Cooler ASCII Spinners?

Question

In a console app, an ascii spinner can be used, like the GUI wait cursor, to indicate that work is being done. A common spinner cycles through these 4 characters: '|', '/', '-', '\'

What are some other cyclical animation sequences to spice up a console application?

Closing this question seems quite unwarranted. While console text mode UIs are less fashionalbe than GUI's, they are still on topic. Furthermore, the question has been upvoted and has garnered serveral useful answers (also upvoted). — Stephen C. Steel, Apr 21 '10 at 19:46
Why should it be community wiki, and how is it off topic? It's totally a programming related question? Would it be better on SuperUser? No. ServerFault? No. — Mark Allen, Apr 21 '10 at 19:49
@roe: community wiki means the OP wants his question and answers to be editable by anyone on the site -- which may not be the OPs intention. Wiki *is not* used to classify questions as "subjective" or "no single answer", that's what tags are for. @Jason: you don't need to wiki this question if you don't want to. — Juliet, Apr 21 '10 at 19:55
Thanks for the support all. I marked an answer because I thought it was over, but obviously it is subjective, so keep contributing! Thanks! — Jason Kleban, Apr 21 '10 at 20:35
The question is certainly subjective, but seems to be answerable modulo the question of what constitutes "cool". Should remain open. — dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten, Apr 22 '10 at 00:01
@Juliet: Once again, the formal meaning of CW has---for most of the site's history---been supplemented with a community norm that "fun", non-technical, and poll-like content should be made CW and may be closed if there are not. Blithely ignoring this fact does not make it go away, nor does endlessly repeating your mantra that CW isn't needed on soft content. *This* question is balanced every so delicately on the cusp, but I'm for giving it a pass. — dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten, Apr 22 '10 at 00:06

score 237 · Answer 1 · edited Dec 27 '14 at 21:36

237

Lots of choices with Unicode, including ⌚ and ⌛!

← ↖ ↑ ↗ → ↘ ↓ ↙
▁ ▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ ▇ ▆ ▅ ▄ ▃ ▁
▉▊▋▌▍▎▏▎▍▌▋▊▉
▖ ▘ ▝ ▗
┤ ┘ ┴ └ ├ ┌ ┬ ┐
◢ ◣ ◤ ◥
◰ ◳ ◲ ◱
◴ ◷ ◶ ◵
◐ ◓ ◑ ◒
◡◡ ⊙⊙ ◠◠
⣾⣽⣻⢿⡿⣟⣯⣷ ⠁⠂⠄⡀⢀⠠⠐⠈ The entire braille block, even in random order http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/block/braille_patterns/images.htm

edited Dec 27 '14 at 21:36

Otto Allmendinger

27,448
7
68
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answered Apr 21 '10 at 19:08

Joe Koberg

25,416
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3

Can you count on your console supporting Unicode? – Ori Pessach Apr 21 '10 at 20:52
14

No, but it got the most votes. :-) (Or should I say ☺) – Jason Kleban Apr 21 '10 at 21:08
If you are using a terminal emulator under X or Windows with a decent font, yes. If you are using the hardware (VGA card in text mode), it depends. Linux supports it, depending on the glyphs in the console font. FreeBSD is working on it, presumably with the same font restrictions. Not sure about others. – Joe Koberg Apr 21 '10 at 21:09
30

I would not consider this an answer for a question called **Cooler ASCII Spinners?** I mean, it is cool, but... – Andreas Rejbrand Apr 21 '10 at 21:23
Good point on the stated ASCII requirement. Changing the winner, sorry Joe. – Jason Kleban Apr 21 '10 at 21:32
1

Using braille glyphs have some raster art potential... – spoulson Apr 30 '10 at 13:30
2

One of those unproductive nights... `spinnerFrames=['▁','▃','▄','▅','▆','▇','█','▇','▆','▅','▄','▃']; currFrame=0; function nextFrame(){ $('#question-header a').html(spinnerFrames[currFrame]); currFrame=(currFrame==spinnerFrames.length-1)? 0:currFrame+1; } setInterval(nextFrame, 100);` – ronalddddd Aug 26 '13 at 18:31
3

