How to print a Banner in Java easily

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In this short wiki we will learn how to use the Figlet API to generate an AsciiArt Banners in Java applications. We will also show how to emed a sample example in a JBang Script.

Figlet is a command-line tool which helps you to create ascii banners like this:

 _   _        _  _         __        __              _      _  _ 
| | | |  ___ | || |  ___   \ \      / /  ___   _ __ | |  __| || |
| |_| | / _ \| || | / _ \   \ \ /\ / /  / _ \ | '__|| | / _` || |
|  _  ||  __/| || || (_) |   \ V  V /  | (_) || |   | || (_| ||_|
|_| |_| \___||_||_| \___/     \_/\_/    \___/ |_|   |_| \__,_|(_)

Let’s see how to create a sample banner like that in a minute!

Configuring and running Figlet

In order to use Figlet API, include the following dependency in your project:

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.github.lalyos</groupId>
    <artifactId>jfiglet</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.9</version>
</dependency>

On the other hand, if you want to generate Banners in a JBang script, all you need is to add the proper //DEPS to your script. For example:

//usr/bin/env jbang "$0" "$@" ; exit $?
//DEPS com.github.lalyos:jfiglet:0.0.9

import com.github.lalyos.jfiglet.FigletFont;
import java.io.IOException;

public class PrintBanner {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
         String asciiArt = FigletFont.convertOneLine("Hello World!");
         System.out.println(asciiArt);
    }
}

Then, run the jbang script as follows:

jbang PrintBanner.java

Here’s your beautiful Banner:

create banner in java how to

Using a Custom Font in your Banners

You can also use custom Fonts to display your banners. Some example fonts are available in JFiglet repository ( look for .flf files ). Here is a sample script which uses a custom Font in the Banner:

//usr/bin/env jbang "$0" "$@" ; exit $?
//DEPS com.github.lalyos:jfiglet:0.0.9

import com.github.lalyos.jfiglet.FigletFont;
import java.io.IOException;

public class PrintBanner {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
    
    String asciiArt = FigletFont.convertOneLine("classpath:/slant.flf", "Hello World!");     
    System.out.println(asciiArt);    
     
    }
}

Then, see the new Font in the output:

jbang PrintBanner.java
[jbang] Building jar for PrintBanner.java...
    __  __     ____         _       __           __    ____
   / / / /__  / / /___     | |     / /___  _____/ /___/ / /
  / /_/ / _ \/ / / __ \    | | /| / / __ \/ ___/ / __  / / 
 / __  /  __/ / / /_/ /    | |/ |/ / /_/ / /  / / /_/ /_/  
/_/ /_/\___/_/_/\____/     |__/|__/\____/_/  /_/\__,_(_)

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we explored how to use the jfiglet library to create banners in Java. We started by adding the jfiglet dependency to our Maven project, which provides a convenient way to generate banners using ASCII art fonts. We then learned how to use the FigletFont class to load a Figlet font from the classpath and create a FigletFont object, which can be used to convert text into a banner using the convert method. We also learned how to customize the appearance of our banners by setting the banner width and selecting a different font.

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