⚠️There's a newer version (0.9.0) of this package. Take me there.

cowsay

What is this?

If you are familiar with cowsay on the cli, then you know what this is, but for R. If not, read below. Why? Why not?

Contributors (alphebetical)

  • Amanda Dobbyn
  • Andreas Brandmaier
  • Andy Teucher
  • Carson Sievert
  • Franz-Sebastian Krah
  • Guangchuang Yu
  • Karl Broman
  • Kiyoko Gotanda
  • Lucy D'Agostino McGowan
  • Noam Ross
  • Paolo Sonego
  • Philipp Boersch-Supan
  • Rich FitzJohn
  • Scott Chamberlain
  • Thomas Leeper
  • Tyler Rinker

That's right, it takes 16 people to make cowsay - it's that hard.

Where to find ASCII animal art

Sources to look in:

Permissions

In the ascii art mailing list https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.ascii-art they say:

 As for posting other people's ASCII art,
    after a discussion in news:alt.ascii-art       _     ___
    the following rules were agreed upon:         #_~`--'__ `===-,
    1.  If an ASCII ART picture has initials      `.`.     `#.,//
        on it, leave them on when posting it      ,_\_\     ## #\
    2.  If an ASCII ART picture doesn't have      `__.__    `####\
        initials on it,  mention  that  you            ~~\ ,###'~
        didn't  draw  it  when  posting  it.              \##'
    3.  If somebody  posts a picture without                  [nosig]
        initials and you have an original copy
        with initials on, feel free to re-post the original version.
        *   The re-post ought not to be taken personally, as we all
            know that ASCII art often loses proper credits.
            Responses to the re-post are not necessary.

    One contributor, name of Krogg, suggested the following:

    1.) Ultra polite:...ya make yer own ascii and use it.
    2.)  Very polite:...Ya contact the author and ask if ya
                        can use it...
    3.)       polite:...Ya use it but you keep the Credits
                        in there like they should be.
    4.)         rude:...Ya use it and strip credits.
    5.)    Very rude:...Ya use it and claim that it Is
                        _Your_ very own creation...

So, let's go with this rule: Let's include found (on the web) ascii art in this pkg, include signature if there, and if no signature, put in a [nosig] (see above).

Quick watch start

Asciicast: https://asciinema.org/a/7745

Install

From CRAN

install.packages("cowsay")

Dev version

install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("sckott/cowsay")
library("cowsay")

The animals

sort(names(animals))
#>  [1] "ant"          "anxiouscat"   "bat"          "bat2"        
#>  [5] "behindcat"    "bigcat"       "buffalo"      "cat"         
#>  [9] "chicken"      "clippy"       "cow"          "daemon"      
#> [13] "duck"         "duckling"     "egret"        "endlesshorse"
#> [17] "facecat"      "fish"         "frog"         "ghost"       
#> [21] "grumpycat"    "hypnotoad"    "longcat"      "longtailcat" 
#> [25] "monkey"       "mushroom"     "owl"          "pig"         
#> [29] "poop"         "pumpkin"      "rabbit"       "shark"       
#> [33] "shortcat"     "signbunny"    "smallcat"     "snowman"     
#> [37] "spider"       "stretchycat"  "trilobite"    "turkey"      
#> [41] "yoda"

Say Something

say('time')
#> 
#>  -------------- 
#> 2018-08-02 11:54:09 
#>  --------------
#>     \
#>       \
#>         \
#>             |\___/|
#>           ==) ^Y^ (==
#>             \  ^  /
#>              )=*=(
#>             /     \
#>             |     |
#>            /| | | |\
#>            \| | |_|/\
#>       jgs  //_// ___/
#>                \_)
#> 
say("ain't that some shit", "chicken")
#> 
#> 
#>  ----- 
#> ain't that some shit 
#>  ------ 
#>     \   
#>      \
#>          _
#>        _/ }
#>       `>' \
#>       `|   \
#>        |   /'-.     .-.
#>         \'     ';`--' .'
#>          \'.    `'-./
#>           '.`-..-;`
#>             `;-..'
#>             _| _|
#>             /` /` [nosig]
#> 

