textimg

textimg is command to convert from color text (ANSI or 256) to image.
Drawn image keeps having colors of escape sequence.

• README on Japanese

Table of contents:

• textimg
  • Usage
    • Simple examples
    • With other commands
    • Rainbow examples
      • From ANSI color
      • From 256 color
      • From 256 RGB color
      • Animation GIF
      • Slide animation GIF
    • Using on Docker
    • Saving shortcut
  • Installation
    • Linux users (Debian base distros)
    • Linux users (RHEL compatible distros)
    • With Go
    • Manual
  • Help
  • Fonts
    • Default font path
    • Emoji font (image file path)
    • Emoji font (TTF)
  • Tab Completions
    • Bash
    • Zsh
    • Fish
  • Development
    • How to build
    • How to test
  • See also

Usage

Simple examples

textimg $'\x1b[31mRED\x1b[0m' > out.png
textimg $'\x1b[31mRED\x1b[0m' -o out.png
echo -e '\x1b[31mRED\x1b[0m' | textimg -o out.png
echo -e '\x1b[31mRED\x1b[0m' | textimg --background 0,255,255,255 -o out.jpg
echo -e '\x1b[31mRED\x1b[0m' | textimg --background black -o out.gif

Output image format is PNG or JPG or GIF. File extension of -o option defines output image format. Default image format is PNG. if you write image file with > redirect then image file will be saved as PNG file.

With other commands

grep:

echo hello world | grep hello --color=always | textimg -o out.png

screenfetch:

screenfetch | textimg -o out.png

bat:

bat --color=always /etc/profile | textimg -o out.png

ccze:

ls -lah | ccze -A | textimg -o out.png

lolcat:

seq -f 'seq %g | xargs' 18 | bash | lolcat -f --freq=0.5 | textimg -o out.png

Rainbow examples

From ANSI color

textimg supports \x1b[30m notation.

colors=(30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37)
i=0
while read -r line; do
  echo -e "$line" | sed -r 's/.*/\x1b['"${colors[$((i%8))]}"'m&\x1b[m/g'
  i=$((i+1))
done <<< "$(seq 8 | xargs -I@ echo TEST)" | textimg -b 50,100,12,255 -o testdata/out/rainbow.png

Output is here.

From 256 color

textimg supports \x1b[38;5;255m notation.

Foreground example is below.

seq 0 255 | while read -r i; do
  echo -ne "\x1b[38;5;${i}m$(printf %03d $i)"
  if [ $(((i+1) % 16)) -eq 0 ]; then
    echo
  fi
done | textimg -o 256_fg.png

Output is here.

Background example is below.

seq 0 255 | while read -r i; do
  echo -ne "\x1b[48;5;${i}m$(printf %03d $i)"
  if [ $(((i+1) % 16)) -eq 0 ]; then
    echo
  fi
done | textimg -o 256_bg.png

Output is here.

From 256 RGB color

textimg supports \x1b[38;2;255;0;0m notation.

seq 0 255 | while read i; do
  echo -ne "\x1b[38;2;${i};0;0m$(printf %03d $i)"
  if [ $(((i+1) % 16)) -eq 0 ]; then
    echo
  fi
done | textimg -o extrgb_f_gradation.png

Output is here.

Animation GIF

textimg supports animation GIF.

echo -e '\x1b[31mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[32mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[33mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[34mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[35mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[36mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[37mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[41mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[42mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[43mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[44mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[45mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[46mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[47mText\x1b[0m' | textimg -a -o ansi_fb_anime_1line.gif

Output is here.

Slide animation GIF

echo -e '\x1b[31mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[32mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[33mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[34mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[35mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[36mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[37mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[41mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[42mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[43mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[44mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[45mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[46mText\x1b[0m
\x1b[47mText\x1b[0m' | textimg -l 5 -SE -o slide_5_1_rainbow_forever.gif

Output is here.

Using on Docker

You can use textimg on Docker. (DockerHub)

docker pull jiro4989/textimg
docker run -v $(pwd):/images -it jiro4989/textimg -h
docker run -v $(pwd):/images -it jiro4989/textimg Testあいうえお😄 -o /images/a.png
docker run -v $(pwd):/images -it jiro4989/textimg Testあいうえお😄 -s

or build docker image of local Dockerfile.

docker-compose build
docker-compose run textimg $'\x1b[31mHello\x1b[42mWorld\x1b[m' -s

Saving shortcut

textimg saves an image as t.png to $HOME/Pictures (%USERPROFILE% on Windows) with -s options. You can change this directory with TEXTIMG_OUTPUT_DIR environment variables.

textimg adds current timestamp to the file suffix when activate -t options.

