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Examples

A collection of practical examples showing gummyworm in action.

Basic Usage​

Simple Conversion​

# Convert an image to ASCII art (default 80 characters wide)
gummyworm photo.jpg

Output:

                    ..::::::..
                .::::::::::::::.
              .:::::.      .:::::.
            .::::.   @@@@@@   .::::.
           .:::.   @@@@@@@@@@   .:::.
          .:::.   @@@@@@@@@@@@   .:::.
          .:::   @@@@@@@@@@@@@@   :::.
          .:::   @@@@@@@@@@@@@@   :::.
          .:::.   @@@@@@@@@@@@   .:::.
           .:::.   @@@@@@@@@@   .:::.
            .::::.   @@@@@@   .::::.
              .:::::.      .:::::.
                .::::::::::::::.
                    ..::::::..

Adjusting Width​

# Narrow output for quick preview
gummyworm -w 40 photo.jpg

# Wide output for more detail
gummyworm -w 150 photo.jpg

# Match terminal width
gummyworm -w $(tput cols) photo.jpg

Color Output​

# Enable 256-color ANSI output
gummyworm -c sunset.png

# Color with wider width for detail
gummyworm -c -w 120 landscape.jpg

Palette Examples​

Block Characters (High Contrast)​

gummyworm -p blocks mountain.jpg

Best for landscapes and images with strong contrast.

Emoji Art​

gummyworm -p emoji -w 40 cat.jpg

Fun for social sharing! Use smaller widths since emoji are double-width.

Detailed Photos​

gummyworm -p detailed -w 150 portrait.png

The detailed palette has 72 characters for fine gradation.

Matrix Style​

gummyworm -p matrix -c hacker.jpg

Binary 0s and 1s with green color for that hacker aesthetic.

Braille Dots​

gummyworm -p dots -w 60 photo.jpg

Compact output using Unicode Braille patterns.

Working with Colors​

Full Color Photo​

gummyworm -c -w 100 -p standard vacation.jpg

Inverted for Dark Images​

# Original image has dark background
gummyworm -c -i logo-dark.png

# Invert brightness mapping
gummyworm -i -p blocks night-photo.jpg

Color + Block Characters​

gummyworm -c -p blocks -w 80 cityscape.jpg

Export Examples​

# Single image to HTML
gummyworm -c -f html -o art.html photo.jpg

# With custom dark background
gummyworm -c -f html --background '#000000' -o dark-art.html photo.jpg

# Batch: all photos to one HTML file
gummyworm -c -f html -o gallery.html photos/*.jpg

SVG for Print​

# High-quality SVG for printing
gummyworm -c -w 120 -p blocks -f svg -o poster.svg landscape.jpg

# Custom background
gummyworm -c -f svg --background '#1a1a2e' -o styled.svg photo.jpg

PNG for Social Media​

# Create shareable image
gummyworm -c -w 80 -p blocks -f png -o share.png photo.jpg

# Emoji art as PNG
gummyworm -c -p emoji -w 30 -f png -o emoji-art.png cat.jpg

Plain Text for README​

# Generate ASCII art for documentation
gummyworm -w 60 -p simple logo.png > logo.txt

Batch Processing​

Multiple Files​

# Convert several images
gummyworm photo1.jpg photo2.png photo3.gif

# Using glob patterns
gummyworm photos/*.jpg
gummyworm images/**/*.png  # with recursive globbing

Output to Directory​

# Each file gets its own output
gummyworm -d ./ascii-output/ photos/*.jpg

# With format specification
gummyworm -c -f html -d ./html-gallery/ photos/*.jpg

Recursive Directory Processing​

# Process all images in folder and subfolders
gummyworm -r -d ./output/ ~/Pictures/

# With error handling for batch jobs
gummyworm -r --continue-on-error -d ./output/ ~/Pictures/

Animation Examples​

gummyworm can convert animated GIFs to ASCII animations for terminal playback or re-export as ASCII GIFs.

