botsay

botsay offers a delightful and modern twist on the classic cowsay utility, introducing charming little robots that communicate messages in a visually appealing manner.

Features

• Unique Robots: Each robot is generated from a specific seed, allowing users to consistently create the same robot and message color with the same seed. For example, using the command:

  botsay -s 7 "Hello! I'm a little robot."
  

  will yield:

  ╭────────────────────────────╮
  │ Hello! I'm a little robot. │
  ╰────────────────────────────╯
      ╲
       ╲
         ▗▙▟▖
         █▐▌█
        ▐▐██▌▌
         ▗▌▐▖
  

• Robot Gallery: Explore and browse a variety of robots by using the gallery option. For instance:

  botsay --gallery 27
  

  displays robots for seeds 0 to 26.

• Customize Your Robot's Appearance: Options for color and balloon style enhance personalization:

  • Set a specific color using:

  botsay -c blue hello
  

  • Choose from different balloon styles such as round, cowsay, or unicode.

Usage Examples

To leverage botsay for creative outputs, here are several commands:

• Produce a random robot saying hello:

  botsay hello
  

• Use input from standard input:

  fortune | botsay
  

• Create thought bubbles with botthink:

  botthink "hmm..."
  

• Display only the robot without the balloon:

  botsay -o -s manu
  

Colors and Styles

• Each robot's color is determined by the seed. Users can specify an exact hue or a name for a curated experience, allowing for vibrant interactions in terminal environments.

Development Guidelines

For developers interested in contributing:

• Use the commands:

  cargo test 
  cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings
  cargo fmt --check
  

• Follow the release workflow to maintain project integrity.

Limitations

• Current implementations may face challenges with character widths and require fonts that support Unicode quadrant block characters.

Explore the potential of botsay to bring animated conversations to the command line with quirky robotic charm.