ASCII art

ASCII art, an artistic medium relying primarily on computers for presentation, consists of pictures pieced together from characters (preferably from the 95 printable characters defined by ASCII). They can be created with any text editor, and are often used with free-form languages. Most examples of ASCII art require a non-proportional font (fixed-width font, like on a traditional typewriter) for presentation.

ASCII art is used wherever text can be more readily printed or transmitted than graphics, or in some cases, where the transmission of pictures is not possible. This includes typewriters, teletypes, non-graphic computer terminals, in early computer networking (e.g., BBSes), e-mail, and Usenet news messages. ASCII art is also used within the source code of computer programs for representation of company or product logos, and flow control or other diagrams.

Types and examples of ASCII art

The simplest forms of ASCII Art are combinations of two or three characters for expressing emotion in text. Rotate these examples mentally 90 degrees clockwise for a more recognizable orientation of these emoticons:

            :-) or :)  smile
               :-(     frown
               ;-)     wink

More complex examples use several lines of text to draw large symbols or more complex figures. Some common examples:

           (__)
           (oo)
    /-------\/                O
   / |     ||      /o)\      /H\
  *  ||----||      \(o/      / \
     ~~    ~~
        Cow      Yin/Yang   Person

It is popular to put such art in one's signature block to be included in all one's e-mail and Usenet postings.

Some types ignore the particular shape of the characters and use them as more-or-less filled boxes of varying gradients to perform simple dithering:

                 _a,
                _yQa.
               _qTWW(
               je`?QX:
              <d+ -3Wm;
             _qos_s%mWw,
             a2?????TWW(
            sd(     -?Qm;.
          .amm;     .xmWmc
          """""`    """""""

Another type sometimes seen is creating a word using only one kind of character per letter. For example:

      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 use for ASCII art is to create unique typography, for example:

       ___              __,
      ( /              (          o _/_ /
       / __,  _   _     `.  _ _  ,  /  /_
     _/_(_/(_/ /_(/_  (___)/ / /_(_(__/ /_
    //
   (/

The program Figlet (and other programs that support its standard) allow for the design and use of ASCII fonts.

        _____ ___ ____ _      _   
       |  ___|_ _/ ___| | ___| |_ 
       | |_   | | |  _| |/ _ \ __|
       |  _|  | | |_| | |  __/ |_ 
       |_|   |___\____|_|\___|\__|

Methods for generating ASCII art

There exist specialized text editors designed to draw lines, boxes, and filled areas easily. It's straightforward to generate ASCII art algorithmically. Converting a bitmap to ASCII art is a special case of vector quantization. An example of a generated image, beside the original, is given below:

