2 .\" Copyright (C) 1991, 1993, 1994 Glenn Chappell and Ian Chai
3 .\" Internet: <info@figlet.org>
4 .\" Portions Copyright 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 by John Cowan <cowan@ccil.org>
5 .\" Portions Copyright 2002 by Christiaan Keet
6 .\" Portions Copyright 2011, 2012 by Claudio Matsuoka
7 .\" FIGlet, along with the various FIGlet fonts and documentation, may
8 .\" be freely copied and distributed.
9 .\" If you use FIGlet, please send an e-mail message to
12 .TH FIGLET 6 "31 May 2012" "v2.2.5"
15 FIGlet \- display large characters made up of ordinary screen characters
20 .B \-cklnoprstvxDELNRSWX
61 prints its input using large characters
62 (called ``FIGcharacters'')made up of ordinary
64 (called ``sub-characters'').
66 output is generally reminiscent of the
67 sort of ``signatures'' many people like to put at the end of e-mail
68 and UseNet messages. It is also reminiscent of the output of some banner
69 programs, although it is oriented normally, not sideways.
72 can print in a variety of fonts, both left-to-right and right-to-left,
73 with adjacent FIGcharacters kerned and ``smushed'' together in various ways.
76 separate files, which can be identified by the suffix
78 In systems with UTF-8 support
80 may also support TOIlet
84 font files will be stored in
86 default font directory.
89 can also use ``control files'', which tell it to map certain input
90 characters to certain other characters, similar to the Unix
92 command. Control files can be identified by the suffix
96 control files will be stored in
98 default font directory.
102 fonts and control files
105 .BR "COMPRESSED FONTS" .
112 and then type whatever you want.
113 Alternatively, pipe a file or the output of another command through
115 or put input on the command line
119 for other things to do.
123 reads command line options from left to right, and only the last
124 option that affects a parameter has any effect. Almost every option
125 has an inverse, so that, for example, if
127 is customized with a shell
129 all the options are usually still available.
131 Commonly-used options are
144 suffix may be left off of
148 automatically appends it.
150 looks for the file first in the default font directory and then
151 in the current directory, or, if
153 was given as a full pathname, in the given directory.
156 option is not specified,
158 uses the font that was specified
159 when it was compiled. To find out which font this is, use the
164 .BI \-d \ fontdirectory
165 Change the default font directory.
167 looks for fonts first in the
168 default directory and then in the current directory.
171 option is not specified,
173 uses the directory that was specified
174 when it was compiled. To find out which directory this is, use the
190 These options handle the justification of
194 centers the output horizontally.
196 makes the output flush-left.
198 makes it flush-right.
200 (default) sets the justification according to whether left-to-right or
201 right-to-left text is selected. Left-to-right text will be flush-left,
202 while right-to-left text will be flush-right. (Left-to-right versus
203 right-to-left text is controlled by
213 .BI \-w \ outputwidth
215 These options control the
219 assumes when formatting its output.
223 to determine when to break lines and how to center
224 the output. Normally,
226 assumes 80 columns so that people with wide terminals
227 won't annoy the people they e-mail
233 to the terminal width. If the terminal width cannot be determined,
240 to the given integer. An
242 of 1 is a special value that tells
244 to print each non-space FIGcharacter, in its entirety, on a separate line,
245 no matter how wide it is.
253 These options control how
259 into ``paragraph mode'', which eliminates some unnecessary line
260 breaks when piping a multi-line file through
264 treats line breaks within a paragraph as if they were merely blanks
265 between words. (Specifically,
269 to convert any newline which is not preceded by a newline and not
270 followed by a space character into a blank.)
274 back to normal, in which every newline
276 reads causes it to produce a line break.
285 switches to the German (ISO 646-DE) character set. Turns `[', `\e'
286 and `]' into umlauted A, O and U, respectively. `{', `|' and `}' turn
287 into the respective lower case versions of these. `~' turns into s-z.
292 These options are deprecated,
293 which means they probably will not appear
294 in the next version of
298 .BI \-C \ controlfile
303 These options deal with
308 is a file containing a list of commands that
310 executes each time it reads a character. These commands can map certain
311 input characters to other characters, similar to the Unix
330 list, cancelling the effect of any previous
333 executes the commands in all
338 provided with FIGlet,
339 for details on how to write a
357 These options control how
359 spaces the FIGcharacters that it outputs.
364 The FIGcharacters are displayed
365 as close together as possible,
366 and overlapping sub-characters are removed.
367 Exactly which sub-characters count as ``overlapping''
368 depends on the font's
370 which is defined by the font's author.
372 causes ``kerning''. As many blanks as possible are
373 removed between FIGcharacters, so that they
374 touch, but the FIGcharacters are not smushed.
378 display all FIGcharacters at their full width,
379 which may be fixed or variable, depending on the font.
381 The difference between
387 will not smush a font whose author specified
388 kerning or full width as the default
392 will attempt to do so.