Using braille code you can do some sweet things: ⢎⡰⢎⡡⢎⡑⢎⠱⠎⡱⢊⡱⢌⡱⢆⡱, see an [example here](https://gist.github.com/cyrbil/0be26032566ea2179f27) – Cyrbil Jun 26 '15 at 09:05
braille progress bar: ⣀⣠⣤⣴⣶⣾⣿ – Winand May 21 '20 at 08:34

mpen · Answer 2 · 2019-03-06T02:03:18.127

Watch them in action here:

var nl = "\r\n";
var spinners = [
  "←↖↑↗→↘↓↙",
  "▁▃▄▅▆▇█▇▆▅▄▃",
  "▉▊▋▌▍▎▏▎▍▌▋▊▉",
  "▖▘▝▗",
  "▌▀▐▄",
  "┤┘┴└├┌┬┐",
  "◢◣◤◥",
  "◰◳◲◱",
  "◴◷◶◵",
  "◐◓◑◒",
  "|/-\\",
  ".oO@*", ["◡◡", "⊙⊙", "◠◠"],
  ["◜ ", " ◝", " ◞", "◟ "],
  "◇◈◆",
  "⣾⣽⣻⢿⡿⣟⣯⣷",
  "⡀⡁⡂⡃⡄⡅⡆⡇⡈⡉⡊⡋⡌⡍⡎⡏⡐⡑⡒⡓⡔⡕⡖⡗⡘⡙⡚⡛⡜⡝⡞⡟⡠⡡⡢⡣⡤⡥⡦⡧⡨⡩⡪⡫⡬⡭⡮⡯⡰⡱⡲⡳⡴⡵⡶⡷⡸⡹⡺⡻⡼⡽⡾⡿⢀⢁⢂⢃⢄⢅⢆⢇⢈⢉⢊⢋⢌⢍⢎⢏⢐⢑⢒⢓⢔⢕⢖⢗⢘⢙⢚⢛⢜⢝⢞⢟⢠⢡⢢⢣⢤⢥⢦⢧⢨⢩⢪⢫⢬⢭⢮⢯⢰⢱⢲⢳⢴⢵⢶⢷⢸⢹⢺⢻⢼⢽⢾⢿⣀⣁⣂⣃⣄⣅⣆⣇⣈⣉⣊⣋⣌⣍⣎⣏⣐⣑⣒⣓⣔⣕⣖⣗⣘⣙⣚⣛⣜⣝⣞⣟⣠⣡⣢⣣⣤⣥⣦⣧⣨⣩⣪⣫⣬⣭⣮⣯⣰⣱⣲⣳⣴⣵⣶⣷⣸⣹⣺⣻⣼⣽⣾⣿",
  "⠁⠂⠄⡀⢀⠠⠐⠈", [">))'>", " >))'>", "  >))'>", "   >))'>", "    >))'>", "   <'((<", "  <'((<", " <'((<"],
  ["    /\\O\n     /\\/\n    /\\\n   /  \\\n LOL  LOL", "     _O\n   //|_\n    |\n   /|\n   LLOL", "      O\n     /_\n     |\\\n    / |\n  LOLLOL"],
  [
    "╔════╤╤╤╤════╗\n║    │││ \\   ║\n║    │││  O  ║\n║    OOO     ║",
    "╔════╤╤╤╤════╗\n║    ││││    ║\n║    ││││    ║\n║    OOOO    ║",
    "╔════╤╤╤╤════╗\n║   / │││    ║\n║  O  │││    ║\n║     OOO    ║",
    "╔════╤╤╤╤════╗\n║    ││││    ║\n║    ││││    ║\n║    OOOO    ║"
  ],
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"        .-'         '.          /"+nl+
"      .'              '- ---@^,/"+nl+
" (`-.-'          {{ (*) /  /  >"+nl+
"  } .'~-.              _\\   \\/> "+nl+
"  (/     ~-.      .;;'~_____>,^"+nl+
"           ///~''~-=-=|@-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-"+nl+
"-ejm97-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       YIKES"+nl+
"              \\\\\\\\"+nl+
"            .-'   `-.          \\"+nl+
"         .-'         '.  ---@^,/"+nl+
"       .'              '-  /  >"+nl+
" (`-.-'          {{ (*) /   \\/> "+nl+
"  } .'~-.              _\\___>,^"+nl+
"  (/     ~-.      .;;'~/=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~/@-~-~-~-~-~-~"+nl+
"~ejm97~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-",


" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       YIKES"+nl+
" "+nl+
"              \\\\\\\\             _"+nl+
"            .-'   `-.    ---@^,/"+nl+
"         .-'         '.    /  >"+nl+
"       .'              '-   \\/> "+nl+
" (`-.-' .  .  `  {{ (*) /___>,^"+nl+
"  } .'~-.    .  `      _\\-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-/-~-~-~-~-~-~-"+nl+
"-ejm97-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       YIKES"+nl+
" "+nl+
"                               _"+nl+
"  ` .         \\\\\\\\       ---@^,/"+nl+
"      `  `  .-'   `-.  .  '/  >"+nl+
"       ` .-'         '.  '  \\/> "+nl+
"       `'  `           '-___>,^"+nl+
" (`-.-' .  .  `  {{ (*) /-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"-~-~-~-~-~-~-`-.  . ` ' \\~-~-~-~-~-~"+nl+
"~ejm97~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       YIKES"+nl+
" "+nl+
"                               _"+nl+
"  ` .                 '  ---=^,/"+nl+
"      `  `         .   .   /  >"+nl+
"   `   `      \\\\\\\\   '      \\/> "+nl+
"      `  `  .-'   `-. ______>,^"+nl+
"       ` .-'         '.-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"~-~-~-~-~-.-~-~-~-'-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-"+nl+
"-ejm97-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       YIKES"+nl+
" "+nl+
"` .                     '      _"+nl+
"     `  `                ---@^,/"+nl+
"   `   `             '     /  >"+nl+
"     `  `                   \\/> "+nl+
"      `     `      __________>,^"+nl+
"             ` \\\\\\\\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"-~-~-~-~-~-~-~'    `-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~"+nl+
"~ejm97~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                         ."+nl+
"                       '       _"+nl+
"  ` .                    ---@^,/"+nl+
"      `  `                 /  >"+nl+
"   `   `     .              \\/> "+nl+
"      `  `     .   __________>,^"+nl+
"       `     `   ` \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~\\\\\\\\.~-~-~-~-~-~-~-"+nl+
"-ejm97-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"  `   .                        _"+nl+
"   ``                '   ===-^,/"+nl+
" `      `                     >"+nl+
"     `             '        \\/> "+nl+
"         `      .  __________>,^"+nl+
"              `    \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-`-.-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~"+nl+
"~ejm97~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" .   `                    '    _"+nl+
"   `      `              ===-^,/"+nl+
"                     .        >"+nl+
"         `       '          \\/> "+nl+
"             .     __________>,^"+nl+
"                `  \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-"+nl+
"-ejm97-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"  `                            _"+nl+
"   `                     ===-^,/"+nl+
" `      `              '      >"+nl+
"     `                      \\/> "+nl+
"                   __________>,^"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{я}"+nl+
"-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~"+nl+
"~ejm97~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" `                        '    _"+nl+
"  `                      ===-^,/"+nl+
"                              >"+nl+
"                            \\/> "+nl+
"                   __________>,^"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-"+nl+
"-ejm97-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                               _"+nl+
"                         ===%^,/"+nl+
"                              >"+nl+
"                            \\/> "+nl+
"                   __________>,^"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~"+nl+
"~ejm97~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                               \\"+nl+
"                         ---%^,/"+nl+
"                           /  >"+nl+
"                            _/> "+nl+
"                   __________>,^"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-"+nl+
"-ejm97-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                             _"+nl+
"                       ---%^,/ "+nl+
"                         /  >"+nl+
"                          _/>  _"+nl+
"                   _________>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~"+nl+
"~ejm97~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ===%^,"+nl+
"                            >"+nl+
"                           />  _"+nl+
"                   _______/_>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-"+nl+
"-ejm97-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ===-^,"+nl+
"                            >"+nl+
"                          _/>  _"+nl+
"                   _________>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~"+nl+
"~ejm97~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ===%^,"+nl+
"                            >"+nl+
"                          \\/>  _"+nl+
"                   _________>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-"+nl+
"-ejm97-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ===-^,"+nl+
"                            >"+nl+
"                          \\/>  _"+nl+
"                   _________>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~"+nl+
"~ejm97~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ===%^,"+nl+
"                            >"+nl+
"                          \\/>  _"+nl+
"                   _________>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-"+nl+
"-ejm97-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ---%^,"+nl+
"                  Rats.  /  >"+nl+
"                          _/>  _"+nl+
"                   _________>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~"+nl+
"~ejm97~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ---%^,"+nl+
"                  Rats.  /  >"+nl+
"                          _/>  _"+nl+
"                   _________>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-"+nl+
"-ejm97-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ---%^,"+nl+
"                  Rats.  /  >"+nl+
"                          _/>  _"+nl+
"                   _________>,^_\\"+nl+
"                 я  \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~"+nl+
"~ejm97~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ---%^,"+nl+
"                  Rats.  /  >"+nl+
"                          _/>  _"+nl+
"                   _________>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-"+nl+
"-ejm97-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ---%^,"+nl+
"                  Rats.  /  >"+nl+
"                          _/>  _"+nl+
"                   _________>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~"+nl+
"~ejm97~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ===%^,"+nl+
"                            >"+nl+
"                          _/>  _"+nl+
"                   _________>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-"+nl+
"-ejm97-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ===-^,"+nl+
"                            >"+nl+
"                          _/>  _"+nl+
"                   _________>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~"+nl+
"~ejm97~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ===%^,"+nl+
"                            >"+nl+
"                          _/>  _"+nl+
"                   _________>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-"+nl+
"-ejm97-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ===%^,"+nl+
"                            >"+nl+
"                          _/>  _"+nl+
"                   _________>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-я~"+nl+
"~ejm97~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ---%^,"+nl+
"                         /  >"+nl+
"                           />  _"+nl+
"                   _______/_>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-"+nl+
"-ejm97-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~",

" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
" "+nl+
"                       ---%^,"+nl+
" I lost my fishing rod.  /  >"+nl+
"                           />  _"+nl+
"                   _______/_>,^_\\"+nl+
"                   \\-=-=-=-=-=-/{}"+nl+
"-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~"+nl+
"~ejm97~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-"], // "Fishing" taken from http://asciimator.net/kangaroo/fishing.html
];



for (var s = 0; s < spinners.length; ++s) {
  var spinner = spinners[s];
  var div = document.createElement('div');
  var el = document.createElement('pre');
  div.appendChild(el);
  document.body.appendChild(div);

  (function(spinner, el) {
    var i = 0;
    setInterval(function() {
      el.innerHTML = spinner[i];
      i = (i + 1) % spinner.length;
    }, 300);
  })(spinner, el);
}

pre {
  font-family: monospace;
  font-size: 1.5em;
  font-weight: bold;
  border: 1px solid #eee;
  display: inline-block;
  margin: .25em;
}

There's more @ cli-spinners, courtesy of Sindre Sorhus.

You can nab the JSON for them here.

I JavaScriptified them here: JsBin

@ChrisThornton Fixed the link and inserted code into my answer. — mpen, Feb 16 '15 at 21:57
Ingenious! Try adding one more. I saw this being used by `npm update` (Node.JS): ▌▀▐▄ It would look like there's a little clockwise spinner in that one character. The sort that you see everywhere these days. — ADTC, Dec 15 '15 at 10:32

score 90 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 21 '10 at 18:23

90

Balloons...

