Bored with Terminal? I hope you’re not. But if you’re, then we have some funny Linux commands to refresh your mind with animations made with ASCII characters and much more. You don’t need to have extra technical knowledge to enjoy these funny Linux commands on your computer system or laptop.
Before getting started we recommend you to get into Superuser mode by using sudo -i or su command.
Covered Topics
Funny Linux Commands
1. $ fortune – Funny Linux Commands
Curious about your future check your fortune by using fortune command. This command gives some random funny quotes.
You need to install the fortune package to use this command, you can install fortune by using the below command
fortune for apt or aptitude based system
Geekyarea@Geekyarea:~ $ sudo apt-get install fortune
fortune for yum based system
yum install fortune*
Just use the command fortune to know about your fortune when the installation is completed
Geekyarea@Geekyarea:~ $ fortune
2. $ toilet – Funny Linux Commands
Have you wondered how we wrote “Funny Linux Commands” with # characters in our thumbnail (refer topmost image)?
We used toilet command to get that output. The toilet command turns the giving words/sentence into ASCII characters.
Installation of the toilet package for apt or aptitude based system:
sudo apt-get install toilet
Installation of the toilet package for yum based system:
wget http://caca.zoy.org/raw-attachment/wiki/toilet/toilet-0.3.tar.gz tar zxpvf toilet-0.3.tar.gz cd toilet-0.3 ./configure make install
You can export the HTML by using the following command, replace any text with your own words without square braces
$toilet --html [any text]
sample HTML output (Output may be odd for mobile users):
m” ” mmm mmm # m m m ## m mm mmm mmm
# mm #” # #” # # m” “mm” # # #” ” #” # ” #
# # #”””” #”””” #”# #m# #mm# # #”””” m”””#
“mmm” “#mm” “#mm” # “m “# # # # “#mm” “mm”#
There are few more commands which are quite similar to toilet command and they are listed below.
3. $ banner
This command converts the string into large ASCII characters. It prints the alphabets in capitals only.
Installation of the banner package for apt or aptitude based system:
sudo apt install banner
If any error then try this command:
sudo apt install sysvbanner
While using the banner command, if you have given long character argument then it won’t print all characters in large ASCII as it is limited for 10 characters only. To get the full output you need to give space between words.
Know more about banner by using help option with banner
banner --help
Note: This command might not work on all systems.
4. $ figlet
It is also the same as both toilet and banner, figlet – display large characters made up of ordinary screen characters.
The figlet command provides some option like -c, -p etc to customize the output text, below is an example image
Installation of the figlet package for apt or aptitude based system:
sudo apt install figlet
5. $ sl
Just like the above GIF sl command gives an ASCII animation of train//steam locomotive. sl stands for steam locomotive
It will be fun when you mistype sl command instead of ls command, the ASCII animation will appear. This will also work when you type LS.
Installation of the sl package for apt or aptitude based system:
sudo apt install sl
sl have some option like -a -F -l etc, you see each option explanation by man command. For example
man sl
Gives a full manual page of sl command with syntax, option, usage everything about the sl command.
6. telnet – Linux funny command [StarWars in Terminal]
telnet stands for terminal over the network, this command connects to telnet server
This command doesn’t need any installation but you need a working internet connection.
telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl
Enjoy StarWars in your terminal, similarly, you can watch StarWars in command prompt also. Get to know more about telnetwiki.
7. $ aafire
As you can see in the above gif, this commands displays fire animation made up of ASCII characters.
Installation of the aafire package for apt or aptitude based system:
sudo apt install aafire
8. $ cmatrix
Yeah! this command gives the feel like a hacker, and its animation looks similar as shown in the movies (ref: “The Matrix” films)
Installation of the cmatrix package for apt or aptitude based system:
sudo apt install cmatrix
Github of cmatrix: https://github.com/abishekvashok/cmatrix
9. $ yes
This command will repeat the given set of string/characters.
Press ctrl+c to stop the repetition of the text.
Installation of the yes package for apt or aptitude based system:
sudo apt install yes
10. $ espeak
By this command, you can hear the text given to the espeak command. espeak command supports different types of input, stdin, stdout, etc.
Installation of the espeak package for apt or aptitude based system:
sudo apt install espeak
11. $ Fork Bomb (Try on your own Risk)
If you know basic programming even C language you may know recursive function. This command also calls itself and uses all the resources in the system.
Note: I have used this command in our college lab. And yes the system got stuck, I need to remove the battery to restart the laptop. ;_;
Your system will become laggy, try it on your own risk. You need to reboot/restart.
:(){ :|:& }:
12. $ hollywood – funny Linux commands
Hollywood Hacker: Black background, Green random text scrolling, colorful screen, Hex codes and moving ASCII codes and the server/device hacked.
But just like in movies it doesn’t take a few seconds to get access over the server or device and control it. For an actual hacker, it takes days/months or more than that.
Okay, let’s see about Hollywood command, as I described Hollywood hacker, the hollywood command displays the same kinda thing on your screen. (Refer above GIF).
Installation of the hollywood package for apt or aptitude based system:
sudo apt install hollywood
If that doesn’t work then try this:
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:hollywood/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install byobu hollywoodFunny Linux commands can be Dangerous
There few more commands like rm -rf which might look funny or crazy but this might harm your whole OS. So be careful while using these commands.
Use man command to know more about these funny commands. Don’t know how to use man? Just follow the below syntax
man [command_name]
If the command mandb exists it show the details of that command, if not then you need search that command details over the internet.
Have fun with Funny Linux Commands and be careful, and follow us on our social handles.
