The 'fortune' Command in Linux (Hidden Terminal Fun!)

Here at Learn Linux TV, I'm implementing something new. Fortune as a service backed by redundant mysticism clusters. So, let's read your fortune. And I see something related to Fedora in your future. Wow, this is concerning. I also see great calamity and disruption likely caused by DNS. The penguin has also foreseen that you will soon learn a brand new Linux command that's completely useless, but it does lead to mild enjoyment. Hello again everyone and welcome back to Learn Linux TV. In today's episode of the Linux Crash Course series, we're going to learn about the fortune command. It's completely pointless, but we're going to have some fun. You could use the fortune command to display a fortune on your terminal. And fortunes are basically jokes that provide some mild amusement. There's different categories of jokes, and you could have a lot of fun with it. Now, when it comes to productivity or increasing your skill set, the fortune command doesn't really offer all that much. However, if you're creative, you might actually find a use case for it. For example, every time I log into a Linux server, I see the joke of the day, and the joke of the day is powered by the fortune command. But even though the fortune command only exists for a few laughs, it is something that you will run into in the wild, which is why I want to cover it in the series. After all, when it comes to the Linux crash course series, that's the goal, to teach you Linux commands. one video at a time. And the fortune command is really simple. So, this will be a shorter tutorial than most. We're going to have some fun in this video. So, let's get started. [music] [music] And to get started, what we'll do first is install the package that's required to provide the Fortune command. But let's check and see if it's already installed. And to do that, I can run command-V and then fortune just like this. And if it's installed, I'll receive output. But since I didn't, I know that the Fortune command is not available on my system. So to get it installed, all I have to do is install the fortune mod package. You can replace apt with whatever your package install command happens to be. And in most cases, you should have the Fortune mod package available. Most distributions do provide it. So all you should have to do is install this particular package with your distributions package manager. Anyway, I'll go ahead and install it. And now it's installed. And to be on the safe side, I'll check it with command-V. And as you can see, it's definitely installed. And now that it's installed, we can actually use it. And to do so, we simply type fortune. Just like that. And in fact, every time I run it, I'm going to get a different fortune as you can see. So, for example, if I combine it with the watch command, we'll get a new fortune every two seconds. Now, you might be curious where the fortunes actually come from. And what I'll do is show you exactly where they came from. If I list the contents of the / user/share/game/fortunes directory, and the files in this directory will provide the fortunes that the fortune command will use. Anyway, the fortune command is very easy to use. You simply type fortune as we've seen a number of times and it'll show you a fortune or basically a joke. But there are a few options we can provide the fortune command to customize how it runs. For example, if I use the - s option, it's only going to show me fortunes that are considered short. And the opposite of that is the L option, which will give me longer fortunes. In addition, there's another option that I'm going to at least make sure that you're aware of, but I don't necessarily recommend that you use it. And what that does is enable offensive mode, which is exactly what it sounds like. Now, the thing is, some distributions actually disable this option by default when they compile the fortune command. So, it's possible that you may not have this option available. But, if you do have this option available and you do decide to use it, then well, use it at your own risk. I'm not really sure what the peak is when it comes to how offensive these get. But again, learn Linux TV is not responsible if you get in trouble if you use this option. Another thing worth knowing about the fortune command is that there's a number of categories that you could choose when it comes to what types of fortunes you'll receive when you run it. For example, I could type fortune and then use the category literature and that'll give me a joke from the literature category. In addition, we can view the science category, which in my case is not available in the Debian version of the fortune command. Again, which fortunes you have access to may differ from one distribution to another. So, let's try another one. What I'll do right now is show you my absolute favorite option with the fortune command. There's literally a Star Trek category. Now, unfortunately, the Debian version doesn't include this. So, what I'll do right now is use SSH to connect to another server. How about we try a Fedora server? So, let's try the Star Trek option again and see if it works here. And as you can see, it does. We'll get back to the video in just a moment, but before we do, I just wanted to give a quick mention regarding my channel memberships. If you enjoy the content here and want a slightly more streamlined experience, becoming a member is a great way to do that. Channel members get access to adree versions of videos along with early access to select uploads. So that way you can watch new content a bit sooner without any interruptions. This is completely optional, of course, but it's a nice way to support the channel if you find yourself regularly coming back here and getting value from my videos. If that sounds like something that you might be interested in, you could check out the membership options by clicking the join button below this video. And a big thank you to everyone who's already become a member. Your support makes a real difference and it helps me keep creating the kind of Linux content that you come here for. Either way, thank you so much for checking out my videos and being a part of the Learn Linux TV community. And with that out of the way, let's get back to the video. Now, previously on Debian, the science category didn't work either. So, let's give that a shot here on Fedora, and