Add some color:

library(multicolor)
library(crayon)
say("boo!", "ghost", 
    what_color = "cyan", by_color = "saddlebrown")
#> 
#> 
#>  ----- 
#> boo! 
#>  ------ 
#>     \   
#>      \
#>      .-.
#>     (o o)
#>     | O \
#>      \   \
#>       `~~~' [nosig]
#> 
say("I love hooo you are!", "owl", 
    what_color = rgb(0, 1, 1), by_color = "#FF0000")
#> 
#>  ----- 
#> I love hooo you are! 
#>  ------ 
#>     \   
#>      \  
#>       \
#>        /\___/\
#>        {o}{o}|
#>        \ v  /|
#>        |    \ \
#>         \___/_/       [ab] 
#>           | |

String styles together crayon-style:

say(what = "rms", by = "rms", 
        what_color = yellow$bgMagenta$bold,
        by_color = cyan$italic)
#> 
#> 
#>  ----- 
#> Richard Stallman will never die, but may some day go to /dev/null. 
#>  ------ 
#>     \   
#>      \
#>                     @@@@@@ @
#>                   @@@@     @@
#>                  @@@@ =   =  @@ 
#>                 @@@ @ _   _   @@ 
#>                  @@@ @(0)|(0)  @@ 
#>                 @@@@   ~ | ~   @@
#>                 @@@ @  (o1o)    @@
#>                @@@    #######    @
#>                @@@   ##{+++}##   @@
#>               @@@@@ ## ##### ## @@@@
#>               @@@@@#############@@@@
#>              @@@@@@@###########@@@@@@
#>             @@@@@@@#############@@@@@
#>             @@@@@@@### ## ### ###@@@@
#>              @ @  @              @  @
#>                @                    @

This doesn't preclude you from adding extra crayon colors to your what string directly.

say(what = paste0("hello ", crayon::yellow("there "), crayon::underline("world")), 
    by = "trilobite", 
    what_color = bgBlue$cyan$italic,
    by_color = "thistle")  # Don't ask me why "thistle" is pink/purple
#> 
#>   
#>  -------------- 
#> hello there world 
#>  --------------
#>     \
#>       \
#>         \
#>           _____
#>        .'` ,-. `'.
#>       /   ([ ])   \
#>      /.-""`(`)`""-.\
#>       <'```(.)```'>
#>       <'```(.)```'>
#>        <'``(.)``'>
#>    sk   <``\_/``>
#>          `'---'`
#> 

Multiple colors are also possible (uses the multicolor package):

say(what = "I'm a rare Irish buffalo",
    by = "buffalo", 
    what_color = c("salmon2", "darkcyan", "salmon2", "darkcyan"),
    by_color = c("green", "white", "orange"))
#>  --------------
#> I'm a rare Irish buffalo
#> 
#>  --------------
#>     \
#>       \
#>         \
#>                    _.-````'-,_
#>          _,.,_ ,-'`           `'-.,_
#>        /)     (                   '``-.
#>       ((      ) )                      `\
#>         \)    (_/                        )\
#>         |       /)           '    ,'    / \
#>         `\    ^'            '     (    /  ))
#>           |      _/\ ,     /    ,,`\   (  "`
#>           \Y,   |   \  \  | ````| / \_ \
#>             `)_/      \  \  )    ( >  ( >
#>                        \( \(     |/   |/
#>           mic & dwb  /_(/_(    /_(  /_(

Vary type of output, default calls message()

say("hell no!")
#> 
#>  -------------- 
#> hell no! 
#>  --------------
#>     \
#>       \
#>         \
#>             |\___/|
#>           ==) ^Y^ (==
#>             \  ^  /
#>              )=*=(
#>             /     \
#>             |     |
#>            /| | | |\
#>            \| | |_|/\
#>       jgs  //_// ___/
#>                \_)
#> 
say("hell no!", type="warning")
#> Warning in say("hell no!", type = "warning"): 
#>  -------------- 
#> hell no! 
#>  --------------
#>     \
#>       \
#>         \
#>             |\___/|
#>           ==) ^Y^ (==
#>             \  ^  /
#>              )=*=(
#>             /     \
#>             |     |
#>            /| | | |\
#>            \| | |_|/\
#>       jgs  //_// ___/
#>                \_)
#> 
say("hell no!", type="string")
#> [1] "\n -------------- \nhell no! \n --------------\n    \\\n      \\\n        \\\n            |\\___/|\n          ==) ^Y^ (==\n            \\  ^  /\n             )=*=(\n            /     \\\n            |     |\n           /| | | |\\\n           \\| | |_|/\\\n      jgs  //_// ___/\n               \\_)\n  "

Catfacts!!!!