. o O @ *

answered Apr 21 '10 at 18:23

Will Hartung

115,893
19
128
203

4

@RCIX I just did that with the `'\a'` character :) – wim Feb 12 '13 at 06:39
6

I call it "cells" o 0 8 oo 00 88 ... – sschrass Feb 23 '17 at 14:32

bta · Answer 4 · 2012-02-16T00:36:09.457

If you have more than one character worth of space, you can use animated ASCII art. For example, you can do a progress bar like:

[          ]
[==        ]
[=====     ]
[========  ]

or a "bouncing ball" progress indicator (that moves back and forth) like:

(-*--------) // moving -->
(-----*----) // moving -->
(---------*) // moving -->
(--------*-) // moving <--
(---*------) // moving <--
(*---------) // moving <--

Something more advanced like this loading animation might also work.

Edit: There's also the "executive desk toy"

╔════╤╤╤╤════╗    ╔════╤╤╤╤════╗    ╔════╤╤╤╤════╗    ╔════╤╤╤╤════╗
║    │││ \   ║    ║    ││││    ║    ║   / │││    ║    ║    ││││    ║
║    │││  O  ║ -> ║    ││││    ║ -> ║  O  │││    ║ -> ║    ││││    ║
║    OOO     ║    ║    OOOO    ║    ║     OOO    ║    ║    OOOO    ║

And of course there's the ultimate example of animated ASCII art, if you had the time to implement something similar (it would take "spicing up a console application" to the extreme).

Edit: If your console supports color, you can also spice up an otherwise-boring standard spinner by cycling through colors as you spin. Start off with a red line, then slowly fade through the rainbow up to violet as you spin. This can look especially cool with the "bouncing ball" indicator above if you have the ball "paint" the bar a different color on every pass.

@Thorbjørn - Thanks for catching that, I'll update my answer and post an alternate link. — bta, Feb 16 '12 at 00:35
Mirrors if AC⚡DC video on youtube is blocked in your country: [dailymotion](http://dai.ly/x768z8), [boreme.com](http://www.boreme.com/posting.php?id=19763). — lolesque, Jul 25 '13 at 12:29

Harmen · Answer 5 · 2011-01-02T14:41:31.173

66

Definitely LOLLERSKATES!

    /\O    |    _O    |      O
     /\/   |   //|_   |     /_
    /\     |    |     |     |\
   /  \    |   /|     |    / |
 LOL  LOL  |   LLOL   |  LOLLOL
-----------+----------+-----------
  Frame 0  | Frame 1  |  Frame 2

edited Jan 02 '11 at 14:41

answered Apr 24 '10 at 19:03

Harmen

22,092
4
54
76

3

The "OMGWTFBBQ!!!1" is a little to big for this: http://www.kreativekorp.com/miscpages/omgwtfbbq/omgwtfbbq.gif , so is its extended version: http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee298/davidshek/omgwtfbbq.gif – Harmen Apr 26 '10 at 15:40

Ori Pessach · Answer 6 · 2010-04-21T18:47:29.887

29

There used to be a a DOS linker named blinker, by Blink Inc. It would display an animation similar to this while it was working:

(o)(o)

(-)(-)

(_)(_)

With the first frame displaying for about a second, and the other two animating briefly once a second or two, making the command line appear to blink its eyes. The effect was pretty cool, actually.

The linker even had options to blink one eye, and you could choose which eye would blink.

edited Apr 21 '10 at 18:47

answered Apr 21 '10 at 18:40

Ori Pessach

6,777
6
36
51

This looks awesome, took it for my site :) – serg May 30 '10 at 20:46

score 23 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 21 '10 at 18:47

23

I've used a cycle of

Working. 
Working..
Working...

Inspirational I know

answered Apr 21 '10 at 18:47

PaulG

13,871
9
56
78

score 21 · Answer 8 · edited Oct 15 '21 at 07:23

21

If you know how far through the process you are I like the percentage bar. It looks nice, feels intuitive and is easy to implement:

| 0%

|| 5%

|||||| 25%

||||||||||||||||||||| 100%

edited Oct 15 '21 at 07:23

Richie Bendall

7,738
4
38
58

answered Sep 06 '10 at 09:02

Tom Gullen

61,249
84
283
456

I love the simplicity! – Joe DF Sep 01 '13 at 03:14
If we don't know the exact progress we can just do like `#### 4/7` or something – matt Sep 08 '20 at 19:27
1

:) If you know `4/7` then you know `double percent = (4 * 100.0) / 7;` and can display it with the precision you want. – Jesse Chisholm Jan 05 '22 at 23:50

score 16 · Answer 9 · answered May 13 '10 at 15:02

16

fish is a Python module that animates an ASCII fish going back and forth, and who doesn't like the rare console fish?