it worked. So, as you can see, different distributions enable different fortunes. So, your mileage may vary, but other than a few outliers, the options that I gave you should work just fine. Now, for a bit of fun, we could also install Cowsay, which is another completely useless package, but it does add a bit of fun. The cows command is not specific to Fortune, but it really does work well with Fortune. So, back here on Debian, what I'll do is install Coway. And now that's installed. And to give you an idea of what that looks like, what I'll do is type cows and then a string. So, I'll just give it Learn Linux TV. And as we can see, it's showing me a cow and it's saying learn Linux TV. But what does that have to do with the fortune command? Well, what we could do is pipe the output of the fortune command into the cows command. And with that, instead of the joke simply being shown on the terminal, it's going to be shown in cows mode. How cool is that? Now, optionally, what you can also do is add the -ashf option and then tucks just like this. and instead of a cow, you'll get a penguin, which is even better. Now, again, cows is completely useless, and you may or may not want to install that on a production system. But, as you can see, it's a fun command, and if you want to waste a little bit of time, well, it'll help you do that. And to have even more fun, what I'll do is sandwich this entire command in double quotes. And then at the beginning of it, I'll type watch, just like this. And now every 2 seconds the penguin is going to give me a new joke. But that's about it when it comes to the fortune command. It's a very simple command and again it's useless. But if you use your imagination, you might actually find a use case for it. For example, whenever I log into one of my Linux servers, I'll see a joke of the day. So for example, I'll reconnect to my Fedora system. And notice at the bottom, it's giving me a joke of the day. And that joke is actually provided by the fortune command. Now, if you're curious how exactly I did that, I do have an upcoming video that's going to show you how to create this message of the day right here. If you want to be the first to see that video as soon as it's out, then definitely subscribe to Learn Linux TV and enable notifications. That way, as soon as that video is released, you'll know about it. But either way, I showed you the fortune command, and I hope it helped you out. And there's our video. In today's video, we had a bit of fun and we learned the fortune command and I hope it helped you out. If you enjoyed this video, be sure to click that like button to let YouTube know and also make sure you subscribe to Learn Linux TV for the latest in Linux. Either way, thank you so much for watching this video and I'll see you in the next one. [music] >> [music] [music]

Want to add a little fun to your Linux terminal? In this video, we'll take a look at the classic fortune command in Linux, a lightweight tool that displays random quotes, jokes, and witty sayings right from the command line. You’ll learn how to install the fortune-mod package, explore basic usage, review useful command-line options, and even use custom categories to control the type of quotes you see. We’ll also combine fortune with cowsay to create one of the most entertaining Linux terminal tricks around. Whether you’re new to Linux or just looking for fun terminal commands to customize your workflow, the fortune command is a simple way to make your command line more enjoyable. *🛍️ Support The Channel and Get Awesome Linux Swag!* Head on over to the Learn Linux TV Merch Shop and check out some great Linux-themed gear, including (but not limited to) T-shirts, drinkware, buttons, stickers and more! • "apt install coffee" T-Shirt ➜ https://learnlinux.link/apt-install-coffee • "sudo" T-Shirt ➜ https://learnlinux.link/sudo-shirt • Linux Commands Cheat Sheet ➜ https://learnlinux.link/linux-commands • "May Spontaneously Talk About Linux" T-Shirt ➜ https://learnlinux.link/talk-about-linux-shirt • "Dark Side of the Terminal" T-Shirt ➜ https://learnlinux.link/dark-side-shirt • Lots more ➜ https://merch.learnlinux.tv _Use coupon code "LINUXFAN" to get 10% off your entire order ➜ https://merch.learnlinux.tv_ *❤️ Consider becoming a Channel Member* Support Linux Learning and gain acess to exclusive perks, such as ad-free content and early access to select videos. Your support really helps!!! Join here ➜ https://learnlinux.link/member *🐧 Other Ways to Support Learn Linux TV* • Channel Membership ➜ https://learnlinux.link/member • Patreon ➜ https://learnlinux.link/patron • Spin up your very own Linux server ➜ https://learnlinux.link/digitalocean • Linux swag ➜ https://merch.learnlinux.tv • Check out Netdata ➜ https://learnlinux.link/netdata • Jay's Gear ➜ https://learnlinux.link/amazon _Note: Royalties and/or commission is earned from each of the above links_ *🕐 Time Codes* 00:00 – What Is the fortune Command in Linux? (Fun Terminal Trick!) 01:48 – How to Install fortune-mod on Linux (Debian/Ubuntu Example) 02:41 – Basic fortune Command Usage in the Terminal 03:25 – Useful fortune Options & Flags Explained 04:27 – Using Categories with fortune (Custom Quote Databases) 05:32 – Support Learn Linux TV & Become a Channel Member 06:50 – Combine fortune with cowsay (Fun Linux Command Line Hack!) *🎓 Full Linux Courses* • Linux Crash Course ➜ https://linux.video/cc • tmux ➜ https://linux.video/tmux • vim ➜ https://linux.video/vim • Bash Scripting ➜ https://linux.video/bash • Proxmox VE ➜ https://linux.video/pve • Ansible (Udemy) ➜ https://learnlinux.link/ansible • Linux Essentials (Udemy) ➜ https://learnlinux.link/linux-essentials *🎓 More About Learn Linux TV* • Main site ➜ https://www.learnlinux.tv • Community Forums ➜ https://community.learnlinux.tv • Github Account ➜ https://github.com/LearnLinuxTV • Content Ethics ➜ https://www.learnlinux.tv/content-ethics • Request Paid Assistance ➜ https://www.learnlinux.tv/request-assistance ⚠️ Use Content Responsibly Learn Linux TV shares technical content intended to teach and help you, but it comes with no warranty. The channel is not liable for any damages from its use. Always ensure you have proper permissions, follow company policies, and comply with all applicable laws while working with infrastructure. #Linux #LinuxCommand #CommandLine #Terminal #Bash #FortuneCommand #Cowsay #LinuxTips #OpenSource #LearnLinux