Cowsay.CLI 1.1.33

Cowsay CLI (.NET Tool)

 __________________
< srsly dude, why? >
 ------------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

A .NET global tool that brings the classic cowsay to your terminal.

About

cowsay is a configurable talking cow, originally written in Perl by Tony Monroe.

This CLI tool is part of the Cowsay .NET project - a C#/.NET translation of the original program. The .cow files were manually copied from https://github.com/piuccio/cowsay.

Installation

From NuGet

dotnet tool install --global Cowsay.CLI

Using dnx (.NET 10+)

With .NET 10 or later, you can run the tool without installing it:

dnx Cowsay.CLI "Hello, World!"

Usage

Basic Usage

cowsay "Hello, World!"

 ______________
< Hello, World! >
 --------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

Piped Input

echo "Hello from pipe" | cowsay
fortune | cowsay

Options

• -l, --list - List all available cow formats
• -c, --cow <name> - Choose a cow format (default: "default")
• -f, --file <path|url> - Load cow from a .cow file or URL
• -e, --eyes <chars> - Set the cow's eyes (2 characters, e.g., '@@', 'xx', '$$')
• -t, --tongue <chars> - Set the cow's tongue (2 characters, e.g., 'U ', '~ ')
• -w, --wrap <cols> - Wrap text at N columns (default: 40)
• -T, --think - Make the cow think instead of say
• --help - Display help with examples
• --version - Display version information

Examples

Custom Eyes

cowsay -e @@ "I see you"

 ___________
< I see you >
 -----------
        \   ^__^
         \  (@@)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

Thinking Cow

cowsay -T "Hmm..."

 ________
( Hmm... )
 --------
        o   ^__^
         o  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

Different Cow Format

cowsay -c tux "Linux rocks!"

 ______________ 
< Linux rocks! >
 -------------- 
   \
    \
        .--.
       |o_o |
       |:_/ |
      //   \ \
     (|     | )
    /'\_   _/`\
    \___)=(___/

List Available Cows

cowsay -l

Load from Custom File

cowsay -f /path/to/custom.cow "Custom cow!"

Load from URL

cowsay -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paulkaefer/cowsay-files/refs/heads/main/cows/dalek.cow "EXTERMINATE!"

Building from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/rawsonm88/Cowsay.git
cd Cowsay/Cowsay.CLI

# Build and pack
dotnet build
dotnet pack

# Install from local package
dotnet tool install --global --add-source ./nupkg Cowsay.CLI

Uninstalling

dotnet tool uninstall --global Cowsay.CLI

Related Packages

This CLI tool uses the Cowsay .NET library. If you want to use cowsay in your .NET applications:

• Library Package: Cowsay - Core library
• DI Package: Cowsay.Extensions.DependencyInjection - Dependency injection support

See the main project README for library usage.

Credits

• Original Perl cowsay by Tony Monroe
• .cow files from piuccio/cowsay