aaaaaa222222SSSSSS2222222SSSS2a22222SSSSSSSS22aaaaaaaa222222SS222aaaZaaZZZZ
2222aaaaS2222222222222222SS2SS22222SSXXXSSXSSXSSSXXXXXSSXSXXXXXX7XSSSSSSS22
2222222aaaZZa222222a222222SS22a22SSX77rrr777X77XXXSSSSSXSSXSSSXXXSXSS22S222
22a2222aaaaaaa22222aaaZZa2aa2aa2222SSSSXXXSSSSXXXXXXSXSXXSSSSXSSSXX7X22SSS2
22222a222222222222aaaZZZZZaaZaaZZZaaaa2a2SSSSSSSXSXXXXXXXXSX7;..,;20X77XXXS
2SSSSSXSSSSSSSSSSSSSS2222aa2222aaaaaa222222SSX7X777XXXX7r:   aMMMMBS7XX7XXX
SSSSSSXXSXXSSX7:,::i:.:rXSSSSSS22222a2SSXX7XXX77rr;i,    :WMMM@r.,;XSSSSS22
S22a222S2222XirWMMMMMM@a:;XSSXXXSSXXXX77;ii:,,,:...:rX0MMMMZ: ,;XSS2S222222
SSSS22aaa22X,2MMMWWW@@MMM2.:i:,,.    ..i7ZB@MMMMMMMMMMMM07 :7SaaaZZaaaaa222
XSXSXXS2S7: rMMZWWWWWWW@MMMB0MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM@WMW@@W@@@@WMMZaZ8888ZZaa2222S2
rrr;77rriXMMMMMWWWWWWWWWWWMMMM@W@M@@@@@@WWWWWBWW@WW@8ZW@MXS0B00088ZZZZaaaa2
;;iiiii:;ZX;,8MMWWW@@MMMMMMMM@W@WWWWB0@B0WWWWBBWWBWW@MWWMMaSaa222aaaaZaaaa2
;r;rrrr7;:..   MM@MM@W0B@MMMWMMWWWWWWBWWBWBWWWWWWWWB0ZWMMMM7XXXXX7XSSS2aZaa
ii7XSZ2aaaaaa2;,MM@7r7XS8Wi   MWB0BWWWWWWWBWWW@WW@MMMM8Xi,;XXSSSSSSSSSSS222
XSSSaZ80BBBBBWB8MM2X2a8MW  M0MMWBWWWWWWWWWWWWW@MMMM8SX2aZ88Z8ZZZZaaaaa2SSXX
a0008Z22Z800BB08M0 S28MZ    MMWWWWW@WWWWWWWW@MM@a;rX2ZZ88ZZZZZZ88ZZaa22SXXX
08a222SS22aZZZZ2BMir7r   MMMMBBWWBBBBWWWWWWMMM0,:;rr7XXXXXX777rr77XX7X77X7X
0WWWBB088888ZZ8ZSZMMM8MMMMM@WWWWBBWW@WWWWWMM2,ir7r7r77XXX77rr;;;rr7XXSS2222
SSSaaaZZZaaa22222X;rWMMMMWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWMB;r77XXXXS2222SSX77rr;rr7XXX2aZa
SSSSSSXXXXX7XXXX777;. XWMMM@WW@@@@WWWWWWMMM22a22222222222SSXX7rrrrrr7XXSSSS
2222SXXXX7XXX7XXXXXX7ri  i0M@@MWMMMMM@MMMBZZ0B000000088ZZZZZZZZZaaa22SSSSXS
22aaZZ8Z888808888ZZZZaa2X:MZMMW ..78WMMZrXSSS2222aaaaaZZZZZZZZaZaaa222SS2SS
2SXXSS22aaZ880000BBBBB088S2BWMMXaX7 ;Mii7rr;;;i;;;;;;;rr777r7r7r7rrr7rr77XX
888ZZZZa2SSX77XXSSXSSSSS2SX7    8SrXMr;XX77r77rrrr;;;;;rrrr77r7r7rrrr;rr;i;
Z8088ZZZZZZ22SSSSSXX7777rrrXai 7270Mr72aZZZZ888888888ZZZaSSXSXSSSX7r;i::;rS
aaaSS2222aaaaaaZaZZZ888888Z88M; .MMrrSSXXXS2aaa2aaaa2S77rrrr777X77XXX2a888Z
XXX7X77rrr7XXS222222aZZZ8ZZa7@2: 7M,;;;;iiii::,::,,...,:,.,::i;r;rr7X2ZZa22
XXr;ii::iiii;r777rrr7ri::iir,M,S MMZXS2Zaaa22SXX77777XS222222aaa2SXX777r7XX
X77r;rr7XXXSSSSSXS22XrrXSa80Z080,  2Z8aaaZZ880BBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW@WWWWWB08ZZZZ
i,:iirrrrr7rrrrr7a:;MMM@WBB0000WMW  i8Z22aaa8Z888Z888000BBB88ZZZZ0BBW@MMMMB
822SXXaZa2XX77777Z    rMM@8Z880BMM: :XBZaaa22222ZZZZZaa222XXXXXXXXXXXS2aZZ2
8WaSSr77XX2Z0@@@WMMX     7MM@0ZZZ:M2 ;0Z8aSX7r;7XaZaS77r;rXX2aa2SSXXXSSX7r;
   ;;7X;:ii.:..7SZ8BWZ;     ;2S77  XB SiX;;rrr;ii;i::,::;r;7X;iii::,,.... ,
282X,  ..2a8W8Sr.,;a8WMMM@,    2BMW22@. 72a22S22a2aZZ8082;i;:,:iir7XSSXriii
,:SZ,7. i:i  .    ;.,.i7rSWMMMr  ,2B0iM  ,8SSSSXrr7777XXS22a2aZZ8880ZSXX280
  .  rZMZS8  r:.7  ri   ,     ;08Z  r8SBZ :;X7SaZ80Z227r:...     .,. ,ir7X2
BBZZX7;2;.a8XSSr8000Z@MMMMW0082i ;8WX:70SMSSaa:iii;;rXX7X0MM@BB0Za2S77rr7rX

Another method is to sample the image down to grayscale with less than 8-bit precision, and then assign a character for each value, just as this Online JPG to ASCII converter (http://jpg2asc.hierklikken.com/) does.

In the 1970s and early 1980s it was popular to produce a kind of ASCII art that relied on overprinting -- the overall darkness of a particular character space dependent on how many characters, as well as the choice of character, printed in a particular place. Thanks to the increased granularity of tone, photographs were often converted to this type of printout. Even daisy wheel printers could be used. The technique has fallen from popularity since all cheap printers can easily print photographs, and a normal text file (or an e-mail message or Usenet posting) cannot represent overprinted text. However, something similar has emerged to replace it: shaded or colored ASCII art, using ANSI video terminal markup or HTML to add a bit more tone variation.

Animated ASCII art is possible by embedding video terminal escape sequences such as ANSI X3.64 for cursor movement into the "picture".

