What is Fortune?
Fortune is a simple Unix program that displays a random message from a database of quotations.
$ fortune
"What we see is mainly what we look for."
~Unknown
This repo contains some fortune database files, especially useful for Chinese user.
- fortunes: quotes in English, 5472 items
- chinese: quotes in Chinese, 25919 items
- tang300: poems of Tang Dynasty in Chinese, 313 items
- song100: poems of Song Dynasty in Chinese, 95 items
Screenshot
Install
First install fortune package. If your computer has already installed it, skip this step.
# Debian/Ubuntu
$ sudo apt-get install fortune
# Mac
$ brew install fortune
Then install the repo.
# Debian/Ubuntu
$ git clone [email protected]:ruanyf/fortunes.git
$ sudo mv fortunes/data/* /usr/share/games/fortunes/
# Mac
$ git clone [email protected]:ruanyf/fortunes.git
$ strfile fortunes/data/fortunes
$ strfile fortunes/data/chinese
$ strfile fortunes/data/tang300
$ strfile fortunes/data/song100
$ sudo mv fortunes/data/* /usr/share/games/fortunes/
Usage
$ fortune [OPTIONS] [/path/to/fortunes]
Options
- -c Show the cookie file from which the fortune came.
- -f Print out the list of files which would be searched, but don't print a fortune.
- -e Consider all fortune files to be of equal size.
Example of -c
$ fortune -c
(fortunes)
%
"Don't waste life in doubts and fears."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Example of -f
$ fortune -f
100.00% /usr/share/games/fortunes
17.21% fortunes
81.51% chinese
0.98% tang300
0.30% song100
Example of -e
$ fortune -e chinese fortunes
# is equivalent to
$ fortune 50% chinese 50% fortunes
$ fortune -e chinese fortunes tang300 song100
# is equivalent to
$ fortune 25% chinese 25% fortunes 25% tang300 25% song100
How to automatically launch fortune when opening a shell window
Depending on which shell you use, at the end of your ~/.bashrc
or ~/.zshrc
file, copy the following lines into it.
echo
echo "=============== Quote Of The Day ==============="
echo
fortune
echo
echo "================================================"
echo
How to make your own fortune database file
(1) Write your fortune items into a file.
(2) Append a percent sign (%) after each item. The percent sign should take a new line. The following is an example.
A day for firm decisions!!!!! Or is it?
%
A few hours grace before the madness begins again.
%
A gift of a flower will soon be made to you.
%
A long-forgotten loved one will appear soon.
Buy the negatives at any price.
%
A tall, dark stranger will have more fun than you.
(3) Generate the index file.
strfile -c % your-fortune-file your-fortune-file.dat
(4) Move the fortune file and its index file into /usr/share/games/fortunes/
.
License
BSD licensed