Get a Random fortune cookie using the Unix fortune command

Written on October 4th, 2010 at 11:42 am by shredder12

I have been using linux for more than 3 years, but I still come across some old/legacy applications that I have never even heard of. This time I came to know about the legendary fortune command. All it does is throw some random fortune (quotation) from a huge database on your screen. Before coming to any conclusion about the software, try it out first .

Installation

It is available in the form of fortune-mod package. Install it

[shredder12]$ sudo aptitude install fortune-mod   #ubuntu or debian

[root]# yum install fortune-mod    #fedora or RedHat based systems

Its not all about random message fetching. This database of messages is divided into various categories which are further sub-divided into offensive and non-offensive ones and you can tell the fortune command to run in favour of either of them. Say you want to fetch the epigrams from the category linux.

[shredder12]$ fortune linux

I've seen people with new children before, they go from ultra happy to
looking like something out of a zombie film in about a week.
        -- Alan Cox about Linus after his 2nd daughter

You can even mention multiple categories

[shredder12]$ fortune linux science

They can each be preceded with the probability you want a fortune to be picked from them. Say:

[shredder12]$ fortune 90% linux 10% science

Although, 10% for science was not required, as the rest of the probability (100 - sum of all mentioned) is applied to the rest. You can find the list of categories or files searched in /usr/share/games/fortunes.

For fetching only from offensive databases use the -o option.

[shredder12]$ fortune -o

You can even do pattern searching, using -m. Say you want to read all the fortunes under linux category containing the word 'sex' . 

[shredder12]$ fortune linux -m sex

(/usr/share/games/fortunes/linux)
%
Software is like sex; it's better when it's free.
        -- Linus Torvalds
%

You can find more about fortune in its man page. Have fun.

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1 Comment

Anon Linuxer (not verified)
October 6th, 2010 02:36 pm
Just to mention that in debian at least there are other packages containing fortune databases that you might want to add.

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