Glyph mosaics in Japan

The glyph mosaic art form is a unique development of Japan. The so-called "ASCII art" produced in Japan often uses thousands of extra characters from the JIS or Unicode character sets for more elaborate pictures. The largest source of recent "JIS art" is the 2ch BBS, and the characters and stories in these "JIS Arts" are gaining popularity and recognition with the emergence of this BBS. Cultural similarities with Manga (Japanese comics) can be observed. A simple example of the Japanese style of ASCII art is "orz". This represents a man on all fours kneeling in an expression of despair. "o" is the head, "r" is the arms and shoulders, and "z" is the back and bent legs.

Placing ASCII art in HTML pages

ASCII artwork embedded in an HTML document must be wrapped with such elements as <pre>...</pre>, <tt>...</tt> or <code>...</code> to ensure that arrangement of the characters will display properly with monospace fonts (aka non-proportional fonts).

It allows navigational maps, with some or every "pixel" (i.e. character) being a link. Some consecutive characters can also be a single link. However, it does not seem possible to have a multi-line area being a single link, like in image maps using the <area> tag (e.g. [1] (http://www.sdu.nl/staatscourant/gemeentes/gemprovin.htm#ZH)). Of course some character sequences on different lines can link to the same target, but if a link highlights when the cursor is over it, only a portion of the area is highlighted.

Example, with both the city outline and the label clickable:

    x
   xxx Leiden
    x

 xx
xxxx The Hague
xxx

        xx
       xxxxx Rotterdam
        xxxx

External links

ASCII art editors

Editors created solely for the purpose of creating hand-made ASCII art.

ACiDDraw 1.25r (http://download.com.com/3000-2192-10141644.html?tag=lst-0-1) Freeware; The leading ANSI and ASCII art editor for IBM PC DOS
PabloDraw for Windows Freeware; features a revolutionary peer-to-peer "joint editing" mode
TundrawDraw (http://sourceforge.net/projects/tundradraw/) A cross-platform ANSI and ASCII editor for Microsoft Windows and X environments. Source code available.
DMOZ list of ASCII art editors (http://dmoz.org/Arts/Visual_Arts/ASCII_Art/Software/)
Google list of ASCII art editors (http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Visual_Arts/ASCII_Art/Software/)
ASCIIart.net list of editors (http://editors.asciiart.net/) A comprehensive list of ASCII editors for DOS and Windows with informative reviews on each one

ASCII art generators

Tools which convert bitmapped images to ASCII text or otherwise automatically generate ASCII art with a minimal degree of human interaction.

AA-lib (http://aa-project.sourceforge.net/index.html) A portable library which converts high-resolution images down to ASCII text images.
ASCII Stereogram Image Generator (http://www.kammerl.de/ascii/AsciiStereo.php) Online; generates free ASCII stereograms
ASCII Stereogram Movie Generator (http://www.kammerl.de/ascii/AsciiStereoMovie.php) Online; generates free ASCII stereogram movies!
ASCii.art 0.3 (http://reactor.reality-protocol.de/index.php?page=software/asciiart.html)Open-Source; An image bitmap to ASCII text converter. Supports conversion to colored ASCII using HTML color tags and features multiple image resize capabilities.
ASCII Generator (http://ascgen.jmsoftware.co.uk/) Freeware; A 32-bit Windows program that converts a large variety of images to ASCII art.
Boxes (http://boxes.thomasjensen.com/) GNU GPL; Draws ASCII art boxes around text. Useful for programmers.
Figlet text generator (http://www.figlet.org/) (online ASCII Generator (http://www.network-science.de/ascii/)) FIGlet font generators
JavE (http://www.jave.de) Freeware; A java ASCII editor with standard Photoshop-style tools, image conversion, FIGlet support, math formulas editor and a lot of other features. Requires Java virtual machine.
Pic2ASCII (http://www.pizzinini.net/?category=8&item=40) Freeware; Transforms bitmaps to text (even analyzes symbol fonts)
Online JPG to ASCII converter (http://jpg2asc.hierklikken.com/)

ASCII art groups

ASCII art groups are defined as organized bodies of people dedicated to the purpose of creating ASCII text based artwork.

123 (http://123.ione.se/)
Chemical Reaction (http://www.chemical-reaction.de)
Galza (http://www.galza.tk) ASCII artists which predominantly make use of the IBM-PC Russian ASCII codepage
Impure (http://www.impure.tk/)
The lo0p (http://www.thelo0p.prv.pl/) Polish ASCII art group
Mimic ASCII
Pen15 (http://www.pen15art.tk/): It's pronounced "Pen Fifteen"
alt.ascii-art (news:alt.ascii-art), a Usenet newsgroup.

ASCII artscene portals

Boondocks (http://www.asciiscene.org) - ASCII Scene Forums for PC and Amiga
scene.Downmix (http://scene.downmix.com) - ASCII/ANSI Scene News & Releases
Thuglife.org (http://www.thuglife.org) - ASCII Scene News, Releases, and Forum