motd-mk-4bit-gray.sh.README.md

Make 4-bit gray MOTDs

Convert a text file (or stdin) to terminal color codes using the characters in table below. It's primarily intended for making MOTDs for command-line usage, e.g. bash, ssh, gnome-terminal, etc.

Color	Character
transparent	space
dark gray	_ underscore
dark white	# number sign
bold/light gray	^ caret
bold/light white	@ at sign

These characters where chosen to minimize the overlap with "normal" characters you might find in a MOTD, e.g. host/domain names, but obviously this is imperfect. If you run into an issues, manually modify the output, or append/prepend your text afterwards.

As a fallback (and so copy/paste still works), the original text is preserved, but the foreground and background colors are set to the same value to give them a blocky appearance.

Usage

motd-mk-4bit-gray.sh "$FILE"

# -- or --
echo "$TEXT" | motd-mk-4bit-gray.sh

Example file:

$ cat -n lab1.home.txt
     1
     2     _____________________________________________________________________
     3     ___^^^^^^^_______________________^^^^^^^________________@@@@@@@______
     4     ___^^^^^^^_______________________^^^^^^^_____________@@@@@@@@@@______
     5     ___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^______@@@@@@@______
     6     ___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^______@@@@@@@______
     7     ___^^^^^^^_____________^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^______@@@@@@@______
     8     ___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^______@@@@@@@______
     9     ___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^______@@@@@@@______
    10     ___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^______@@@@@@@______
    11     ___^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^___@@@@@@@@@@@@@___
    12     _____________________________________________________________________
    13

Example output: