cowsay

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<p>cowsay is a program that generates <a href="/facts/ASCII_art/TmgLtCg5">ASCII art</a> pictures of a cow with a message. It can also generate pictures using pre-made images of other animals, such as <a href="/facts/Tux_(mascot)/ySD276oH">Tux</a> the Penguin, the Linux <a href="/facts/Mascot/JtJDx1s2">mascot</a>. It is written in <a href="/facts/Perl/fx31kjlT">Perl</a>. There is also a related program called cowthink, with cows with thought bubbles rather than <a href="/facts/Speech_balloon/8G5FvvBl">speech bubbles</a>. .cow files for cowsay exist which are able to produce different variants of cows, with different kinds of eyes, and so forth. It is sometimes used on <a href="/facts/IRC/oDr3VN9q">IRC</a>, desktop screenshots, and in <a href="/facts/Software_documentation/cSXDUPPg">software documentation</a>. It is more or less a joke within <a href="/facts/Hacker_culture/8ww6P79y">hacker culture</a>, but has been around long enough that its use is rather widespread. In 2007, it was highlighted as a <a href="/facts/Debian/cBd93qfJ">Debian</a> package of the day.
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cowsay open-in-new

cowsay