394 If there is no information in the font
399 then the FIGcharacters are ``overlapped''.
400 This means that after kerning,
401 the first subcharacter of
402 each FIGcharacter is removed.
403 (This is not done if a FIGcharacter
404 contains only one subcharacter.)
408 Specifies an explicit
417 which also provides complete information
421 For the sake of backward compatibility
438 used only by font designers testing the various
448 These options print various information about
450 then exit. If several of these options are given on the command line, only
451 the last is executed, and only after
452 all other command-line options have been dealt with.
455 prints version and copyright information, as well as a ``Usage: ...''
458 prints the information corresponding to the given
460 in a consistent, reliable (i.e., guaranteed to be the same in
461 future releases) format.
463 is primarily intended to be used by programs that use
466 can be any of the following.
469 .BR -1 " Normal operation (default)."
474 should operate normally, not giving any informational printout,
475 printing its input in the selected font.
477 .BR 0 " Version and copyright."
481 .BR 1 " Version (integer)."
482 This will print the version of your copy of
484 as a decimal integer. The main version number is multiplied by 10000,
485 the sub-version number is multiplied by 100, and the sub-sub-version
486 number is multiplied by 1. These are added together, and the result is
487 printed out. For example,
491 , version 2.2.1 will print
493 Similarly, version 3.7.2 would print
495 These numbers are guaranteed to be
496 ascending, with later versions having higher numbers. Note that
497 the first major release of
499 version 2.0, did not have the
503 .BR 2 " Default font directory."
504 This will print the default font directory. It is affected by the
509 This will print the name of the font
511 would use. It is affected by
515 This is not a filename; the
517 suffix is not printed.
519 .BR 4 " Output width."
520 This will print the value
524 the number of columns wide
526 assumes the screen is.
527 It is affected by the
533 .BR 5 " Supported font formats."
534 This will list font formats supported by
538 for FIGfont Version 2
549 is any other positive value,
551 will simply exit without printing anything.
562 These options control whether
564 prints left-to-right or right-to-left.
566 selects left-to-right printing.
568 selects right-to-left printing.
572 use whichever is specified in the font file.
574 Once the options are read,
575 if there are any remaining words on the command line,
576 they are used instead
577 of standard input as the source of text.
579 allows shell scripts to generate large letters without having to dummy
580 up standard input files.
582 An empty argument, obtained by two sequential quotes,
583 results in a line break.
588 with its default settings, simply type
598 and then type whatever you like.
600 To change the font, use the
607 example% figlet \-f script
615 option if you would prefer centered output:
626 We have found that the most common use of
628 is making up large text to be placed in e-mail messages. For this
631 defaults to 80 column output. If you are using a wider terminal, and
634 to use the full width of your terminal, use the
649 to smush FIGcharacters into each other, use the
664 gets its input from a file, it is often a good idea to use
670 example% figlet \-p < myfile
676 Of course, the above can be combined:
681 example% figlet \-ptk \-f shadow < anotherfile
682 example% figlet \-cf slant
688 Finally, if you want to have
690 take the input from the command
691 line instead of a file:
696 example% figlet Hello world
702 .SS Other Things to Try
703 On many systems nice effects can be obtained from the
705 font by piping it through
707 Some you might want to try are the following:
712 example% figlet \-f lean | tr ' _/' ' ()'
713 example% figlet \-f lean | tr ' _/' './\e\e'
714 example% figlet \-f lean | tr ' _/' ' //'
715 example% figlet \-f lean | tr ' _/' '/ '
720 Similar things can be done with the
722 font and many of the other
727 You can compress the fonts and controlfiles
731 Place only one font or controlfile in each archive,
732 and rename the archive file (which will have a name
740 If you don't rename the file appropriately,
742 won't be able to find it.
745 does not care what the filename within the
747 archive is, and will process only the first file.
751 format was chosen because tools to create and manipulate it
752 are widely available for free
755 .SH THE STANDARD FONTS
757 Here are a few notes about some of the fonts provided with
759 You can get many other font from the Web site
761 http://www.figlet.org/ This location
762 should also contain the latest version of
764 and other related utilities.
770 font, used when no other font is specified.
771 (This default can be changed when
773 is compiled on your system.)
781 are provided for interpreting those character sets,
782 also known as ISO Latin-2 through Latin-5 respectively.
783 The character set 8859-1 (ISO Latin-1) is
785 default and requires no special
788 Closely related are the fonts
793 (both small and slanted),
795 (both small and shadowed),
798 These fonts support only Latin-1, except that
800 supports Greek FIGcharacters as well;
804 (for Greek text written in Latin characters, so-called
805 .RI `` frangovlakhika ''),
808 (for mixed Latin/Greek text)
813 font is a right-to-left font
814 including both Latin and Hebrew FIGcharacters;
815 the Latin characters are those of the
822 which maps the letters you get
823 by typing on a U.S. keyboard
824 as if it were a Hebrew keyboard;
826 which makes a reasonable mapping from
827 Latin letters to Hebrew ones;
830 which supports mixed Latin/Hebrew text.
