An ASCII art circle needs about two characters across for every line down, or it comes out as an egg. The 24 here keep to that, from one line to 19. The other 30 are one-liners: arrows, swords, tools, weather.
Read the full guide
Pick a circle by its height
The Circles chip shows all 24. The plain outlines come in 8 heights, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 15 and 19 lines, each twice as many columns wide. Also: 2 filled discs, a ring, a bullseye, a crosshair, a pie chart, a wheel, a dome, a sun. Fits a comment box marks the 43 pieces within 8 lines and 30 columns.
One line, so nothing to line up
Single line text art has no columns to keep straight: a proportional font changes its length but cannot knock one row out of step with another. All 33 one-liners are also Squash-proof. The taller circles do need a monospaced font, and 15 pieces contain a backslash that Markdown can swallow: the cat ASCII art page explains both.
Tips
Circle with room for words comes first: type over YOUR WORDS, 12 characters at most, and keep both bars.
Paste Column ruler, 30 wide above the 15-line circle: if its 3 misses the circle's right-hand edge, the box is not monospaced.
Most one-liners stretch: add hyphens to an arrow, = signs to the longsword. The progress bar's 20 cells are 5% each.
Questions and answers
Why does my ASCII circle look like an egg?
A character is not square. Here its cell is about twice as tall as wide, so a round outline needs two columns a line: 5 by 10, 19 by 38. Egg, a 9 by 9 circle proves it. Looser line spacing stretches every circle taller.
Which circles survive a box that squashes spaces?
Three, each 5 lines by 10 columns: the Squash-proof filled, hollow and target circles. Dots or colons fill their corners, so no line starts with a space. With the 33 one-liners, the filter shows 36. The other 18 circles slump leftwards without their leading spaces.
Where are the faces and the divider lines?
On their own pages: a punctuation smiley is a text face, a line that only decorates is a text divider, a one-character arrow is an arrow symbol. Here: 10 arrows, 6 swords and spears, 12 tools and instruments, 6 of sky and weather.
Arrow through a targetThe fletched arrow with a one-line bullseye threaded on it. It is a good shot and an unlikely one. 1 line, 22 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Arrow with a sign on itA shaft, a sign in square brackets and a point. Type over THIS WAY with anything; the brackets move with it. 1 line, 21 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Arrows pointing downFor the line below: a row of v with single spaces. Paste it on the line before the thing that matters. 1 line, 13 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Arrows pointing upFor the line above: three carets each side of a word. Type over this to say what you are pointing at. 1 line, 12 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Bow with an arrow nockedSeen from above: the string is the bar, the bow is the bracket, and the arrow runs through both. 1 line, 13 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Circle on one lineAs round as one line gets: two brackets and a gap. Widen the gap and it turns into a pill. 1 line, 3 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Show all 54 pieces (48 more)
One line, continued
Column ruler, 30 wideA dot per column, a colon at every fifth and a digit at every tenth. Paste it above a piece to see how wide a box really is, and whether its font is monospaced. 1 line, 30 wide. Keyboard characters only.
DaggerThe longsword cut down to 12 characters: same pommel, same guard, a third of the blade. 1 line, 12 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Dashed arrowHyphens with single spaces between them, for a route that is only a suggestion. One space at a time, so it is squash-proof. 1 line, 18 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Double arrow, both waysTwo points on a shaft of = signs. Reads as swap, versus or goes both ways. 1 line, 11 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Fletched arrowAn arrow off a bow: two feathers at the back, a point at the front, 22 characters of flight. 1 line, 22 wide. Keyboard characters only.
LongswordPommel, a grip of # signs, a bar for the crossguard and 20 columns of blade. Add = signs for a longer reach. 1 line, 27 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Moon phases on one lineFive phases in brackets and bars: crescent, half, full circle, half, crescent. 1 line, 12 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Needle and threadThe point on the left, the eye on the right and a tail of thread. Add tildes for more thread. 1 line, 25 wide. Keyboard characters only.
One-line barbellTwo plates a side on a bar of = signs. Add brackets for a heavier day. 1 line, 22 wide. Keyboard characters only.
One-line door keyA round bow, a plain shank and two teeth at the end. 1 line, 13 wide. Keyboard characters only.
One-line magic wandA handle, a stick and whatever comes out of the end. The sparks are two asterisks and a dot. 1 line, 23 wide. Keyboard characters only.
One-line mountain rangeFour peaks on a line of underscores, the two in the middle sharing a saddle. 1 line, 20 wide. Keyboard characters only.
One-line pencilSharpened point on the left, rubber on the right, and a body of = signs you can shorten as it wears down. 1 line, 23 wide. Keyboard characters only.
One-line piano octaveTwelve keys from C to B with a # for each black key. There is no # between E and F, which is true of a real piano too. 1 line, 25 wide. Keyboard characters only.
One-line progress barTwenty cells, ten of them filled. Swap a hyphen for a # and the number at the end goes up by five. 1 line, 26 wide. Keyboard characters only.
One-line screwdriverA fat handle, a collar, a thin shaft and a flat tip. 1 line, 22 wide. Keyboard characters only.
One-line spannerAn open jaw at one end, a ring at the other and a thin handle of hyphens between. Add hyphens for a longer reach. 1 line, 13 wide. Keyboard characters only.
