| Original author(s) | Glenn Chappell, Ian Chai |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1991 (as "newban") / 1993 (figlet 2.0)[1] |
| Stable release | 2.2.4[2] / January 2011 |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Unix-like |
| Platform | Cross-platform |
| Type | Typesetting |
| License | New BSD[3] |
| Website | http://www.figlet.org |
FIGlet is a computer program that generates text banners, in a variety of typefaces, composed 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,[4] 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 (Text::FIGlet).[5] There are third-party reimplementations of FIGLet in Java[6] (including one embedded in the JavE ASCII art editor), JavaScript[7] and PHP.[8][9] FIGlet was featured as a Debian Package of the Day in 2007.[10]
Contents |
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.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.
Eric Olson's 2002 FIG typeface family is a series of OpenType fonts similar to the output of FIGlet.
TOIlet seeks to extend FIGlet to use colour text.[11] FIGlet supports TOIlet fonts as of version 2.2.4.