ASCII art
ASCII art consists of pictures pieced together from characterss (preferably from the set defined by ASCII). They can be created with any text editor. Most examples of ASCII art require a non-proportional font (fixed-width font, like on a traditional typewriter) for presentation.
The simplest forms of ASCII Art are two or three character combinations for expressing emotion in text. Rotate these examples mentally 90 degress clockwise for a more recognizable orientation of these emoticons:
:-) or :) smile
:-( frown
;-) wink
More complex examples use several lines of text to draw large symbols or crude representations or more complex figures. Some common examples:
(__)
(oo)
/-------\\/ O
/ | || /o)\\ /H\\
* ||----|| \\(o/ / \\
~~ ~~
Cow Yin/Yang Person
It is popular to put such art in one's signature block to be included in all one's e-mail and Usenet postings.Some types ignore the particular shape of the characters and treat them as more-or-less filled (dithered) boxes:
_a,
_yQa.
_qTWW(
je`?QX:
Unique typography can be created, for example:
___ __,
( / ( o/
/ /_
_/_/ /_ (___)/ / /_(_(__/ /_
//
(/
The program Figlet (and other programs that support its standard) allow for the design and use of ASCII fonts.
_____ ___ ____ _ _
| ___|_ _/ ___| | ___| |_
| |_ | | | _| |/ _ \\ __|
| _| | | |_| | | __/ |_
|_| |___\\____|_|\\___|\\__|
ASCII Art is and was used wherever text can be more readily printed or transmitted than graphics. This includes typewriters, teletypes, computer terminals, early computer networking, wikipedia edition , e-mail and Usenet news messages.It's straightforward to generate ASCII art algorithmically. There exist specialized text editors designed to draw lines, boxes, and filled areas easily. Converting a bitmap to ASCII art is a special case of vector quantization. An example of a generated image is below:
aaaaaa222222SSSSSS2222222SSSS2a22222SSSSSSSS22aaaaaaaa222222SS222aaaZaaZZZZ
2222aaaaS2222222222222222SS2SS22222SSXXXSSXSSXSSSXXXXXSSXSXXXXXX7XSSSSSSS22
2222222aaaZZa222222a222222SS22a22SSX77rrr777X77XXXSSSSSXSSXSSSXXXSXSS22S222
22a2222aaaaaaa22222aaaZZa2aa2aa2222SSSSXXXSSSSXXXXXXSXSXXSSSSXSSSXX7X22SSS2
22222a222222222222aaaZZZZZaaZaaZZZaaaa2a2SSSSSSSXSXXXXXXXXSX7;..,;20X77XXXS
2SSSSSXSSSSSSSSSSSSSS2222aa2222aaaaaa222222SSX7X777XXXX7r: aMMMMBS7XX7XXX
SSSSSSXXSXXSSX7:,::i:.:rXSSSSSS22222a2SSXX7XXX77rr;i, :WMMM@r.,;XSSSSS22
S22a222S2222XirWMMMMMM@a:;XSSXXXSSXXXX77;ii:,,,:...:rX0MMMMZ: ,;XSS2S222222
SSSS22aaa22X,2MMMWWW@@MMM2.:i:,,. ..i7ZB@MMMMMMMMMMMM07 :7SaaaZZaaaaa222
XSXSXXS2S7: rMMZWWWWWWW@MMMB0MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM@WMW@@W@@@@WMMZaZ8888ZZaa2222S2
rrr;77rriXMMMMMWWWWWWWWWWWMMMM@W@M@@@@@@WWWWWBWW@WW@8ZW@MXS0B00088ZZZZaaaa2
;;iiiii:;ZX;,8MMWWW@@MMMMMMMM@W@WWWWB0@B0WWWWBBWWBWW@MWWMMaSaa222aaaaZaaaa2
;r;rrrr7;:.. MM@MM@W0B@MMMWMMWWWWWWBWWBWBWWWWWWWWB0ZWMMMM7XXXXX7XSSS2aZaa
ii7XSZ2aaaaaa2;,MM@7r7XS8Wi MWB0BWWWWWWWBWWW@WW@MMMM8Xi,;XXSSSSSSSSSSS222
XSSSaZ80BBBBBWB8MM2X2a8MW M0MMWBWWWWWWWWWWWWW@MMMM8SX2aZ88Z8ZZZZaaaaa2SSXX
a0008Z22Z800BB08M0 S28MZ MMWWWWW@WWWWWWWW@MM@a;rX2ZZ88ZZZZZZ88ZZaa22SXXX
08a222SS22aZZZZ2BMir7r MMMMBBWWBBBBWWWWWWMMM0,:;rr7XXXXXX777rr77XX7X77X7X