One-line thermometerA bulb on the left and a tube of 20 cells, 11 of them full. Swap hyphens for # signs as the day warms up. 1 line, 24 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Plain arrow rightEight hyphens and a point. Add hyphens to reach further, or turn it round with a < at the other end. 1 line, 9 wide. Keyboard characters only.
RapierA thin blade of hyphens behind a cup guard, ending in a full stop for the point. 1 line, 30 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Scissors and a cut lineAn 8 and a < make the scissors. Type over cut here or leave it out. 1 line, 26 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Slanting rainSlashes and apostrophes with single spaces between, so the rain keeps its slant where spaces get folded. 1 line, 25 wide. Keyboard characters only.
SpearA long shaft and a leaf-shaped head made of two characters. 1 line, 27 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Sunrise on a flat horizonA low arc coming up through a line of underscores. Read it the other way and it is a sunset. 1 line, 21 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Target on one lineThree pairs of brackets round an o, for when a bullseye has to fit in a sentence. 1 line, 9 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Two-handed swordA grip long enough for both hands, a crossguard with a + in it and a blade of colons, which reads as a groove running down the steel. 1 line, 29 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Wavy arrowTildes in place of hyphens. It gets there eventually. 1 line, 13 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Small, 2 to 4 lines 2
Small circle, 4 linesFour lines and no vertical bar at all: two slashes going up, two coming down. At this size it is halfway to a hexagon. 4 lines, 8 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Tiny circle, 3 linesThe smallest circle on the page that still has a top and a bottom. Two brackets do the sides. 3 lines, 6 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Medium, 5 to 9 lines 14
Circle with a crosshairA 9-line circle, 19 columns wide so that it has a middle column, with a + where the two lines meet. 9 lines, 19 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Circle with room for wordsA 7-line circle with a slot across the middle. Type over YOUR WORDS, 12 characters at most, and keep the two bars where they are. 7 lines, 14 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Circle, 5 linesFive lines by 10 columns. The middle line is the only one that touches both edges. 5 lines, 10 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Circle, 9 linesNine lines by 18 columns, with three straight bars down each side. One line too tall for the comment box badge. 9 lines, 18 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Egg, a 9 by 9 circleNine lines and nine columns, which would be a circle if a character were as wide as it is tall. It is about half as wide, so this is an egg. 9 lines, 9 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Filled circle, 7 linesA disc of # signs, 14 columns across the middle. Swap every # for another character to change the shade. 7 lines, 14 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Half circle domeThe top half of the 9-line circle on a flat floor. It passes for a dome, a protractor or a sun that is halfway up. 5 lines, 18 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Pie chart circleA quarter marked off from twelve o'clock to three. Type over 25% with your own label, 5 characters at most. 9 lines, 19 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Ring, a thick circleA disc with a hole: the outline is five characters thick at the sides and two lines thick at the top. 9 lines, 18 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Squash-proof filled circleA disc of o with dots packed into the corners, so no line starts with a space and there is nothing to fold. 5 lines, 10 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Squash-proof hollow circleThe 5-line outline with every space swapped for a colon. Busier, but it lands in one piece where spaces get folded. 5 lines, 10 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Squash-proof target circleA ring of # signs, a centre of @ and dots for everything else, corners included. 5 lines, 10 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Sun, a circle with raysThe 5-line circle with eight rays round it. Take the rays off one side and it is setting. 7 lines, 16 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Wheel circle, eight spokesEight spokes meeting at a hub. The diagonal spokes move two columns for every line, which is roughly what 45 degrees looks like when a character is twice as tall as it is wide. 9 lines, 19 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Large, 10 lines and up 5
Bullseye target circleThree rings and a centre, each in its own character, so the bands stay apart even in a small font. 11 lines, 22 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Circle, 11 linesEleven lines by 22 columns. Room inside for three or four short lines of your own text. 11 lines, 22 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Circle, 15 linesFifteen lines by 30 columns, the widest a piece can be and still sit inside this family's 30-column guide. 15 lines, 30 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Filled circle, 11 linesA solid disc, 22 columns across. The three middle lines are the same width, which is what makes the sides look round and not pointed. 11 lines, 22 wide. Keyboard characters only.
Largest circle, 19 linesNineteen lines by 38 columns, two short of this site's width cap. Wants a wide box and a monospaced font, or it arrives as a pile of brackets. 19 lines, 38 wide. Keyboard characters only.
How this list was compiled: Every piece was drawn for this page and checked in a monospaced font on 2026-09-19; none is copied from an archive or another site. The circles were plotted on a grid that treats a character as twice as tall as it is wide, then finished by hand, in sizes from 3 lines to 19, with filled, ringed, marked-up and no-space versions. The one-line pictures cover arrows, swords and other long blades, tools, and weather, the subjects no other page in this family draws, and leave decorative rules to the dividers page. Each character was looked up in the Unicode Character Database, version 18.0.0: names and categories in https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/UnicodeData.txt, width classes in https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/EastAsianWidth.txt, the Emoji property in https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/emoji/emoji-data.txt, all read on 2026-09-19. Keyboard characters only means 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. The note on the piano octave was checked against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_keyboard on 2026-09-19: seven natural keys and five raised keys to the octave, and none of the five sits between E and F. The two-to-one cell is this page's own measurement: its cards set a line height of 1.25 em, and the monospaced fonts measured for it (Menlo, Courier New) advance 0.6 em a character. Licence: own work