$ textimg 寿司 -st

$ ls ~/Pictures/
t_2021-03-21-194959.png

And, textimg adds number to the file suffix when activate -n options and the file has existed.

$ textimg 寿司 -sn

$ textimg 寿司 -sn

$ ls ~/Pictures/
t.png  t_2.png

Installation

Linux users (Debian base distros)

wget https://github.com/jiro4989/textimg/releases/download/v3.1.9/textimg_3.1.9_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i ./*.deb

Linux users (RHEL compatible distros)

sudo yum install https://github.com/jiro4989/textimg/releases/download/v3.1.9/textimg-3.1.9-1.el7.x86_64.rpm

With Go

go get -u github.com/jiro4989/textimg/v3

Manual

Download binary from Releases.

Help

textimg is command to convert from colored text (ANSI or 256) to image.

Usage:
  textimg [flags]

Examples:
textimg $'\x1b[31mRED\x1b[0m' -o out.png

Flags:
  -g, --foreground string         foreground text color.
                                  available color types are [black|red|green|yellow|blue|magenta|cyan|white]
                                  or (R,G,B,A(0~255)) (default "white")
  -b, --background string         background text color.
                                  color types are same as "foreground" option (default "black")
  -f, --fontfile string           font file path.
                                  You can change this default value with environment variables TEXTIMG_FONT_FILE
  -x, --fontindex int             
  -e, --emoji-fontfile string     emoji font file
  -X, --emoji-fontindex int       
  -i, --use-emoji-font            use emoji font
  -z, --shellgei-emoji-fontfile   emoji font file for shellgei-bot (path: "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ancient-scripts/Symbola_hint.ttf")
  -F, --fontsize int              font size (default 20)
  -o, --out string                output image file path.
                                  available image formats are [png | jpg | gif]
  -t, --timestamp                 add time stamp to output image file path.
  -n, --numbered                  add number-suffix to filename when the output file was existed.
                                  ex: t_2.png
  -s, --shellgei-imagedir         image directory path for shellgei-bot (path: "/images/t.png")
  -a, --animation                 generate animation gif
  -d, --delay int                 animation delay time (default 20)
  -l, --line-count int            animation input line count (default 1)
  -S, --slide                     use slide animation
  -W, --slide-width int           sliding animation width (default 1)
  -E, --forever                   sliding forever
      --environments              print environment variables
      --slack                     resize to slack icon size (128x128 px)
  -h, --help                      help for textimg
  -v, --version                   version for textimg

Fonts

Default font path

Default fonts that to use are below.

OS	Font path
Linux	/usr/share/fonts/opentype/noto/NotoSansCJK-Regular.ttc
Linux	/usr/share/fonts/noto-cjk/NotoSansCJK-Regular.ttc
MacOS	/System/Library/Fonts/AppleSDGothicNeo.ttc
iOS	/System/Library/Fonts/Core/AppleSDGothicNeo.ttc
Android	/system/fonts/NotoSansCJK-Regular.ttc
Windows	C:\Windows\Fonts\msgothic.ttc

You can change this font path with environment variables TEXTIMG_FONT_FILE .

Examples.

export TEXTIMG_FONT_FILE=/usr/share/fonts/TTF/HackGen-Regular.ttf

Emoji font (image file path)

textimg needs emoji image files to draw emoji. You have to set TEXTIMG_EMOJI_DIR environment variables if you want to draw one. For example, run below.

# You can clone your favorite fonts here.
sudo git clone https://github.com/googlefonts/noto-emoji /usr/local/src/noto-emoji
export TEXTIMG_EMOJI_DIR=/usr/local/src/noto-emoji/png/128
export LANG=ja_JP.UTF-8
echo Test👍 | textimg -o emoji.png

Emoji font (TTF)

textimg can change emoji font with TEXTIMG_EMOJI_FONT_FILE environment variables and set -i option. For example, switching emoji font to Symbola font.

export TEXTIMG_EMOJI_FONT_FILE=/usr/share/fonts/TTF/Symbola.ttf
echo あ😃a👍！👀ん👄 | textimg -i -o emoji_symbola.png

Tab Completions

You can use TAB completions on your shell.

Bash

Run below.

sudo cp -p completions/bash/textimg /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/textimg

Zsh

Run below.

sudo cp -p completions/zsh/textimg /usr/share/zsh/functions/Completion/_textimg

# or
# sudo cp -p completions/zsh/textimg {path to your $fpath}

Fish

Run below.

ln -sfn completions/fish/textimg.fish $HOME/.config/fish/completions/textimg.fish

Development

go version go1.17 linux/amd64

How to build

You run below.

make setup-tools
make

I didn't test on Windows.

How to test

make test

# docker
make docker-build
make docker-test

See also

• https://misc.flogisoft.com/bash/tip_colors_and_formatting