From the catfacts API at https://catfact.ninja

say("catfact", "cat")
#> --------------
#> When a domestic cat goes after mice, about 1 pounce in 3 results in a catch.
#> --------------
#>    \
#>      \
#>        \
#>            |\___/|
#>          ==) ^Y^ (==
#>            \  ^  /
#>             )=*=(
#>            /     \
#>            |     |
#>           /| | | |\
#>           \| | |_|/\
#>      jgs  //_// ___/
#>               \_)

Long cat

From the a Boing Boing tweet on 2014-05-10

say("it's caturday", "longcat")
#> 
#> 
#>  ----- 
#> it's caturday 
#>  ------ 
#>     \   
#>      \
#>     .ハ,,ハ
#>     ( ゚ω゚)
#>     |つ  つ
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     |    |
#>     U "  U
#>         [BoingBoing]
#> 

Grumpy cat

say('NO!', by='grumpycat')
#> 
#>    
#>  -------------- 
#> NO! 
#>  --------------
#>     \
#>       \
#>         \
#>       ハ _ ハ
#>       ಠ X ಠ
#> 
say('WOKE UP TODAY, IT WAS TERRIBLE', by='grumpycat')
#> 
#>    
#>  -------------- 
#> WOKE UP TODAY, IT WAS TERRIBLE 
#>  --------------
#>     \
#>       \
#>         \
#>       ハ _ ハ
#>       ಠ X ಠ
#> 
say('I HAD FUN ONCE, IT WAS AWFUL', by='grumpycat')
#> 
#>    
#>  -------------- 
#> I HAD FUN ONCE, IT WAS AWFUL 
#>  --------------
#>     \
#>       \
#>         \
#>       ハ _ ハ
#>       ಠ X ಠ
#> 

Bunny Holding a sign

say(by='signbunny')
#> 
#>  -------------- 
#> Hello world! 
#>  --------------
#> (\__/) ||
#> (•ㅅ•) ||
#> /   づ
#>           [nosig]
#> 

Fish

say(by='fish')
#> 
#> 
#>  ----- 
#> Hello world! 
#>  ------ 
#>     \   
#>      \
#>   ><((((º>  ><((((º>  ><((((º>  ><((((º>  ><((((º>
#>       Kiyoko Gotanda
#> 

R fortunes

say('fortune','cat')
#> 
#>  -------------- 
#> Some OSX users know that OSX is really Unix [...], others think that OSX is cooler Windows, and they have ontological problems with non-Apple phenomena and constructs.
#>  Roger Bivand
#>  R-SIG-Geo
#>  May 2012 
#>  --------------
#>     \
#>       \
#>         \
#>             |\___/|
#>           ==) ^Y^ (==
#>             \  ^  /
#>              )=*=(
#>             /     \
#>             |     |
#>            /| | | |\
#>            \| | |_|/\
#>       jgs  //_// ___/
#>                \_)
#> 

You can also pick a particular fortune by number or regex search - if the fortune parameter is not NULL you don't have pass anything to the what parameter (the 1st parameter)

say(fortune=100)
#> 
#>  -------------- 
#> I'm not sure I'd trust any computer recommendation from 1976, no matter how famous the authors are.
#>  Peter Dalgaard
#>  after Samuel Edward Kemp cited a recommendation about nonlinear least squares computer programs from 'Box-Jenkins, 1976'
#>  R-help
#>  January 2005 
#>  --------------
#>     \
#>       \
#>         \
#>             |\___/|
#>           ==) ^Y^ (==
#>             \  ^  /
#>              )=*=(
#>             /     \
#>             |     |
#>            /| | | |\
#>            \| | |_|/\
#>       jgs  //_// ___/
#>                \_)
#> 
say(fortune='whatever')
#> 
#>  -------------- 
#> Tom Backer Johnsen: I have just started looking at R, and are getting more and more irritated at myself for not having done that before. However, one of the things I have not found in the documentation is some way of preparing output from R for convenient formatting into something like MS Word.
#> Barry Rowlingson: Well whatever you do, don't start looking at LaTeX, because that will get you even more irritated at yourself for not having done it before.
#>  Tom Backer Johnsen and Barry Rowlingson
#>  R-help
#>  February 2006 
#>  --------------
#>     \
#>       \
#>         \
#>             |\___/|
#>           ==) ^Y^ (==
#>             \  ^  /
#>              )=*=(
#>             /     \
#>             |     |
#>            /| | | |\
#>            \| | |_|/\
#>       jgs  //_// ___/
#>                \_)
#> 

