xcowsay(6)

1xcowsay(6)                       Games Manual                       xcowsay(6)
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NAME

6       xcowsay - Display a cute cow and speech bubble.
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SYNOPSIS

9       xcowsay [-h] [-t time] [-r speed] [-d] [-f font] [text]...
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DESCRIPTION

13       Display  a  cow  with  a speech bubble containing some text. If text is
14       specified it will be displayed in the bubble. Otherwise the  text  will
15       be  read  from  the  standard  input  and displayed when end of file is
16       encountered.
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18       The cow is displayed for either a fixed amount of time, or an amount of
19       time  calculated from the size of the text. Click on the cow to dismiss
20       it immediately.
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22       If xcowsay is started with --daemon it will fork away from the terminal
23       and   run   in   daemon  mode.  The  daemon  provides  a  DBus  service
24       uk.me.doof.Cowsay that responds to ShowCow  requests.  The  daemon  can
25       queue up any number of requests and displays them in order.
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27       When  xcowsay starts it checks to see if a daemon is running, and if it
28       is, sends a ShowCow request and returns immediately. Otherwise  xcowsay
29       will block until the cow has disappeared.
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CONFIGURATION FILE

33       xcowsay  reads a configuration file on startup.  The configuration file
34       can be stored in the XDG compliant location  $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/xcowsayrc
35       (which  will default to $HOME/.config/xcowsayrc) or in your home direc‐
36       tory at $HOME/.xcowsayrc.  If the --config=FILE command line option  is
37       passed FILE will be processed after your personal configuration file.
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39       The  configuration  file  consists  of  'option = value' pairs, one per
40       line.  The valid keys are given in the next section. For  example,  the
41       following line sets display time to 10 seconds:
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43              display_time = 10000
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45       The  character  '#'  begins  a comment which lasts until the end of the
46       line.
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48       Values containing spaces should be enclosed in quotes.  For example:
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50              font = "mono 28"
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OPTIONS

53       Note that these options override any settings in the config file.
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55       -h, --help
56              Display usage information.
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58       -t time, --time=time
59              Display the cow for time seconds. This overrides any  value  set
60              for  reading_speed.  Setting time to zero displays the cow until
61              it is clicked.  The corresponding config  file  option  is  dis‐
62              play_time.
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64       -r speed, --reading-speed=speed
65              Number  of  milliseconds to display the cow for each word in the
66              input text. This is clamped to a minimum of min_display_time and
67              a maximum of max_display_time.  The defaults are 1 second and 30
68              seconds respectively. The corresponding config  file  option  is
69              reading_speed.
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71       -f font, --font=font
72              Font for the speech bubble text. Accepts Pango font strings. The
73              corresponding config file option is font.
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75       -d file, --dream=file
76              Display an image instead  of  text  in  the  cow's  bubble.  The
77              dream_time  config file option sets the numer of milliseconds to
78              display the image for. The default is 10 seconds.
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80       --think
81              Display a thought bubble instead of a speech bubble.
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83       --daemon
84              Run xcowsay in daemon mode if DBus support has been enabled. See
85              the description for more information.
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87       --cow-size=size
88              Size  of  the  cow  image.   Current  choices are small, med, or
89              large.  The corresponding config file option is cow_size.
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91       --image=file
92              Use a different image instead of  the  cow.   The  corresponding
93              config file option is alt_image.
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95       --monitor=N
96              Make the cow appear on monitor N.
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98       --at=X,Y
99              Force  that  cow to appear at screen location (X,Y).  The config
100              file options are at_x and at_y.
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102       --bubble-at=X,Y
103              Change position of bubble relative to where  it  would  normally
104              appear.   This  is  most useful when combined with the alt_image
105              option to create your own characters.  The config  file  options
106              are bubble_x and bubble_y.
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108       --no-wrap
109              Disable  word wrapping when the bubble is too wide to fit on the
110              screen.  The config file option wrap can be set to true or false
111              to set this explicitly.
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113       -l, --left
114              Make  the  bubble appear on the left hand side of the cow.  This
115              is useful if you are using your own image.
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117       --debug
118              Print messages about what xcowsay is doing. Useful  for  finding
119              out why the daemon fails.
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121       --release
122              Close window on release event instead of press.  The correspond‐
123              ing config file option is close_event=button-release-event.
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125       -v, --version
126              Print version information.
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AUTHOR

129       Written by Nick Gasson.
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REPORTING BUGS

132       Report  all  bugs  to  nick@nickg.me.uk    The  xcowsay  home  page  is
133       <http://www.doof.me.uk/xcowsay>
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