Basic commands

Make default cow speak:

cowsay "Hacker Public Radio"

Result:

 _____________________
< Hacker Public Radio >
 ---------------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

Modes

• -b Borg mode;
• -d dead;
• -g greedy mode;
• -p causes a state of paranoia to come over the cow;
• -s makes the cow appear thoroughly stoned;
• -t yields a tired cow;
• -w is somewhat the opposite of -t, and initiates wired mode;
• -y brings on the cow's youthful appearance.

Use "tired" cow mode:

cowsay -t "Ken is tired of begging for shows"

Result:

 ___________________________________
< Ken is tired of begging for shows >
 -----------------------------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (--)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

Specify different images with -f

Threaten someone with a dragon:

cowsay -f dragon 'record and upload a show OR ELSE!'

Result:

 ___________________________________
< record and upload a show OR ELSE! >
 -----------------------------------
      \                    / \  //\
       \    |\___/|      /   \//  \\
            /0  0  \__  /    //  | \ \    
           /     /  \/_/    //   |  \  \  
           @_^_@'/   \/_   //    |   \   \ 
           //_^_/     \/_ //     |    \    \
        ( //) |        \///      |     \     \
      ( / /) _|_ /   )  //       |      \     _\
    ( // /) '/,_ _ _/  ( ; -.    |    _ _\.-~        .-~~~^-.
  (( / / )) ,-{        _      `-.|.-~-.           .~         `.
 (( // / ))  '/\      /                 ~-. _ .-~      .-~^-.  \
 (( /// ))      `.   {            }                   /      \  \
  (( / ))     .----~-.\        \-'                 .~         \  `. \^-.
             ///.----..>        \             _ -~             `.  ^-`  ^-_
               ///-._ _ _ _ _ _ _}^ - - - - ~                     ~-- ,.-~
                                                                  /.-~

On Linux, praise Ahuka with a Random Cow:

echo 'Ahuka Rocks!' | cowsay -f $(locate *.cow | shuf -n1)

One Result:

 ______________
< Ahuka Rocks! >
 --------------
        \    ,-^-.
         \   !oYo!
          \ /./=\.\______
               ##        )\/\
                ||-----w||
                ||      ||

               Cowth Vader

Figlet

Make ASCII banner text with figlet. This one uses the default font and wraps the lines at 45 characters:

figlet -w 45 "Hacker Public Radio"

Result:

 _   _            _             
| | | | __ _  ___| | _____ _ __ 
| |_| |/ _` |/ __| |/ / _ \ '__|
|  _  | (_| | (__|   <  __/ |   
|_| |_|\__,_|\___|_|\_\___|_|   
                                
 ____        _     _ _      
|  _ \ _   _| |__ | (_) ___ 
| |_) | | | | '_ \| | |/ __|
|  __/| |_| | |_) | | | (__ 
|_|    \__,_|_.__/|_|_|\___|
                            
 ____           _ _       
|  _ \ __ _  __| (_) ___  
| |_) / _` |/ _` | |/ _ \ 
|  _ < (_| | (_| | | (_) |
|_| \_\__,_|\__,_|_|\___/ 
                          

Use an alternate font with -f option:

figlet -f digital "Community News"

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+
|C|o|m|m|u|n|i|t|y| |N|e|w|s|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+

Links

• My random cowsay "is it Friday yet" page: https://jonkulp.net/iify.html
• Cowsay for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.fixme.cowsay&hl=en
• cowsay(1) - Linux man pagehttps://linux.die.net/man/1/cowsay
• figlet(6) - Linux man page: https://linux.die.net/man/6/figlet