Shell – ASCII art of letters, with the letters using their own characters

ascii-artbannershell

If I execute

banner ABC

I get:

   #    ######   #####
  # #   #     # #     #
 #   #  #     # #
#     # ######  #
####### #     # #
#     # #     # #     #
#     # ######   #####

and another program, figlet, has more elaborate fonts and mechanisms for joining adjacent characters, e.g.:

    _    ____   ____ 
   / \  | __ ) / ___|
  / _ \ |  _ \| |    
 / ___ \| |_) | |___ 
/_/   \_\____/ \____|

but what if I want to have each letter printed using just that letter, i.e.:

   A    BBBBBB   CCCCC
  A A   B     B C     C
 A   A  B     B C
A     A BBBBBB  C
AAAAAAA B     B C
A     A B     B C     C
A     A BBBBBB   CCCCC

or better yet, something more compact, like:

  A    BBBB   CCCC 
 A A   B   B C     
A   A  BBBB  C     
AAAAA  B   B C     
A   A  BBBB   CCCC

? What's the simplest way to make that happen?

Best Answer

There are four optional fonts for figlet which use the single-ASCII-character letters themselves to draw larger versions of these letter: Either here (alphabet, letters and tanja) here (same) or here (letter):

alphabet

    b          AA  BBBB   CCC 
    b         A  A B   B C    
 aa bbb   ccc AAAA BBBB  C    
a a b  b c    A  A B   B C    
aaa bbb   ccc A  A BBBB   CCC

letter

  A   BBBB   CCC    A   BBBB   CCC  
 A A  B   B C   C  A A  B   B C   C 
AAAAA BBBB  C     AAAAA BBBB  C     
A   A B   B C   C A   A B   B C   C 
A   A BBBB   CCC  A   A BBBB   CCC

letters

        bb               AAA   BBBBB    CCCCC  
  aa aa bb        cccc  AAAAA  BB   B  CC    C 
 aa aaa bbbbbb  cc     AA   AA BBBBBB  CC      
aa  aaa bb   bb cc     AAAAAAA BB   BB CC    C 
 aaa aa bbbbbb   ccccc AA   AA BBBBBB   CCCCC

tanja

        b)                A)aa   B)bbbb     C)ccc  
        b)               A)  aa  B)   bb   C)   cc 
a)AAAA  b)BBBB   c)CCCC A)    aa B)bbbb   C)       
 a)AAA  b)   BB c)      A)aaaaaa B)   bb  C)       
a)   A  b)   BB c)      A)    aa B)    bb  C)   cc 
 a)AAAA b)BBBB   c)CCCC A)    aa B)bbbbb    C)ccc

And maybe doh

$ figlet -f doh abcABC
                 bbbbbbbb                                
                 b::::::b                                
                 b::::::b                                
                 b::::::b                                
                  b:::::b                                
  aaaaaaaaaaaaa   b:::::bbbbbbbbb        cccccccccccccccc
  a::::::::::::a  b::::::::::::::bb    cc:::::::::::::::c
  aaaaaaaaa:::::a b::::::::::::::::b  c:::::::::::::::::c
           a::::a b:::::bbbbb:::::::bc:::::::cccccc:::::c
    aaaaaaa:::::a b:::::b    b::::::bc::::::c     ccccccc
  aa::::::::::::a b:::::b     b:::::bc:::::c             
 a::::aaaa::::::a b:::::b     b:::::bc:::::c             
a::::a    a:::::a b:::::b     b:::::bc::::::c     ccccccc
a::::a    a:::::a b:::::bbbbbb::::::bc:::::::cccccc:::::c
a:::::aaaa::::::a b::::::::::::::::b  c:::::::::::::::::c
 a::::::::::aa:::ab:::::::::::::::b    cc:::::::::::::::c
  aaaaaaaaaa  aaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb       cccccccccccccccc

               AAA               BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB           CCCCCCCCCCCCC
              A:::A              B::::::::::::::::B       CCC::::::::::::C
             A:::::A             B::::::BBBBBB:::::B    CC:::::::::::::::C
            A:::::::A            BB:::::B     B:::::B  C:::::CCCCCCCC::::C
           A:::::::::A             B::::B     B:::::B C:::::C       CCCCCC
          A:::::A:::::A            B::::B     B:::::BC:::::C              
         A:::::A A:::::A           B::::BBBBBB:::::B C:::::C              
        A:::::A   A:::::A          B:::::::::::::BB  C:::::C              
       A:::::A     A:::::A         B::::BBBBBB:::::B C:::::C              
      A:::::AAAAAAAAA:::::A        B::::B     B:::::BC:::::C              
     A:::::::::::::::::::::A       B::::B     B:::::BC:::::C              
    A:::::AAAAAAAAAAAAA:::::A      B::::B     B:::::B C:::::C       CCCCCC
   A:::::A             A:::::A   BB:::::BBBBBB::::::B  C:::::CCCCCCCC::::C
  A:::::A               A:::::A  B:::::::::::::::::B    CC:::::::::::::::C
 A:::::A                 A:::::A B::::::::::::::::B       CCC::::::::::::C
AAAAAAA                   AAAAAAABBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB           CCCCCCCCCCCCC
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