833 doesn't support bidirectional text,
834 so everything will come out right-to-left,
842 output the input character with some decoration around it
846 The characters coded 128 to 159,
847 which have varying interpretations, are output as-is.
848 You can use the appropriate
850 to process Latin-2, Latin-3, or Latin-4 (but not Latin-5) text,
851 provided your output device
852 has screen or printer fonts that
853 are appropriate for these character sets.
855 Two script fonts are available:
865 is made up solely of `/' and `_' sub-characters;
867 is a straight (non-leaning) version of it.
871 is very small, and especially suitable for e-mail signatures.
875 looks like the output of the
878 it is a capitals and small capitals font
879 that doesn't support the ISO Latin-1 extensions
881 It does, however, support the Japanese
887 maps the upper-case and lower-case Latin letters
894 handles JIS 0201X (JIS-Roman)
900 font also supports Cyrillic (Russian)
904 supports mixed Latin and Cyrillic text,
908 supports the popular KOI8-R mapping of mixed text,
913 sensible mapping from Latin to Cyrillic,
922 support the mnemonic character set
923 documented in RFC 1345.
924 They implement a large subset of Unicode
925 (over 1800 characters) very crudely,
926 using ASCII-based mnemonic sequences,
927 and are good for getting a quick look
928 at UTF-8 unicode files,
929 using the controlfile
937 is set, its value is used as a path to search for font files.
953 diagnostics are intended to be self-explanatory. Possible
961 Unable to open font file
962 Not a FIGlet 2 font file
963 Unable to open control file
964 Not a FIGlet 2 control file
965 "\-t" is disabled, since ioctl is not fully implemented.
970 This last message is printed when the
972 option is given, but the operating system in use does not include
975 uses to determine the terminal width.
978 also prints an explanatory message if the
980 option is given on the command line.
981 The earlier version of
983 version 2.0, listed the available fonts when the
985 option was given. This option has been removed from
987 2.1. It has been replaced by the
989 script, which is part of the standard
995 stands for ``Frank, Ian and Glenn's LETters''. Inspired by Frank's .sig,
996 Glenn wrote (most of) it, and Ian helped.
1000 fonts were inspired by signatures on various UseNet
1001 articles. Since typically hundreds of people use the same style of
1002 letters in their signatures, it was often not deemed necessary to give
1003 credit to any one font designer.
1006 Very little error checking is done on font and control files. While
1008 tries to be forgiving of errors, and should (hopefully) never actually
1009 crash, using an improperly-formatted file with
1011 will produce unpredictable output.
1014 does not handle format characters in a very intelligent way.
1015 A tab character is converted to a blank, and vertical-tab, form-feed and
1016 carriage-return are each converted to a newline. On many systems, tabs
1017 can be handled better by piping files through
1019 before piping through
1023 output is quite ugly if it is displayed in a proportionally-spaced font.
1024 I suppose this is to be expected.
1026 Please report any errors you find in this man page or the program to
1028 .SH WEBSITE AND MAILING LIST
1029 You can get many fonts which are not in the basic
1031 package from the Web site
1032 http://www.figlet.org/ It
1033 should also contain the latest version of
1035 and other utilities related to
1038 There is a mailing list for
1040 for general discussions about
1042 and a place where you can ask questions or share ideas
1045 users. It is also the place where we will publish
1046 news about new fonts, new software updates etc.
1048 To subscribe or unsubscribe from the
1051 please send email to figlet-subscribe@figlet.org or figlet-unsubscribe@figlet.org or visit the
1052 following web page: http://www.figlet.org/mailman/listinfo/figlet
1055 Glenn Chappell did most of the work.
1056 You can e-mail him but he is not an e-mail fanatic; people who e-mail
1057 Glenn will probably get answers, but if you e-mail his best friend:
1061 an e-mail fanatic, you'll get answers, endless conversation about the
1062 mysteries of life, invitations to join some 473 mailing lists and a
1063 free toaster. (Well, ok, maybe not the free toaster.)
1065 Frank inspired this whole project with his .sig, but don't e-mail
1066 him; he's decidedly an un-e-mail-fanatic.
1068 Gilbert "The Mad Programmer" Healton added the
1070 option for version 2.1.1. This option specified input from
1071 the command line; it is still allowed,
1074 John Cowan added the
1082 the support for Unicode mapping tables,
1083 ISO 2022/HZ/Shift-JIS/UTF-8 input,
1084 and compressed fonts
1086 He also revised this documentation,
1087 with a lot of input from
1090 Claudio Matsuoka added the support for
1092 files for version 2.2.4 and performs random hacks and bugfixes.
1094 As a fan of FIGlet, Christiaan Keet revised the official FIGlet documentation
1095 and set up the new FIGlet website at http://www.figlet.org/ (and the
1096 corresponding ftp://ftp.figlet.org/pub/figlet/)
1101 .BR showfigfonts (6),