Terminal Playback​

# Play animation in terminal (with color)
gummyworm -a -c animation.gif

# Slower playback (default is 100ms between frames)
gummyworm -a -c --frame-delay 200 animation.gif

# Play 3 times then stop (default is infinite)
gummyworm -a -c --loops 3 animation.gif

# Preview first 10 frames only
gummyworm -a -c --max-frames 10 long-animation.gif

Press Ctrl+C to stop playback at any time.

Export as ASCII GIF​

# Basic conversion
gummyworm -a -c -f gif -o ascii.gif animation.gif

# Customize timing
gummyworm -a --frame-delay 150 -f gif -o slow.gif animation.gif

# Smaller file size (fewer frames, smaller dimensions)
gummyworm -a -w 40 --max-frames 30 -f gif -o compact.gif animation.gif

# Limited loops for smaller file
gummyworm -a --loops 1 -f gif -o single-loop.gif animation.gif

Static from Animated​

# Extract first frame only (no animation)
gummyworm --no-animate animation.gif

# Save first frame as PNG
gummyworm --no-animate -c -f png -o frame1.png animation.gif

Animation Tips​

GoalRecommendation
Smaller file sizeUse -w 40-60, --max-frames 20-50
Smoother animationUse --frame-delay 50-100
Better visibilityUse -p blocks palette
Quick previewUse --max-frames 5 first

See also: Animation CLI Options | GIF Export Format

URL and Stdin​

From URL​

# Download and convert
gummyworm https://example.com/image.jpg

# With options
gummyworm -c -w 100 "https://example.com/photo.png?size=large"

Piping from curl​

# Pipe image data
curl -s https://example.com/image.png | gummyworm -c -w 60

# Save result
curl -s https://example.com/image.png | gummyworm -w 80 > art.txt

From Other Commands​

# Screenshot to ASCII (macOS)
screencapture -x /tmp/screen.png && gummyworm -w 120 /tmp/screen.png

# From clipboard (macOS)
pngpaste - | gummyworm -c -w 80

Creative Uses​

ASCII Banner Generator​

# Convert logo to ASCII for terminal banner
gummyworm -w 60 -p simple logo.png > ~/.banner.txt
echo 'cat ~/.banner.txt' >> ~/.bashrc

Git Commit Art​

# Add ASCII art to git commit message
echo "feat: new feature" > /tmp/commit.txt
echo "" >> /tmp/commit.txt
gummyworm -w 40 -p simple feature-icon.png >> /tmp/commit.txt
git commit -F /tmp/commit.txt

Email Signature​

# Generate HTML signature
gummyworm -c -w 30 -f html -p blocks avatar.jpg > signature.html

Slack/Discord Message​

# Generate code block ASCII
echo '```'
gummyworm -w 50 -p blocks photo.jpg
echo '```'

Watch Directory for New Images​

# Using fswatch (macOS) or inotifywait (Linux)
fswatch -0 ~/Pictures/new/ | while read -d "" file; do
  gummyworm -c -w 80 "$file"
done

Comparison Script​

Compare different palettes on the same image:

#!/bin/bash
image="$1"
palettes=(standard detailed blocks dots emoji binary)

for p in "${palettes[@]}"; do
  echo "═══════════════════════════════════════"
  echo "Palette: $p"
  echo "═══════════════════════════════════════"
  gummyworm -p "$p" -w 40 "$image"
  echo ""
done

Save as compare-palettes.sh and run:

chmod +x compare-palettes.sh
./compare-palettes.sh photo.jpg

Quick Reference​

GoalCommand
Basic conversiongummyworm photo.jpg
Color outputgummyworm -c photo.jpg
Wider outputgummyworm -w 120 photo.jpg
Block stylegummyworm -p blocks photo.jpg
Emoji artgummyworm -p emoji -w 40 photo.jpg
Save to filegummyworm -o art.txt photo.jpg
Export HTMLgummyworm -c -o art.html photo.jpg
Export PNGgummyworm -c -f png -o art.png photo.jpg
From URLgummyworm https://example.com/img.jpg
Batch processgummyworm -d ./out/ photos/*.jpg