Linux / UNIX Desktop Fun: Steam Locomotive

by nixCraft on May 26, 2011 · 15 comments· Last updated December 20, 2011

One of the most common mistake is typing sl instead of ls command. I actually set an alias i.e. alias sl=ls; but then you may miss out the steam train with whistle.

sl is a joke software or classic UNIX game. It is a steam locomotive runs across your screen if you type "sl" (Steam Locomotive) instead of "ls" by mistake.

Install sl

Type the following command under Debian / Ubuntu Linux, enter:
# apt-get install sl
It is also available on FreeBSD and other UNIX like operating systems. Next, mistyped ls command as sl:
$ sl

Fig.01: Run steam locomotive across the screen if you type "sl" instead of "ls"

It also supports the following options:

-a : An accident seems to happen. You'll feel pity for people who cry for help.
-l : shows little one.
-F : It flies.
-e : Allow interrupt by Ctrl+C.

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This blog post is 2 of 5 in the "Linux / Unix Desktop Fun" series. Keep reading the rest of the series:

Table of Contents:

{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }

1 vamsi May 27, 2011 at 3:58 am

Awesome ;)
working with ls will be more fun now .

2 Elaine May 27, 2011 at 1:13 pm

I installed sl and saw the locomotive, but it didn’t whistle. Bummer.

3 TryMe May 27, 2011 at 3:27 pm: Not sure about Linux but on the Solaris boxes it actually made a very loud whistle noise. It sent the audio to the hardware speaker inside the case. It means everyone in the Lab knew that you mistyped ls.. lol!
Reply

4 spartan May 29, 2011 at 6:55 am

is fun but no whistle

5 dgarratt May 29, 2011 at 12:12 pm

no whistle on fedora 15 :-( oh well ill makes typo’s more fun!

6 jaysunn June 12, 2011 at 4:44 pm

SCHAAAAAAAWEEEEET

7 RawShark June 19, 2011 at 2:50 pm

Confirm no whistle on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (64 bit)

8 hari prasad k July 8, 2011 at 11:33 am

i want to see the code of sl command can i…

9 sathish damodaran suresh July 14, 2011 at 3:00 am

@ Hari -> i want to see the code of sl command can i

Yes you can here are the steps. Execute the following command

username@Linux-ubuntu:~$ whereis sl
sl: /usr/bin/sl /usr/share/man/man6/sl.6.gz

You should get the sl script location -> sl: /usr/bin/sl

Then you need to navigate to that path

username@Linux-ubuntu:~$ cd /usr/bin/

Now execute the below command to view the script

username@Linux-ubuntu:~$ strings sl
##################################################################
##################################################################
/lib/ld-linux.so.2
libncurses.so.5
__gmon_start__
_Jv_RegisterClasses
scrollok
stdscr
waddch
noecho
_fini
endwin
_init
wrefresh
leaveok
COLS
mvcur
wmove
initscr
LINES
libc.so.6
_IO_stdin_used
signal
usleep
__libc_start_main
_edata
__bss_start
_end
GLIBC_2.0
PTRh
<Fu
t-<at"~
[^_]
[^_]
[^_]
[^_]
[^_]
VUUU
<[^_]
WVSQ
Y[^_]
[^_]
(   )
(    )
(  )
(@@@)
(@@@@)
(@@)
Help!
____________________
|  ___ ___ ___ ___ |
|  |_| |_| |_| |_| |
|__________________|
   (O)        (O)
____
|   \@@@@@@@@@@@
|    \@@@@@@@@@@@@@_
|                  |
   (O)       (O)
     ++      +------
     ||      |+-+ |
   /---------|| | |
  + ========  +-+ |
 _|--O========O~\-+
//// \_/      \_/
 _|--/O========O\-+
 _|--/~O========O-+
 _|--/~\------/~\-+
//// \_O========O
//// \O========O/
//// O========O_/
    _________________
   _|                \_____A
 =|                        |
 -|                        |
__|________________________|_
|__________________________|_
   |_D__D__D_|  |_D__D__D_|
    \_/   \_/    \_/   \_/
      ====        ________                ___________
  _D _|  |_______/        \__I_I_____===__|_________|
   |(_)---  |   H\________/ |   |        =|___ ___|
   /     |  |   H  |  |     |   |         ||_| |_||
  |      |  |   H  |__--------------------| [___] |
  | ________|___H__/__|_____/[][]~\_______|       |
  |/ |   |-----------I_____I [][] []  D   |=======|__
__/ =| o |=-~~\  /~~\  /~~\  /~~\ ____Y___________|__
 |/-=|___|=    ||    ||    ||    |_____/~\___/
  \_/      \O=====O=====O=====O_/      \_/
 |/-=|___|=O=====O=====O=====O   |_____/~\___/
  \_/      \__/  \__/  \__/  \__/      \_/
__/ =| o |=-O=====O=====O=====O \ ____Y___________|__
__/ =| o |=-~O=====O=====O=====O\ ____Y___________|__
 |/-=|___|=   O=====O=====O=====O|_____/~\___/
  \_/      \_O=====O=====O=====O/      \_/
##################################################################

10 Ikhwan Maftuh June 5, 2012 at 7:17 am

wow it’s cool man… :D

11 Steve Parker August 5, 2012 at 9:09 pm

@hari prasad k
cd /tmp/sl
apt-get source sl

12 Jacob September 12, 2012 at 9:50 am

ha ha :-) Perfect example of the fact, that good things can come from beein bored…

13 Monk September 29, 2012 at 9:12 am

Okai if you wanna a train whistle / air whistle, create a script as follows:

#!/bin/sh
# ~/bin/sl-wrapper.sh
/usr/bin/aplay -N -q ~/train-whistle.wav &
/usr/games/sl

aplay is my command line .wav file player and download .wav files here. Now set alias as follows in ~/.bashrc:

alias sl="$HOME/bin/sl-wrapper.sh"

You can thank me later :) .

14 TGIF February 9, 2013 at 11:56 am

And whats even more annoying is when you place in your bashrc:
alias ls=’sl’
Place it on a friday afternoon 5pm at a active used server, save, quit and leave for a week or 2 to a sunny location of choice.

15 David Judik February 22, 2013 at 12:19 pm