• 22 pieces
  • Checked October 2026

Crab ASCII Art

Tap a crab to copy every line of it; the first holds up a sign you can type on.

Crab ASCII Art

.-----------------. | YOUR WORDS | '-(V)---------(V)-' \\ o o // \\_|___|_// =( \___/ )= =='-._____.-'==Crab holding a sign7 lines, 19 wideReady to copy

22 pieces. Tap one to copy it.

Your own words 1

One line 4

Small, 2 to 4 lines 11

Medium, 5 to 9 lines 5

Large, 10 lines and up 1

Next step Next: fish, a shark and a whale

How it works

Crab text art in keyboard characters, drawn for this page: 22 pieces, thirteen of them crabs, from a nine-character one-liner to a ten-line crab with notched claws, plus octopus, squid and jellyfish.

Read the full guide

How the crabs are built

On most, each claw is a capital V in parentheses, the eyes stand on two stalks, and the shell is a wide curve with slashes or equals signs for legs. Small crab does it in three lines, 11 characters wide; Big crab, front view has notched pincers and is 10 lines by 28 columns.

Octopus, squid and jellyfish

Past the crabs, the page has octopus text art (four pieces, each with eight arms), squid text art (three, each with a pointed fin and arms) and jellyfish text art (two, a bell with trailing strands).

  • Crab holding a sign takes 10 characters where it says YOUR WORDS, or 17 if you type over the padding.
  • Squash-proof has eight pieces with no run of spaces: four one-liners, two crabs, an octopus and a squid.
  • Fish, a shark, a whale and a seahorse are on fish ASCII art.

Questions and answers

How do you make a crab out of keyboard symbols?

Type (V) o o (V) for two claws and two eyes, \_|_|_/ under it for the eye stalks and the top of the shell, then //(___)\\ for the legs. That is Small crab, three lines.

How many legs does a crab have?

Ten, counting the claws: Wikipedia calls crabs decapod crustaceans, and decapod means ten-footed. Big crab, front view draws all ten, two claws and four legs a side. The smaller pieces draw fewer.

Is there a hermit crab in text?

Yes. Hermit crab in its shell is five lines by 17 columns: a coiled shell with an at sign at its center, and a claw and two eyes poking out on the left.

What is the smallest crab here?

Crab on one line, nine characters: an angle bracket for each pincer and two eyes in parentheses. Squash-proof tiny crab is two rows of eight.

All 22 pieces

Your own words 1

  • Crab holding a sign Both claws grip the bottom edge of a board held overhead. Type over YOUR WORDS, 10 characters, or 17 with the padding. 7 lines, 19 wide.

One line 4

  • Crab on one line An angle bracket at each end for the pincers and two eyes in parentheses. 1 line, 9 wide.
  • Crab tracks, one line The one-line animal with a trail of apostrophes and commas left behind it. 1 line, 21 wide.
  • Octopus on one line A two-eyed head with four tildes either side, one for each arm. 1 line, 13 wide.
  • Squid on one line A pointed fin, a dotted mantle, one eye, five arms and two longer tentacles. 1 line, 16 wide.
Show all 22 pieces (17 more)

Small, 2 to 4 lines 11

  • Crab hiding in the sand Only the two eye stalks show above a line of dotted sand. 3 lines, 17 wide.
  • Crab waving a claw The left claw lifted a row higher than the right. 4 lines, 12 wide.
  • Small crab Each claw is a capital V in parentheses; the eyes stand on two stalks above the shell. 3 lines, 11 wide.
  • Small jellyfish A bell two rows high with three strands, each a pair of capital S. 4 lines, 7 wide.
  • Small octopus, eight arms A domed head over a row of eight strokes. 3 lines, 8 wide.
  • Squash-proof crab The three-line animal with periods where the gaps were. 3 lines, 11 wide.
  • Squash-proof octopus Eight strokes for arms under a dome dotted with periods. 3 lines, 8 wide.
  • Squash-proof small squid Upright, four characters wide: a pointed fin, two eyes and four arms. 4 lines, 4 wide.
  • Squash-proof tiny crab Two rows of eight: claws and eyes above, four legs below. 2 lines, 8 wide.
  • Squid swimming left Fin first: a tube with one eye, arms of equals signs and tentacles of tildes behind. 3 lines, 18 wide.
  • Two crabs side by side The three-line animal twice with a gap between them. 3 lines, 25 wide.

Medium, 5 to 9 lines 5

  • Crab on the beach A small one on dotted sand, with a sun and two rows of waves above. 6 lines, 31 wide.
  • Crab, claws raised Round pincers held up either side of two eye stalks, and legs of equals signs along a wide shell. 7 lines, 19 wide.
  • Hermit crab in its shell A coiled shell with an at sign at its center; one claw and two eyes poke out on the left. 5 lines, 17 wide.
  • Jellyfish, long tentacles A domed bell with a flat rim and six strands of braces and colons hanging from it. 8 lines, 15 wide.
  • Octopus, arms spread Four wavy arms reach out to each side of a round head. 5 lines, 31 wide.

Large, 10 lines and up 1

  • Big crab, front view The largest: notched pincers on jointed arms, two eye stalks and four legs a side under a wide shell. 10 lines, 28 wide.

How this list was compiled: Own work: every piece was drawn for this page on 2026-10-02, rendered in a monospaced font and looked at; none is copied from an archive or another site, and nothing from a named show, book or game is drawn. The crabs share one construction of this site's own: a capital V in parentheses for each claw, two eyes on stalks, and a wide shell with legs of slashes or equals signs. How many limbs each animal is drawn with follows Wikipedia, read on 2026-10-02 (CC BY-SA 4.0): crabs are decapod crustaceans (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab), an octopus has eight arms (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus), a squid has eight arms and two tentacles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squid), and a jellyfish is an umbrella-shaped bell with trailing tentacles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jellyfish). The small pieces simplify: not every leg is drawn. Every character is one of the 95 printable ASCII characters, U+0020 to U+007E. Squash-proof means no line starts with a space and no two spaces touch. The comment box badge means at most 8 lines and 30 columns: a rule of thumb of this site, not a promise about any app. Licence: own work

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