cowsay
Display customizable messages with an ASCII cow
TLDR
Print an ASCII cow saying "hello, world"
Print an ASCII cow saying text from stdin
List all available art types
Print the specified ASCII art saying "hello, world"
Print a dead thinking ASCII cow
Print an ASCII cow with custom eyes saying "hello, world"
SYNOPSIS
cowsay [-bdDfglnpstwy] [-W columns] [-f cowfile] [text]
PARAMETERS
-b
Borg mode cow
-d
Dead cow
-D
Dead daemon cow
-f cowfile
Specify alternative cow file
-g
Greedy boss cow
-l
List all available cow files
-n
Disable word wrapping (raw mode)
-p
Paranoid cow
-s
Small/steer cow
-t
Tinkerbell cow
-w
Random cow selection
-W columns
Set maximum line width
-y
Yowling/Jerk cow
DESCRIPTION
Cowsay is a whimsical Unix utility that generates an ASCII art image of a cow (or other characters) with a speech bubble containing the user's message. Written in Perl, it adds humor to terminal outputs by displaying text in a fun, visual format.
Invoke it simply as cowsay "Hello, world!" to see a cow saying the phrase. The text automatically wraps at 40 columns unless specified otherwise. It supports dozens of alternative 'cowfiles' representing animals, dragons, ghosts, and more, selectable via the -f option.
Often combined with fortune for random quotes (fortune | cowsay) or cowthink for thought bubbles. Ideal for scripts, greeters, or livening up command-line interfaces. Custom cowfiles can be created by editing simple text templates.
While purely recreational, cowsay enhances user experience in creative computing environments.
CAVEATS
Cow files must be installed (typically in /usr/share/cowsay/cows/); absent files cause errors. Not suitable for production logs due to fixed formatting.
COMMON USAGE
fortune | cowsay -f dragon or cowsay -f tux 'Linux rocks!'
Read stdin if no text provided.
COW FILES
Over 60 built-in files like moose.cow, dragon.cow, tux.cow. List with -l; create custom ones.
HISTORY
Created by Tony Monroe in 1998 as a Perl script. Gained popularity via Debian's moreutils package and community contributions of cowfiles. Remains a staple for terminal fun.
SEE ALSO
cowthink(1), fortune(1)