Trilobite

say("Hi there :)", by='trilobite')
#> 
#>   
#>  -------------- 
#> Hi there :) 
#>  --------------
#>     \
#>       \
#>         \
#>           _____
#>        .'` ,-. `'.
#>       /   ([ ])   \
#>      /.-""`(`)`""-.\
#>       <'```(.)```'>
#>       <'```(.)```'>
#>        <'``(.)``'>
#>    sk   <``\_/``>
#>          `'---'`
#> 

Shark

say('Q: What do you call a solitary shark\nA: A lone shark', by='shark')
#> 
#>     
#>  -------------- 
#> Q: What do you call a solitary shark
#> A: A lone shark 
#>  --------------
#>     \
#>       \
#>         \
#>               /""-._
#>               .       '-,
#>                :          '',
#>                 ;      *     '.
#>                  ' *         () '.
#>                    \               \
#>                     \      _.---.._ '.
#>                     :  .' _.--''-''  \ ,'
#>         .._           '/.'             . ;
#>         ; `-.          ,                \'
#>          ;   `,         ;              ._\
#>           ;    \     _,-'                ''--._
#>           :    \_,-'                          '-._
#>           \ ,-'                       .          '-._
#>           .'         __.-'';            \...,__       '.
#>         .'      _,-'        \              \   ''--.,__  '\
#>         /    _,--' ;         \              ;           \^.}
#>         ;_,-' )     \  )\      )            ;
#>              /       \/  \_.,-'             ;
#>             /                              ;
#>          ,-'  _,-'''-.    ,-.,            ;      PFA
#>       ,-' _.-'        \  /    |/'-._...--'
#>      :--``             )/
#>   '
#> 

Buffalo

say('Q: What do you call a single buffalo?\nA: A buffalonely', by='buffalo')
#> 
#>     
#>  -------------- 
#> Q: What do you call a single buffalo?
#> A: A buffalonely 
#>  --------------
#>     \
#>       \
#>         \
#>                    _.-````'-,_
#>          _,.,_ ,-'`           `'-.,_
#>        /)     (                   '``-.
#>       ((      ) )                      `\
#>         \)    (_/                        )\
#>         |       /)           '    ,'    / \
#>         `\    ^'            '     (    /  ))
#>           |      _/\ ,     /    ,,`\   (  "`
#>           \Y,   |   \  \  | ````| / \_ \
#>             `)_/      \  \  )    ( >  ( >
#>                        \( \(     |/   |/
#>           mic & dwb  /_(/_(    /_(  /_(
#> 

Clippy

say(fortune=59, by="clippy")
#> 
#> 
#>  ----- 
#> Let's not kid ourselves: the most widely used piece of software for statistics is Excel.
#>  Brian D. Ripley
#>  'Statistical Methods Need Software: A View of Statistical Computing'
#>  Opening lecture RSS 2002, Plymouth
#>  September 2002 
#>  ------ 
#>     \   
#>      \
#>    __
#>    / \
#>    | |
#>    @ @
#>   || ||
#>   || ||
#>   |\_/|
#>   \___/ GB

Yoda

say("starwars", by = "yoda")

Bats!

say("hi, i'm a bat", by="bat")
#> 
#> 
#>  ------------- 
#> hi, i'm a bat 
#>  -------------- 
#>               \   
#>                \  
#>                 \
#>         __.--'\     \.__./     /'--.__
#>     _.-'       '.__.'    '.__.'       '-._
#>   .'                                      '.
#>  /                                          \
#> |                                            |
#> |                                            |
#>  \         .---.              .---.         /
#>   '._    .'     '.''.    .''.'     '.    _.'
#>      '-./            \  /           \.-'
#>                       ''mrf

See also bat2

Monkey!

