loadfont

loadfont [-C console] [-m mapfile] [-o oldfont] [-q] [-v] fontfile

-C console
    Specifies the console device to use. Defaults to the current console.

-m mapfile
    Specifies a Unicode mapping table file to load alongside the font.

-o oldfont
    Specifies a file to save the current font to before loading the new font. This is useful for backing up the current font in case you want to revert later.

-q
    Quiet mode; suppress verbose output.

-v
    Verbose mode; display more detailed information.

fontfile
    The path to the font file to load. Commonly a PSF file.

The loadfont command loads a font into the Linux console. This is useful for customizing the appearance of the console and enabling support for different character sets.

The command reads the font file specified on the command line and loads it into the console's font table. After loading, the new font will be used for all subsequent console output. Font files are usually in PSF (PC Screen Font) format. You can use programs like psfaddtable to add unicode information to the fonts and programs like setfont to load the font into the console.

Loading the wrong font can make the console unusable. It's recommended to back up the current font first using the '-o' option.
Some fonts may not display correctly if the console driver does not fully support them.

To load a font named 'myfont.psf' into the current console:
loadfont myfont.psf

To load the font and save the current font to 'oldfont.psf':
loadfont -o oldfont.psf myfont.psf

To load a font with a unicode mapping table:
loadfont -m myfont.unicode myfont.psf

The loadfont command has been a part of Linux systems for a long time. It provides a mechanism to customize the console's appearance, particularly useful in embedded systems or when specific character encodings or glyphs are required. Its utility has decreased slightly with the advent of graphical environments, but it remains a useful tool for console customization.

setfont(1), psfaddtable(1)