---
name: "toilet"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "toilet"
version: "0.3.r155.3eb9d58-3"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/toilet"
---

# toilet(1)

display large colourful characters

## NAME

TOIlet - display large colourful characters

## SYNOPSIS

**toilet** \[ **-hkostvSW** \] \[ **-d** *fontdirectory* \]

-

  \[ **-f** *fontfile* \] \[ **-F** *filter* \] \[ **-w** *outputwidth* \]

-

  \[ **-I** *infocode* \] \[ **-E** *format* \] \[ *message* \]

## DESCRIPTION

**TOIlet** prints text using large characters made of smaller characters. It is similar in many ways to **FIGlet** with additional features such as Unicode handling, colour fonts, filters and various export formats.

## USAGE

**TOIlet** either reads its input from the command line or from the standard input.

## OPTIONS

- **-f, --font \<name\>**

  Use the given font instead of the default value. Fonts are **.flf** or **.tlf** files stored in the **/usr/share/figlet** directory. Fonts are looked first in the font directory, then in the current directory. There is also a special built-in font called *term* that serves as a fallback if no font is available.

- **-d, --directory \<dir\>**

  Specify the directory in which to look for fonts. The default value is set at build time and usually defaults to **/usr/share/figlet.**

- **-s, -S, -k, -W, -o**

  Select character composition rules. **-S** sets smushing (nicely merging glyphs), **-k** sets kerning (rendering subcharacters as close to each other as possible), **-W** renders characters at their full width and **-o** sets overlapping (glyphs slightly overlap the previous one). **-s** (default behaviour) uses the font's smushing information if any, otherwise forces overlapping, or does nothing if the glyph only has one subcharacter.

- **-w, --width \<width\>**

  Set the output width. By default, **TOIlet** will wrap its output at 80 character columns.

- **-t, --termwidth**

  Set the output width to the terminal width.

- **-F, --filter \<filters\>**

  - **-F, --filter list**

  - **--rainbow, --metal**

  Specify a list of filters to be applied to the output. *\<filters\>* is a colon-separated list of filters such as *crop:rotate:rainbow* and the special argument *list* outputs a list of available filters.

  **--rainbow** and **--metal** are shortcuts to commonly used filters that are guaranteed to exist. Several **-F** flags can also be specified on the command line, in which case filters will be applied in order of appearance.

- **-E, --export \<format\>**

  - **-E, --export list**

  - **--irc, --html**

  Specify the output format. By default, **TOIlet** will output UTF-8 text using ANSI colour codes suitable for most terminals such as XTerm or rxvt. *\<format\>* is the name of the export format as recognised by libcaca. The special argument *list* outputs a list of available export formats.

  **--irc** and **--html** are shortcuts to commonly used export formats that are guaranteed to exist.

- **-h, --help**

  Display a short help message and exit.

- **-I, --infocode \<code\>**

  Print a **FIGlet** infocode. This flag is only here for **FIGlet** compatibility, see the **figlet** manpage for more information about it.

- **-v, --version**

  Output version information and exit.

## EXAMPLES

toilet Hello World

toilet Hello \| toilet

tail -f /var/log/messages \| toilet -f term --rainbow

## BUGS

**FIGlet** compatibility is not complete yet.

## AUTHOR

**TOIlet** and this manual page were written by Sam Hocevar \<sam@hocevar.net\>. There is a webpage available at http://caca.zoy.org/wiki/toilet .

## SEE ALSO

[figlet(6)](/figlet/6.md)