figlet

Create ASCII art text

$ figlet "[Hello World]"

$ figlet -f [slant] "[text]"

$ figlet -c "[text]"

$ figlet -w [80] "[text]"

$ figlet -I 2 | xargs -I {} ls /usr/share/figlet/

figlet [options] [message]

figlet renders text as large ASCII art characters using various fonts. It's commonly used for terminal banners, welcome messages, and stylized text output.
Multiple fonts provide different styles from simple block letters to elaborate designs. The tool adjusts character spacing (smushing) to create compact or spread-out output.
figlet reads from standard input if no message is provided, enabling piped input.

MESSAGE

Text to render as ASCII art.

Font file to use.

Output width.

Center output.

Left justify.

Right justify.

Kerning mode.

Full width (no smushing).

Display help information.

Font availability varies by installation. Very long text may wrap awkwardly. Some fonts work better at certain terminal widths.

figlet (Frank, Ian & Glenn's Letters) was created in 1991 by Glenn Chappell and Ian Chai. It became a Unix classic for creating ASCII banners, spawning hundreds of community-created fonts.

toilet(1), banner(1), cowsay(1)