How to add Custom Header (Banner) on your Terminal (Linux)
Howdy, folks. This post is for Linux lovers, especially for those who are in love with terminal. Wont it be cool if we add a banner to the terminal so that every time we fire up the terminal we see a custom banner, whether it be our name, code-name, brand-name, anything. Today lets do it! I am using Ubuntu. If you are using any other distro and face some issue, feel free to let me know through response.
First thing first, lets install ⚙️
ReQuirements 👾
- FIGlet
- lolcat
- extra-fonts for FIGlet (optional)
Lets install one by one, do these
FIGlet
FIGlet is a computer program that generates text banners, in a variety of typefaces, composed of letters made up of conglomerations of smaller ASCII characters.
- sudo apt-get install figlet
You can know the full details and functioning of FIGlet by man command
- man figlet
Syntax for generating banner
figlet -f {fontname} “TEXT FOR BANNER”
to know the font names available along with how they look, use this command in terminal:
showfigfonts — it shows font with default text
showfigfonts “SOME TEXT” — it shows font with custom text
As FIGlet being setup, now lets add some more fonts to our arsenal.
follow these commands:
- cd /usr/share
- sudo git clone https://github.com/xero/figlet-fonts
- sudo mv figlet-fonts/* figlet && sudo rm –rf figlet-fonts
Now if you try showfigfonts again, you will see lot more fonts.
LOLCAT
Lolcat provide color for the text we display on terminal.
- git clone https://github.com/busyloop/lolcat
- cd lolcat/bin/ && sudo gem install lolcat
for help with lolcat command, use
- lolcat -h
The Final Steps
- sudo gedit /etc/bash.bashrc
This will open up a text editor with lot of script in it, scroll to the bottom and
add the following:
- clear
- figlet -c -f {font_you_chose} “Text_to_be_displayed” | lolcat
Done! save it and open a new terminal to see the banner there. You can add your own customization.
Extra Utilities you may like
- Cowsay — Cowsay is a configurable talking cow, originally written in Perl by Tony Monroe.
Easy Install — sudo apt-get install cowsay
for more description and usage docs visit here.
2. fortune — When fortune is run with no arguments it prints out a random epigram.
Easy Install — sudo apt-get install fortune
use this command to know the usage — man fortune
For more interesting utilities, visit here
That’s it for today! If the article is informative, do clap 👏 and share, reviews are most welcome 😉 see you in next story! 👻