say("fortune", by = "monkey")
#> 
#> 
#>  ------------- 
#> Gregor Gorjanc: But imagine how hard would it be to have two separate modes ... argh, probably a mess^2 or have I missed something obvious.
#> Martin Maechler: Yes, exactly: "Mess ^ 2" -- and if you allow both 'drop' and 'na.rm' options, it's "Mess ^ 3" -- not something anyone really wants!
#>  Gregor Gorjanc and Martin Maechler
#>  in a discussion whether 'drop' should be set in options(), possibly depending on different user vs. programmer modes
#>  R-devel
#>  September 2006 
#>  -------------- 
#>               \   
#>                \  
#>                 \
#> 
#>                   .="=.
#>                 _/.-.-.\_     _
#>                ( ( o o ) )    ))
#>                 |/  "  \|    //
#>                  \'---'/    //
#>            jgs   /`"""`\\  ((
#>                 / /_,_\ \\  \\
#>                 \_\_'__/  \  ))
#>                 /`  /`~\   |//
#>                /   /    \  /
#>           ,--`,--'\/\    /
#>           '-- "--'  '--'

Daemon!

say("fortune", by = "daemon")
#> 
#>  ----- 
#> The documentation level of R is already much higher than average for open source software and even than some commercial packages (esp. SPSS is notorious for its attitude of "You want to do one of these things. If you don't understand what the output means, click help and we'll pop up five lines of mumbo-jumbo that you're not going to understand either.")
#>  Peter Dalgaard
#>  R-help
#>  April 2002 
#>  ------ 
#>     \   
#>      \  
#>       \
#>             ,        ,
#>            /(        )`
#>            \ \___   / |
#>             /- _  `-/  '
#>            (/\/ \ \   /\
#>            / /   | `    
#>            O O   ) /    |
#>            `-^--'`<     '
#>           (_.)  _  )   /
#>            `.___/`    /
#>              `-----' /
#> <----.     __ / __   \
#> <----|====O)))==) \) /====
#> <----'    `--' `.__,' \
#>              |        |
#>               \       /
#>         ______( (_  / \______
#>       ,'  ,-----'   |        \
#>       `--{__________)        \/ [nosig]

Egret

say("je ne regrette rien", by = "egret")
#> 
#>  ----- 
#> je ne regrette rien 
#>  ------ 
#>     \   
#>      \  
#>       \
#>        \   _,
#>       -==<' `
#>           ) /
#>          / (_.
#>         |  ,-,`\
#>          \\   \ \
#>           `\,  \ \
#>            ||\  \`|,
#>  jgs      _|| `=`-'
#>          ~~`~`

See also bat2

Endless horse

endless_horse()
## -----
## Hello world!
## ------
##    \
##     \
##      \
##       ,
##    _,,)\.~,,._
##     (()`  ``)\))),,_
##      |     \ ''((\)))),,_          ____
##      |6`   |   ''((\())) "-.____.-"    `-.-,
##      |    .'\    ''))))'                  \)))
##      |   |   `.     ''                     ((((
##      \, _)     \/                          |))))
##       `'        |                          (((((
##                 \                  |       ))))))
##                  `|    |           ,\     /((((((
##                   |   / `-.______.<  \   |  )))))
##                   |   |  /         `. \  \  ((((
##                   |  / \ |           `.\  | (((
##                   \  | | |             )| |  ))
##                    | | | |             || |  '   [endless.horse]
##                    | | | |             || |
##
##                    | | | |             || |
##                    | | | |             || |
##                    | | | |             || |
##                    | | | |             || |
##                    | | | |             || |
##                    | | | |             || |
##                    | | | |             || |
##                    | | | |             || |
##                    | | | |             || |
##                    | | | |             || |

Using pipes

library("magrittr")
"I HAD FUN ONCE, IT WAS AWFUL" %>% say('grumpycat')
#> 
#>    
#>  -------------- 
#> I HAD FUN ONCE, IT WAS AWFUL 
#>  --------------
#>     \
#>       \
#>         \
#>       ハ _ ハ
#>       ಠ X ಠ
#> 

I just want the animals!

Okay, hold your endless horses. Just use the exported vector animals, and you can select the animal you want by name.

animals['clippy']
#>                                                                                                                      clippy 
#> "\n\n ----- \n%s \n ------ \n    \\   \n     \\\n   __\n   / \\\n   | |\n   @ @\n  || ||\n  || ||\n  |\\_/|\n  \\___/ GB\n"

Meta

  • License: MIT
  • Please note that this project is released with a Contributor Code of Conduct. By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms.

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Install

install.packages('cowsay')

Monthly Downloads

1,902

Version

0.7.0

License

MIT + file LICENSE

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Last Published

September 18th, 2018

Functions in cowsay (0.7.0)