toilet: Create colorful ASCII banners

Create Colorful ASCII Banners with Toilet: A Guide for Linux users

When it comes to command line tools, Linux offers a plethora of utilities that not only make shell interactions productive but also fun. One such tool is toilet. This nifty utility allows you to create colorful, large ASCII banners from plain text. It’s an upgraded version of the FIGlet utility, which prints text banners in large characters made of ordinary screen characters. Toilet enhances FIGlet by adding support for colorful and custom ASCII art and Unicode support. This tool is perfect for adding some flair to scripts, system messages, or simply to embellish your terminal.

What is Toilet?

Toilet stands for "The Other Implementation of Less Innovative Texts," but don't let the playful name fool you—it's a powerful tool for creating text-based banners in a variety of fonts and colors. It uses the libcaca library to produce text-based graphics and supports various output formats including ASCII, HTML, SVG, and more.

Installation Instructions

Debian/Ubuntu (using apt):

To install Toilet on Debian-based distributions like Ubuntu, you'll use the apt package manager. It's always recommended to update your package list before installing new software. Open your terminal and run:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install toilet

Fedora (using dnf):

For Fedora users, the dnf package manager is your gateway to installing new software. Just like with apt, it's a good idea to refresh your repository list before installing:

sudo dnf update
sudo dnf install toilet

openSUSE (using zypper):

If you're running an openSUSE distribution, you will use the zypper package manager to install packages:

sudo zypper refresh
sudo zypper install toilet

With the installation out of the way, let’s dive into how you can use Toilet!

Usage Examples

Toilet is straightforward to use. Here are a few examples to get you started:

1. Basic Usage: Simply type toilet, followed by the text you want to convert into an ASCII banner:

   toilet Hello World
   

2. Adding Color: Use the -f option to specify a font and --metal or --gay for color effects:

   toilet -f big --gay "Hello World"
   

• --gay: Adds a rainbow color effect.
• --metal: Adds a metallic color effect.

3. Using Different Fonts: Toilet can use any font file compatible with FIGlet. To specify a font:

   toilet -f pagga "Sample Text"
   

   To list all available fonts:

   toilet -F list
   

4. Export to File: You can redirect the output to a file, which could be useful for headers or messages in scripts:

   toilet "Hello, Script!" > header.txt
   

Creative Uses of Toilet

• System Login Banner: Customise the message of the day (MOTD) on Linux systems by adding colorful ASCII banners.

• Scripts: Add ASCII banners to your shell scripts for section headers, making them more readable and fun.

• Email Signatures: Generate a unique email signature in ASCII art.

Conclusion

Toilet is a versatile and fun utility for anyone looking to enhance their terminal outputs or script presentations. With its various fonts and color options, it opens up a lot of room for creativity in mundane terminal sessions. Whether you are system administrator, a developer, or just a Linux enthusiast, toilet will definitely add some color and fun to your terminal activities!

Expand your toolbox by trying out toilet today, and start making your terminal sessions a little more colorful!