0WWWBB088888ZZ8ZSZMMM8MMMMM@WWWWBBWW@WWWWWMM2,ir7r7r77XXX77rr;;;rr7XXSS2222
SSSaaaZZZaaa22222X;rWMMMMWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWMB;r77XXXXS2222SSX77rr;rr7XXX2aZa
SSSSSSXXXXX7XXXX777;. XWMMM@WW@@@@WWWWWWMMM22a22222222222SSXX7rrrrrr7XXSSSS
2222SXXXX7XXX7XXXXXX7ri i0M@@MWMMMMM@MMMBZZ0B000000088ZZZZZZZZZaaa22SSSSXS
22aaZZ8Z888808888ZZZZaa2X:MZMMW ..78WMMZrXSSS2222aaaaaZZZZZZZZaZaaa222SS2SS
2SXXSS22aaZ880000BBBBB088S2BWMMXaX7 ;Mii7rr;;;i;;;;;;;rr777r7r7r7rrr7rr77XX
888ZZZZa2SSX77XXSSXSSSSS2SX7 8SrXMr;XX77r77rrrr;;;;;rrrr77r7r7rrrr;rr;i;
Z8088ZZZZZZ22SSSSSXX7777rrrXai 7270Mr72aZZZZ888888888ZZZaSSXSXSSSX7r;i::;rS
aaaSS2222aaaaaaZaZZZ888888Z88M; .MMrrSSXXXS2aaa2aaaa2S77rrrr777X77XXX2a888Z
XXX7X77rrr7XXS222222aZZZ8ZZa7@2: 7M,;;;;iiii::,::,,...,:,.,::i;r;rr7X2ZZa22
XXr;ii::iiii;r777rrr7ri::iir,M,S MMZXS2Zaaa22SXX77777XS222222aaa2SXX777r7XX
X77r;rr7XXXSSSSSXS22XrrXSa80Z080, 2Z8aaaZZ880BBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW@WWWWWB08ZZZZ
i,:iirrrrr7rrrrr7a:;MMM@WBB0000WMW i8Z22aaa8Z888Z888000BBB88ZZZZ0BBW@MMMMB
822SXXaZa2XX77777Z rMM@8Z880BMM: :XBZaaa22222ZZZZZaa222XXXXXXXXXXXS2aZZ2
8WaSSr77XX2Z0@@@WMMX 7MM@0ZZZ:M2 ;0Z8aSX7r;7XaZaS77r;rXX2aa2SSXXXSSX7r;
;;7X;:ii.:..7SZ8BWZ; ;2S77 XB SiX;;rrr;ii;i::,::;r;7X;iii::,,.... ,
282X, ..2a8W8Sr.,;a8WMMM@, 2BMW22@. 72a22S22a2aZZ8082;i;:,:iir7XSSXriii
,:SZ,7. i:i . ;.,.i7rSWMMMr ,2B0iM ,8SSSSXrr7777XXS22a2aZZ8880ZSXX280
. rZMZS8 r:.7 ri , ;08Z r8SBZ :;X7SaZ80Z227r:... .,. ,ir7X2
BBZZX7;2;.a8XSSr8000Z@MMMMW0082i ;8WX:70SMSSaa:iii;;rXX7X0MM@BB0Za2S77rr7rX
An example of a program that generates ASCII art can be found in ASCII art conversion tool.
In the 1970s and early 1980s it was popular to produce a kind of ASCII art that relied on overprinting -- the overall darkness of a particular character space dependent on how many characters, as well as the choice of character, printed in a particular place. Thanks to the increased granularity of tone, photographs were often converted to this type of printout. Even daisy wheel printers could be used. The technique has fallen from popularity since all cheap printers can easily print photographs, and a normal text file (or an e-mail message or Usenet posting) cannot represent overprinted text.
Animated ASCII art is possible by embedding ANSI escape sequences for cursor movement into the "picture".
In Japan, ASCII Art achieves unique development. It is something to be called "JIS Art" because it is not represented by ASCII only, but is conventionally called so. The abundance of characters allows more eleborate ASCII art. The largest source of recent "JIS Art" is the 2ch BBS, and characters and stories in these "JIS Arts" are gaining popularity/recognition with emergence of this BBS. Cultural similarity with Manga (Japanese comic) can be observed.
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ASCII artwork embedded in an HTML document must be placed within
See also: ASCII cows, chemical ASCII-art.
ASCII art in HTML pages
preformatted text tags to ensure that arrangement of the characters will display properly with monospace fonts (aka non-proportional fonts).External links
ASCII art editors
Other links
