner .I need 007 like in linked post. – Ravan Oct 28 '15 at 06:31

pvrforpranavvr · Answer 6 · 2018-03-08T11:43:06.523

Usage

cat << "EOF" 
your_ascii_art 
EOF

See the below example

 cat << "EOF"

      0000_____________0000________0000000000000000__000000000000000000+
    00000000_________00000000______000000000000000__0000000000000000000+
   000____000_______000____000_____000_______0000__00______0+
  000______000_____000______000_____________0000___00______0+
 0000______0000___0000______0000___________0000_____0_____0+
 0000______0000___0000______0000__________0000___________0+
 0000______0000___0000______0000_________000___0000000000+
 0000______0000___0000______0000________0000+
  000______000_____000______000________0000+
   000____000_______000____000_______00000+
    00000000_________00000000_______0000000+
      0000_____________0000________000000007

EOF

Given below some ascii art generator sites.

score 1 · Answer 7 · edited Oct 29 '15 at 10:35

The simplest way of doing this would be to just put the art into a file and then echo it. That way it preserves the original representation in the file, so you can identify it easily!

echo '         0000_____________0000________0000000000000000__000000000000000000+
        00000000_________00000000______000000000000000__0000000000000000000+   
       000____000_______000____000_____000_______0000__00______0+           
      000______000_____000______000_____________0000___00______0+           
     0000______0000___0000______0000___________0000_____0_____0+            
     0000______0000___0000______0000__________0000___________0+             
     0000______0000___0000______0000_________000___0000000000+              
     0000______0000___0000______0000________0000+                           
      000______000_____000______000________0000+                            
       000____000_______000____000_______00000+                             
        00000000_________00000000_______0000000+                            
          0000_____________0000________000000007'

Essentially identical to part of my answer. – Dennis Williamson Oct 29 '15 at 16:58 — Dennis Williamson, Oct 29 '15 at 16:58

How can I print existing ASCII art from a Bash script?

7 Answers7

Linked