>))'>
    >))'>
        >))'>
    <'((<
<'((<

answered May 13 '10 at 15:02

Daniel DiPaolo

55,313
14
116
115

score 15 · Answer 10 · answered Apr 21 '10 at 18:22

15

Try these

'+', 'x'
'v', '<', '^', '>'

answered Apr 21 '10 at 18:22

Raj More

47,048
33
131
198

score 15 · Answer 11 · answered Sep 06 '10 at 09:08

All taken from:

http://llizard.cwahi.net/animals.html

Bats Flying!

                   /^v^\
         /^v^\                      /^v^\
                /^v^\

  /^v^\

Flap flap!

                   \^v^/
         \^v^/                      \^v^/
                \^v^/

  \^v^/

Wow wow An Archer!

       /\
      /__\_{)
     |--<<)__\
      \  /  (
       \/   )
           /|
           \ \
           ~ ~

         /|   \
        /_|_{)/
---<<   | |  )
        \ |  (
         \|  )
            /|
            \ \
            ~ ~
             \
         /|{)/
---<<   +-|-)
         \| (
            )
           /|
           \ \
           ~ ~

       /\
      /__\_{)
     |--<<)__\
      \  /  (
       \/ __)
           \ |__
          ~    ~

         /|   \
        /_|_{)/
---<<   | |  )
        \ |  (
         \|__)
           \ |__
           ~    ~


             \
         /|{)/
---<<   +-|-)
         \| (
          __)
           \ |__
          ~    ~

Super Cyclist

                        ---------- __o
                       --------  _ \<,_
                     -------    (*)/ (*)

Wheeeee!

Flying a Kite

                                                /\
                                               '\/
                                              '  +
                                             '     +
                                           '      +
                                         '         +
                                       '             +
                                     '                  +
                                   '
                                 '
                               '
                             '
                           '
                        '
                    '
                '
__          '
\o  .   '
 \\/
 /\
/ /

This fishing one is pretty hillarious as well

http://asciimator.net/kangaroo/fishing.html

score 13 · Answer 12 · edited Dec 24 '11 at 23:49

13

In Javascript using one jQuery selectors:

var spins = [
    "←↖↑↗→↘↓↙",
    "▁▃▄▅▆▇█▇▆▅▄▃",
    "▉▊▋▌▍▎▏▎▍▌▋▊▉",
    "▖▘▝▗",
    "┤┘┴└├┌┬┐",
    "◢◣◤◥",
    "◰ ◳ ◲ ◱",
    "◴◷◶◵",
    "◐◓◑◒",
    "|/-\\"];

    var spin = spins[0],
        title$ = $('title'),
        i=0;

    setInterval(function() {
        i = i==spin.length-1 ? 0 : ++i;
        title$.text('('+ spin[i] +') Loading...');
    },300);

edited Dec 24 '11 at 23:49

Bart

19,692
7
68
77

answered Dec 24 '11 at 23:35

stefcud

2,220
4
27
37

9

javascript is available in very few consoles – New Alexandria Mar 15 '12 at 19:25
@NewAlexandria it wouldn't be available anyways since this uses jQuery which only works in browsers – Jacob Apr 01 '22 at 22:52

score 10 · Answer 13 · answered May 04 '12 at 15:20

I'm glad I'm not the only one crazy enough to waste time on this!

Here are my favourites (some using dos ascii codes):

             classic: "/-\\|";
       bouncing ball: ".oOo";
better bouncing ball: [46, 111, 79, 248, 79, 111]; // (.oO°Oo.)

[180, 217, 193, 192, 195, 218, 194, 191];  // ┤ ┘ ┴ └ ├ ┌ ┬ ┐
[185, 188, 202, 200, 204, 201, 203, 187];  // double piped version of that 
[219, 220, 223];                           // block colours

Juliet · Answer 14 · 2010-04-22T01:59:45.240

Makes a cute "rain" effect:

using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading;

namespace CSharpSandbox
{
    class Program
    {
        static Random rnd = new Random();
        static char[,] Step(char[,] matrix)
        {
            int width = matrix.GetUpperBound(0) + 1;
            int height = matrix.GetUpperBound(1) + 1;

            char[,] res = new char[width, height];
            for (int h = 0; h < height; h++)
            {
                for (int w = 0; w < width; w++)
                {
                    char c;
                    if (h == 0)
                        c = rnd.Next(2) == 0 ? ' ' : '*';
                    else
                        c = matrix[w, h - 1];

                    res[w, h] = c;
                }
            }

            return res;
        }

        static string ToString(char[,] matrix)
        {
            int width = matrix.GetUpperBound(0) + 1;
            int height = matrix.GetUpperBound(1) + 1;
            StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

            for (int h = 0; h < height; h++)
            {
                for (int w = 0; w < width; w++)
                {
                    sb.Append(matrix[w, h]);
                }
                sb.AppendLine();
            }
            return sb.ToString();
        }

        static Timer timer;
        static void Spinner()
        {
            char[,] matrix = new char[10, 5];
            timer = new Timer(_ =>
                {
                    string s = ToString(matrix);

                    Console.SetCursorPosition(0, 0);
                    Console.Write(s);

                    matrix = Step(matrix);
                },
                null,
                0,
                200);
        }

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Spinner();
            Console.ReadLine();
        }
    }
}

Very nice! It looks great with `char[,] matrix = new char[Console.WindowWidth-1, Console.WindowHeight-1];` in `Spinner()` — Callum Rogers, Apr 21 '10 at 22:25

score 4 · Answer 15 · answered Apr 21 '10 at 18:24

4

In one application, I saw 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0.

answered Apr 21 '10 at 18:24

bryanjonker

3,386
3
24
37

score 4 · Answer 16 · answered Apr 21 '10 at 20:01

4

Courtesy of a co-worker of mine, here's a nifty implementation in C:

#define COW 2172
char* moo = "MO ";
void wrap() {
    int i,j;
    for(i=0;doSomething(i);i++)
        j=COW-moo[i&3],fputs(&j,stderr);
}

From my analysis, it only works on a little-endian machine with at least 32-bit words and the ASCII character set. But it's rather diabolically clever.

answered Apr 21 '10 at 20:01

Daniel Pryden

59,486
16
97
135

that is really cool. works on my machine, although I implemented doSomething() to just sleep for 1ms and it animates very slowly... I hope the operation you're doing is quick. – rmeador Apr 21 '10 at 20:17
20

For the lazy: So what's the effect, then? – Jason Kleban Apr 21 '10 at 21:10
2

Didn't compile for me on VS2010 without a cast: `fputs((const char*)&j,stderr);` ... and it was a bit of a disappointment when it did. – EMP Apr 30 '10 at 00:05
1

@Evgeny: Yeah, the original was in C; if you use a C++ compiler you'll need a cast. And I never said it was an exciting display, just that the implementation was rather nifty. – Daniel Pryden Apr 30 '10 at 01:11

score 4 · Answer 17 · answered Apr 21 '10 at 21:22

I wrote one that cycled through the standard \ | / - but the left a _ and moved on to the next position. It was intended to look as though there were a series of spinners, each dropping to the floor before the next one started. The need for this was that my program was repeatedly trying something and waiting for a certain result. I wanted to represent each time it tried and also how many times it had tried without using up a lot of screen space (or count).

After I wrote it it looked a lot less cool than I thought it would, but it served its purpose.

score 3 · Answer 18 · answered Apr 21 '10 at 19:58

3

I have seen

 echo -e "\033[41;1m$1 \033[0m"

In bash to continually build a progress bar based on a block character.

answered Apr 21 '10 at 19:58

ring bearer

20,383
7
59
72

Cooler ASCII Spinners?

18 Answers18

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