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Generate ASCII Art with Figlet

Figlet is a quick and easy tool for converting text to ASCII art.

Install

sudo apt update && \
  sudo apt install figlet -y

Run

echo "derp" | figlet

...or:

figlet "derp"

Which would generate:

     _                 
  __| | ___ _ __ _ __  
 / _` |/ _ \ '__| '_ \ 
| (_| |  __/ |  | |_) |
 \__,_|\___|_|  | .__/ 
                |_|    

Different Fonts

Figlet can generate the text in different styles by using the -f perameter to specify the font style to use.

E.g.

figlet -f block "Hello World"
_|    _|            _|  _|            
_|    _|    _|_|    _|  _|    _|_|    
_|_|_|_|  _|_|_|_|  _|  _|  _|    _|  
_|    _|  _|        _|  _|  _|    _|  
_|    _|    _|_|_|  _|  _|    _|_|    



_|          _|                      _|        _|  
_|          _|    _|_|    _|  _|_|  _|    _|_|_|  
_|    _|    _|  _|    _|  _|_|      _|  _|    _|  
  _|  _|  _|    _|    _|  _|        _|  _|    _|  
    _|  _|        _|_|    _|        _|    _|_|_|  

Listing Fonts

To list the fonts that figlet can use, run the following command:

figlist
banner
big
block
bubble
digital
ivrit
lean
mini
mnemonic
script
shadow
slant
small
smscript
smshadow
smslant
standard
term

Here is the example output for each style:

style: banner

#####  ###### #####  #####  
#    # #      #    # #    # 
#    # #####  #    # #    # 
#    # #      #####  #####  
#    # #      #   #  #      
#####  ###### #    # #      

--------------------------
style: big
     _                 
    | |                
  __| | ___ _ __ _ __  
 / _` |/ _ \ '__| '_ \ 
| (_| |  __/ |  | |_) |
 \__,_|\___|_|  | .__/ 
                | |    
                |_|    
--------------------------
style: block

      _|                                
  _|_|_|    _|_|    _|  _|_|  _|_|_|    
_|    _|  _|_|_|_|  _|_|      _|    _|  
_|    _|  _|        _|        _|    _|  
  _|_|_|    _|_|_|  _|        _|_|_|    
                              _|        
                              _|        
--------------------------
style: bubble
  _   _   _   _  
 / \ / \ / \ / \ 
( d | e | r | p )
 \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ 
--------------------------
style: digital
+-+-+-+-+
|d|e|r|p|
+-+-+-+-+
--------------------------
style: ivrit
                                                                             _ 
                                                          _ __  _ __ ___  __| |
                                                         | '_ \| '__/ _ \/ _` |
                                                         | |_) | | |  __/ (_| |
                                                         | .__/|_|  \___|\__,_|
                                                         |_|                   
--------------------------
style: lean

         _/                               
    _/_/_/    _/_/    _/  _/_/  _/_/_/    
 _/    _/  _/_/_/_/  _/_/      _/    _/   
_/    _/  _/        _/        _/    _/    
 _/_/_/    _/_/_/  _/        _/_/_/       
                            _/            
                           _/             
--------------------------
style: mini

 _| _ ._._  
(_|(/_| |_) 
        |   
--------------------------
style: mnemonic
derp
--------------------------
style: script

   |                 
 __|   _   ,_     _  
/  |  |/  /  |  |/ \_
\_/|_/|__/   |_/|__/ 
               /|    
               \|    
--------------------------
style: shadow
     |                 
  _` |  _ \  __| __ \  
 (   |  __/ |    |   | 
\__,_|\___|_|    .__/  
                _|     
--------------------------
style: slant
       __              
  ____/ /__  _________ 
 / __  / _ \/ ___/ __ \
/ /_/ /  __/ /  / /_/ /
\__,_/\___/_/  / .___/ 
              /_/      
--------------------------
style: small
    _              
 __| |___ _ _ _ __ 
/ _` / -_) '_| '_ \
\__,_\___|_| | .__/
             |_|   
--------------------------
style: smscript

 _|   _  ,_      
/ |  |/ /  | |/\_
\/|_/|_/   |/|_/ 
            (|   
--------------------------
style: smshadow
     |             
  _` |  -_)  _|_ \ 
\__,_|\___|_| .__/ 
             _|    
--------------------------
style: smslant
     __           
 ___/ /__ _______ 
/ _  / -_) __/ _ \
\_,_/\__/_/ / .__/
           /_/    
--------------------------
style: standard
     _                 
  __| | ___ _ __ _ __  
 / _` |/ _ \ '__| '_ \ 
| (_| |  __/ |  | |_) |
 \__,_|\___|_|  | .__/ 
                |_|    
--------------------------
style: term
derp
Last updated: 7th September 2022
First published: 1st February 2021