ASCII banner for source and README
Turn a short name into a heading that stands out in a file or README. Wrap it as comments, keep it inside the line width, and copy.
Settings
Tips
Use a short name, not a sentence
The banner is a grid of tiny characters that form large letters. A name as short as a function or file — init, main — keeps those shapes readable. A full sentence uses so many cells that you can no longer tell what the word is. Two words? Put them on two lines so each stays large enough.
Comment marks count toward the line width
When you wrap the banner as comments, each line gains extra characters such as // and indent spaces. An editor counts those too. If the file is kept to 80 characters per line, set the line width to 80. It can look fine here and still overflow after you paste. Fit to width shrinks until the block you copy fits that limit.
In a /* */ wrap, */ in the drawing ends the comment
In C and Java, a comment runs from /* to the first */. If the fill draws * and / next to each other, everything after that is read as real code. This page inserts a space to stop that. Filling with # or . never draws the pair. Wrapping every line with // has no closer.
README and source files do not allow the same characters
A README usually accepts any character. Some source trees — Linux kernel style, older checkers — accept only English letters and symbols. Block shades such as █ look clear in a README and get rejected there. Before you paste into those files, turn ASCII only on and spell the name in English letters.
Even as comments, stay within eighty columns
Opening the gaps between letters changes how the heading looks. Combine that with the characters that turn it into a comment, and a line can pass eighty columns before you notice. Watch the budget.
Common Use Cases
At the top of a source file
Put a short module name at the top of a .c or .py file, as comments, within 80 characters per line. It is ordinary text, so a diff shows the same letters.
As the heading of a README
Open a GitHub README with the project name as a banner. Wrap it in a fence and you do not need an image host, or a link that breaks when the file moves.
When a terminal opens
Paste into the login message, a shell startup file, or tmux. An SSH session cannot show an image; it can show these letters.
To mark a section in a script
Place a compact banner above a Makefile target or a deploy snippet. You are not using a GUI font — only characters that already live in the file.
In a pull-request description
If the change is a named command or a binary, put a fenced banner in the pull-request description. Reviewers see the same letters in every client.