FIGlet

Behavior

FIGlet can read from standard input or accept a message as part of the command line. It prints to standard output. Some common arguments (options) are:

-f to select a font file. (font files are available here)
-d to change the directory for fonts.
-c centers the output.
-l left-aligns the output.
-r right-aligns the output.
-t sets the output width to the terminal width.
-w specifies a custom output width.
-k enables kerning, printing each letter of the message individually, instead of merged into the adjacent letters.

[user@hostname ~]$ figlet -ct -f roman Wikipedia

generates this output:

oooooo oooooo oooo o8o oooo o8o .o8 o8o
`888. `888. .8' `"' `888 `"' "888 `"'