ASCII Art

The ASCII art consists in carrying out images only using the special letters and characters contents in the code ASCII. This practice was spread by the means of the first BBS, on which it was not possible to post another thing only text.

Starting from the Années 1980 certain artists used character sets extended such as the Page of code 437 available in Mode text on PC compatible.

One can carry out ASCII Art with a simple text editor but there exist very sophisticated software allowing it. They have also algorithms of conversion of image into text.

Types and examples of ASCII art

See also: Emoticon

The simplest form of ASCII art is the combination of two or three characters to express a emotion in text. Mentally carry out the rotation of 90° of these examples for a more comprehensible orientation of those Ci, or lean the head on the left. : -) or:) to smile : - (or: (noncontent ; -) or;) wink : - D or: D laughter : - P or: P draws the language B) or 8) cool (sunglasses)

There is another type of ASCII art in a line which does not require rotation. They are sometimes called " smiley japonais" . Examples:

Then there exist more complex figures, which require several lines:

() (oo) /------- \/_ _ O (\ ___/) / | || /o) \/|\ (=*.*=) * ||----|| \ (O/\ (")(") ~~ ~~ Yin/Yang cow Nobody Rabbit

Certain people use ASCII art as signatures in their emails or their posts on forums. This cow is Easter Egg, of apt-get, a Manager of packages for certain GNU/Linux systems.

Sometimes one meets also words whose letters consist of them same.

HHHHHH HHHHHH IIIIII!!! HHHH HHHH IIII!!!!! HHHH HHHH IIII!!!!! HHHH HHHH IIII!!!!! HHHHHHHHHHHHHH IIII!!!!! HHHHHHHHHHHHHH IIII!!!!! HHHHHHHHHHHHHH IIII!!! HHHH HHHH IIII HHHH HHHH IIII!!! HHHH HHHH IIII!!!!! HHHHHH HHHHHH IIIIII!!!

One can also make use of it to create typography, for example: _, (/(O _/_/ /, _ _ `. _ _,//_ _/_ (_/(_//_ (/_ (_)///_ (_ (__//_ // (/

Here an example of ASCII art appeared on Amiga. This kind of ASCII art is made with the hand in a text editor:

 ____. ----------------------------. ____
                 : _) (_:
             ….|:                                          : |….
             :  : <> <>:  :
             : ···|:                                          : |···:
         . ---+ - -: - -: - - +---.
      /\ _  |    /\ _/\ ___/\ ____/\ ____    |   /\ _
    _//  |  _//_ _/_ _/_/_ _/_/_ _/: _//
    \ __//\: /\ \ _///\)/// \ \)/// \ \)/// \/\ \ _ // \
  _/¯¯ \) ¯ \/¯¯ __¯ \/¯¯ ¯ ¯¯ \/¯¯ ¯ _ ¯¯ \/¯¯ ¯ _ ¯¯ \/¯)/¯¯ \ _
  \)/¯ (/(/¯/
 /¯¯///_ ¯¯ \
 \ _/\ __//\ _/\ __//\ __//\ _ (/_/
 =/===//==//===//=©d//=: =/=
  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ \/:   : ¯¯¯¯¯¯ \/¯¯¯¯¯¯ \/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ \/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ \/  | ¯¯¯¯¯¯ \/
   ____. ---+ -: __/\ ___:              :      ______:  - +---. ____
 : _)·····    : .....  _//-- +--. /\ ___. ---+---. /\ _ .....:    ·····(_:
 |:           : .:. \/: _//:  _//.:. :           : |
 <>:.:.: : \ __//\/\ \ _ _ // \/\ \ _ // \: :.:.:           <>
 |:             : … _/¯¯ \) ¯ \/¯¯)/¯¯ \/¯¯)/¯¯ \ _…:             : |
 :        __ __ \ ¯ ¯/__ __:
 \ _.     _ \ _ \ \ // ¯¯ _ ¯¯ \ \ // _/_. _/
 ---· _ \ ¯ _ \ \ \ \ _/\ _/\ _ (/_//// _ ¯/_ ·---
 /¯·  \ ¯¯¯ ¯ \ ¯¯¯ ¯¯=//: =/=: =/= ¯¯ ¯¯¯/¯ ¯¯¯/  ·¯ \
 :     ¯¯¯¯¯¯       ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/-+--¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ \/--+--¯¯¯¯¯¯ \/¯¯¯¯¯¯:
 |:                             :              :                             : |
 <>.                                <>
 |:                      _. | _ _. . _ _. |__  __    .                     : |
 : ¯) .....             (|-|(_/_| (| ((||) () (|_ _ ..... (¯:
   ¯¯¯¯¯¯·-----------·-------|----|--|----(/----------(/--·-----------·¯¯¯¯¯¯

Here Tux, the penguin with the effigy of the mascot of the operating system GNU/Linux.

. - " " " -.
           '\
          |.  , -.  |
          |() L (()| |
          |, '`". | |
          |. _. ',| `
         .j “--" ” ``.
        /''\
       //``.
      //`.
     //L   |
    . ,               |   |
    , " `. |   |
 _. '``.   O     | `. - 'L
|       `. `,        |      `.
|         `.    __.j)
|_ _        |--" " _|      , - '
   `" --…, +" " " "   “. _. -” mh

Nowadays ASCII art is seldom carried out with the hand, but rather by software which ends up facilitating the creation of works more and more compliquées.
Here for example a Smiley realized in ASCII art.

 oooooooo
                      ooo
                   oo$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$o         o$   $$ o$
   O $ oo oo $$ $$ $$o$
oo $ $ "$      o$$$$$$$$$    $$$$$$$$$$$$$    $$$$$$$$$o       $$$o$$o$
" $$$$$$o$     o$$$$$$$$$      $$$$$$$$$$$      $$$$$$$$$$o    $$$$$$$$
  $$$$$$$    $$$$$$$$$$$      $$$$$$$$$$$      $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
  $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$    $$$$$$$$$$$$$    $$$$$$$$$$$$$$  "" " 
   " " " " " " 
    o$$ " o
   o$$"   o
   " " ooooo$o
  ooooo$$ o$$
  $$" $" " " " " " " "
 " " " "       " $"      o
            " o " " " " $$"         
              o " $$" " " " " "           o
               $o o"
                " $o oo" $o o$
                  " $$oo " " $o$$o o$" "
                     " " $$oooo " o" " "
                        " " $oo 
                                " " " " 
                                    
                                     $"
                                      " " "

Certain works almost require to move away from the screen to appreciate work carried out.

External bonds

Simple: ASCII art

Random links: