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pbmtext — Render text as a PBM image. See also: `pbmtextps`. More information: <https://netpbm.sourceforge.net

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

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Problem

How to use the pbmtext command: Render text as a PBM image. See also: pbmtextps. More information: <https://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc/pbmtext.html>.

Solution

pbmtext — Render text as a PBM image. See also: pbmtextps. More information: <https://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc/pbmtext.html>.

Render a single line of text as a PBM image:

pbmtext "{{Hello World!}}" > {{path/to/output.pbm}}

Render multiple lines of text as a PBM image:

echo "{{Hello\nWorld!}}" | pbmtext > {{path/to/output.pbm}}

Render text using a custom font supplied as a PBM file:

pbmtext {{[-f|-font]}} {{path/to/font.pbm}} "{{Hello World!}}" > {{path/to/output.pbm}}

Specify the number of pixels between characters and lines:

echo "{{Hello\nWorld!}}" | pbmtext {{[-s|-space]}} {{3}} {{[-ls|-lspace]}} {{10}} > {{path/to/output.pbm}}

Code Snippets

Render a single line of text as a PBM image

pbmtext "{{Hello World!}}" > {{path/to/output.pbm}}

Render multiple lines of text as a PBM image

echo "{{Hello\nWorld!}}" | pbmtext > {{path/to/output.pbm}}

Render text using a custom font supplied as a PBM file

pbmtext {{[-f|-font]}} {{path/to/font.pbm}} "{{Hello World!}}" > {{path/to/output.pbm}}

Specify the number of pixels between characters and lines

echo "{{Hello\nWorld!}}" | pbmtext {{[-s|-space]}} {{3}} {{[-ls|-lspace]}} {{10}} > {{path/to/output.pbm}}

Context

tldr-pages: common/pbmtext

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