Print Dead Thinking Ascii Cow

Outputs a pre-defined phrase representing a dead cow's thought process using ASCII art.

Terminal

cowthink -d "<I'm just a cow, not a great thinker...>"

cowthink -d "<I'm just a cow, not a great thinker...>"

#!/bin/bash

# Print Dead Thinking Ascii Cow
cowthink -d "{{I'm just a cow, not a great thinker...}}"

import subprocess

# Print Dead Thinking Ascii Cow
# Make sure to replace <placeholders> with actual values
def run_command():
    cmd = [
        "cowthink",
        "-d",
        "\"<I'm just a cow, not a great thinker...>\""
    ]
    
    try:
        print(f"Executing: {' '.join(cmd)}")
        subprocess.run(cmd, check=True)
    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")
    except FileNotFoundError:
        print("Error: cowthink not found. Please install it first.")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    run_command()

When To Use

To illustrate a humorous command with ASCII, especially in informal settings.

Pro Tip

Utilize `-d` with varied messages for testing how the ASCII reflects different inputs.

Anatomy of Output

Understanding the result

____________ Top border of cow's thought bubble

Indicates start of a passive comment.

< I'm just a cow, not a great thinker... > Cow thought

The message encapsulates a humorous, light-hearted remark.

------------ Ending border for thought bubble

Closes the expression of the cow.

\ ^__^ ASCII cow face representation

Distinctive visual character for the cow.

\ (oo)\_______ Cow shape

Body representation of cow in ASCII art.

Power User Variants

Optimized versions

cowthink -d 'This is absurd.'

Displays a different humorous input.

cowthink -f tux -d 'I'm crunching the numbers.'

Specifies the tux character for output.

Troubleshooting

Common pitfalls

bash: cowthink: command not found

Solution: Install cowthink by executing: sudo apt install cowsay.

cowthink: missing text argument

Solution: Ensure to provide a valid string as an argument.

Cannot open output pipe: Permission denied

Solution: Ensure you have write permissions in your current working directory.

Command Breakdown

What each part is doing

cowthink: Base Command; The executable that performs this operation. Here it runs Cowthink before the shell applies any redirect operators.
<I'm just a cow, not a great thinker...>: I'm just a cow, not a great thinker...; The value supplied for I'm just a cow, not a great thinker....
-d: Command Option; Tool-specific option used by this command invocation.

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