ECHOBOX(1)

NAME
echobox - write arguments in a box to the standard output

SYNOPSIS
echobox [-a|--align name] [-b|--basic-char char] [-f|--fill-char char] [-i|--inter-lines number] [-l|--lead-lines number] [-S|--style name] [-s|--spaces number] [-t|--trail-lines number] [--debug] [--help|-?] [--version] [--] [string ...]

DESCRIPTION
The echobox utility writes any specified operands, separated by single blank (' ') characters, in a box, to the standard output. The "\n" substring is used to split the concatenated operands into multiple lines.

If there are no arguments provided on the command line, standard input is read.

  OPTIONS
[-a|--align name] Sets the alignment to use. Possible values: left (default), center, middle, right.

[-b|--basic-char char] Sets the character to use with the basic style. Default value: '#'.

[-f|--fill-char char] Sets the character to use to fill the box. Default value: ' '.

[-i|--inter-lines number] Sets the number of lines separating the text from the box on the top and bottom sides. Default value: 1.

[-l|--lead-lines number] Sets the number of blank lines preceding the box. Default value: 0.

[-S|--style name] Sets the style to use. Possible values: basic (default), ascii, single, curved, hatched, double, block.

[-s|--spaces number] Sets the number of spaces separating the text from the box on the left and right sides. Default value: 3.

[-t|--trail-lines number] Sets the number of blank lines following the box. Default value: 1.

[--debug] Enable debug mode

[--help|-?] Print usage and this help message and exit

[--version] Print version and exit

[--] Options processing terminator. Contrarily to the echo(1) command, it is recognized as such.

ENVIRONMENT
Environment variables are processed first and thus overridden by command line options.

ECHOBOX_STYLE Sets the style to use.

ECHOBOX_ALIGN Sets the alignment to use.

ECHOBOX_BASIC_CHAR Sets the character to use with the basic style.

ECHOBOX_FILL_CHAR Sets the character to use to fill the box.

ECHOBOX_SPACES Sets the number of spaces separating the text from the box on the left and right sides.

ECHOBOX_INTER_LINES Sets the number of lines separating the text from the box on the top and bottom sides.

ECHOBOX_LEAD_LINES Sets the number of blank lines preceding the box.

ECHOBOX_TRAIL_LINES Sets the number of blank lines following the box.

ECHOBOX_DEBUG Enable debug level messages.

COLUMNS Defines the number of columns in the terminal window. This variable is sometimes provided by the Bash shell and some others, but not necessarily exported. It's used for center and right alignments. Default value: 80.

EXIT STATUS

SEE ALSO
dialog(1), fortune(6)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box-drawing_character

https://unicode-table.com/fr/#box-drawing

STANDARDS
The echobox command is not a standard UNIX/POSIX command.

It tries to follow the PEP 8 style guide for Python code.

PORTABILITY
Tested OK under Windows, though some of the styles are not available (the hatched and curved Unicode characters are not fully recognized in the cmd.exe and PowerShell command prompts).

HISTORY
The echobox command was created as an example for the PNU project: https://github.com/HubTou/PNU demonstrating how to process the environment and the command line, and use the Python logging module.

It's also used as a filter for fortune(6) output, in order to introduce some boxology.

LICENSE
This utility is available under the 3-clause BSD license.

AUTHORS
Hubert Tournier

BUGS
Specifying basic or fill Unicode characters is not currently possible with the environment and command line options.

Display will overflow if your text is wider than your console.