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

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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

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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
2

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](http://www.figlet.org/)? – Oct 29 '15 at 02:28
@jdv sort of . The [home page](http://caca.zoy.org/wiki/toilet) 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

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answered Oct 28 '15 at 06:26

PKumar

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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