/\_/\ ( o.o ) > ^ < / \
Running Cat
A four-frame ASCII cat that trots across the line, built from slashes, underscores and parentheses.
Plain text in motion
Moving ASCII art
14 looping text animations, each built from plain characters. Watch them play, copy every frame, then redraw them wherever monospace text renders.
Frames & copy
,d8b,
88888888
`888888'
`88'
`' Beating Heart
An ASCII heart that swells and shrinks like a heartbeat across three frames.
|
Loading Spinner
The classic one-character spinner cycling through the pipe, slash, dash and backslash.
|o | | | | | |_________|
Bouncing Ball
A small ball arcing up and down inside a text box, drawn frame by frame.
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Ocean Wave
A scrolling row of tildes that reads like water rolling sideways.
( ^_^)/
Waving Kaomoji
A kaomoji whose arm swings up and down to wave hello.
/\
||
/||\Rocket Launch
A tiny rocket that climbs the frame with a growing exhaust trail.
[ ] 0%
Progress Bar
A bracketed bar that fills from empty to full in even steps.
> █
Blinking Cursor
A two-frame cursor that alternates between a solid block and nothing, the oldest animation on any screen.
.
Typing Dots
Three dots appearing one at a time, the pattern every chat app uses to show someone is writing.
( )
Coin Flip
A coin rotating edge-on and back, drawn with parentheses narrowing to a vertical bar.
o /|\ / \
Walking Person
A stick figure whose legs alternate between a stride and a stand.
_
Growing Plant
A seedling that gains a leaf and then height across four frames.
.
Pulsing Dot
A single mark growing and shrinking through four weights, from a period to a filled circle.
Animation basics
How moving ASCII art is made
One drawing per frame
Each animation is a short list of text drawings. A script displays one frame, waits for a fraction of a second and then replaces it with the next.
Rewrite instead of appending
Single-line animations can return the cursor to the start of the line. Multi-line art needs its previous frame cleared so old characters do not remain on screen.
Keep every frame the same size
Equal line lengths and a fixed monospace viewport prevent the animation from jumping. Preserve blank lines and trailing spaces when position matters.
Where it works
Good uses for animated text art
Command-line feedback
Spinners, progress bars and launch sequences make waits visible in terminals where a graphical loader is unnecessary.
Bots and live messages
A bot can edit one message on a timer, turning a compact set of frames into a greeting, status or playful reaction.
Learning animation basics
Because every state is visible as text, the collection is a simple way to understand frame order, timing and seamless loops.
Copying all frames gives you the source drawings, not a self-running animation. Your terminal, script or bot still needs to display each frame in order and replace the previous one at the chosen speed.