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2 Invoking ponysay

The format for running the ponysay program is: 

     ponysay [option...] [--] [message]
     ponythink [option...] [--] [message]

Running ponysay will print a speech balloon, ponythink will print a thought balloon. Otherwise ponysay and ponythink is the same thing.

ponysay supports the following options:

--
Parse the following arguments as parts of message.
-h
--help
Show summary of options.
-v
--verion
Show version of program.
-f PONY
--file PONY
--pony PONY
Specify the pony that should printed, this can either be a file name or a pony name printed by ponysay -l. This option can be used multiple times to specify a set of ponies from which one will be selected randomly. If no pony is specified one will be selected randomly.

If you have util-say installed, you can use .png-files as the arguments for this options.

In versions earlier than version 2.0, the if the pony were a file name it had to include a `/'. This is not longer required and any existing pony name supersedes file names.

-F PONY
++file PONY
++pony PONY
Just as -F, but it uses extra (non-MLP:FiM) ponies instead of standard (MLP:FiM) ponies
-q PONY
--quote PONY
By using this option, a pony will be printed with quotes from her in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The pony will be selected randomly, unless at least one pony is added as an argument to -q. If one or more ponies are added as an argument to -q, the pony will be selected randomly from that set of ponies. This option requires the extension ponyquotes4ponysay, which is included by default since version 1.2.

The argument can be a file name, but only if it ends with .pony.

--f [PONY...]
--files [PONY...]
--ponies [PONY...]
Variadic variant of -f, meaning that all arguments added after this one will parsed as an argument to this option. Additionally, those options are added to -f.
--F [PONY...]
++files [PONY...]
++ponies [PONY...]
Variadic variant of -F, meaning that all arguments added after this one will parsed as an argument to this option. Additionally, those options are added to -F.

An important feature of this options, is that you can but it in the end of the command line, without any argument to get a random non-MLP:FiM pony.

--q [PONY...]
--quotes [PONY...]
Variadic variant of -q, meaning that all arguments added after this one will parsed as an argument to this option. Additionally, those options are added to -q.

An important feature of this options, is that you can but it in the end of the command line, without any argument to get a quote from any pony with a quote.

-b STYLE
--bubble STYLE
--balloon STYLE
Specify the balloon style that should used, this can either be a file name or a balloon name printed by ponysay -B. This option can be used multiple times to specify a set of styles from which one will be selected randomly. If no balloon style is specified a fallback style will be used.
-W COLUMN
--wrap COLUMN
Specify the screen column where the message should be wrapped, this is by default 40, as with cowsay. The balloon's extra width is taken into consideration.

If the argument is not a number, but starts instead with n (for ‘none’ or ‘no’), no wrapping is done, and if it starts with i (for ‘inherit’) the width of the terminal is used.

n and i is case insensitive, so you may use N and I instead. Additionally, typo correction is for QWERTY and Dvorak is built in to ponysay; the nearest key, either to the left or to the right, depending on which hand is used to press the key, is also allowed.

-c
--compress
Compress the message in the same way cowsay does, that is basically without multiple spaces, and only paragraphs separations. Using this options will mean that you cannot display figlet and TOIlet style messages.
-l
--list
Lists all installed ponies. The ponies which have quotes, i.e. can be used with the -q option, will be marked by being printed in bold or bright (depending on the terminal.)
-L
--altlist
--symlist
Lists all installed ponies. The ponies which have quotes, i.e. can be used with the -q option, will be marked by being printed in bold or bright (depending on the terminal.) This options differs from -l by printing alternative names (symbolic links) inside brackets after their target ponies.
+l
++list
Just as -l, except it lists extra (non-MLP:FiM) ponies instead of standard (MLP:FiM) ponies.
+L
++symlist
++altlist
Just as -L, except it lists extra (non-MLP:FiM) ponies instead of standard (MLP:FiM) ponies.
-B
--balloonlist
Prints a list of all balloon styles.
-A
--all
List all ponies, MLP:FiM and non-MLP:FiM, in this case the first list are MLP:FiM and the second are non-MLP:FiM.
+A
++all
--symall
--altall
List all ponies names, including alternatives, these from MLP:FiM and non-MLP:FiM. The first list are the MLP:FiM and the second one are non-MLP:FiM.
-o
--pony-only
--ponyonly
Print just the pony, nothing else like the speech balloon. Naturally the ponysay will not wait for a message from stdin.
-X
--256-colours
--256colours
--x-colours
Use xterm's 256-colour support (supported by most X11 terminals), despite your terminal's actual compatibilies.
-V
--tty-colours
--ttycolours
--vt-colours
Use Linux VT's compatbilies without KMS utilisation, despite your terminal's actual compatibilies.
-K
--kms-colours
--kmscolours
Use Linux VT's compatbilies with KMS utilisation, despite your terminal's actual compatibilies.
+c
--colour ANSI-COLOUR
Colour the balloon, including link and message (the parts that are not individually specified.) The argument, should be a ANSI colour sequence without leading CSI and without a tailing ‘m’, for example 1;31 will make it in red and bold (or bright depending on the terminal.)
--colour-bubble
--colour-balloon ANSI-COLOUR
Just like --colour, but it only colours the balloon, without the message or link.
--colour-link ANSI-COLOUR
Just like --colour, but it only colours the balloon link.
--colour-msg
--colour-message ANSI-COLOUR
Just like --colour, but it only colours the message.
--colour-pony ANSI-COLOUR
Just like --colour, but it colours the pony. This colouring has no effect ony regular pony files, as it has its own colouring.
--colour-wrap
--colour-hyphen ANSI-COLOUR
Just like --colour, but it colours hyphen added by the word wrapping. By default this is red (31), if you want uncoloured use 0, without 0 or 39, the default 31 is presistent.

If neither -q is used nor any message is specified, ponysay will read the message from stdin (standard input); however, if no arguments are used and nothing is piped to stdin, a help message will be printed. If you want to use ponysay without arguments and enter the message by hand, you can run cat | ponysay.

If no pony is selected, ponysay will look for a best.pony file, this file should be a symbolic link to the pony you want as a default. If it is not a symbolic link, -q cannot determine which quotes to use.