PAINT(1)

📦 version 0_git20260208, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

💖 NAME 💖

okay so bestie, this is PAINT(1) from the General Commands Manual, and it's literally paint — create image files by drawing with a mouse or other pointing device. that's the whole vibe: point, click, make art, slay. 🎨✨

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

paint [ file ]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

Paint pops up a canvas, and you draw lines on it with the mouse, holding down buttons 1 or 2 for foreground or background color. 🖱️💖 The canvas may be moved with button 3. Colors and brush sizes may be selected by clicking on the palette at the bottom of the screen with buttons 1 or 2. the palette is giving main character energy and honestly? it ate. 💅

If the optional file argument is specified, then it is read and used as the canvas. Paint only recognizes Plan 9 bitmap format (see image(6)). not PNG, not JPEG, not whatever your camera roll is serving — Plan 9 bitmap format only, periodt. 🦋

⌨️ immediate keyboard commands ⌨️

A number of immediate keyboard commands are recognized:

  • u — undos the previous action. yes, the page says "undos" and we respect the icon. 😌
  • c — clears the canvas with the background color.
  • 1-9 — select brush size.
  • f — select flood fill brush.
  • + — doubles magnification.
  • - — halves magnification.
  • esc — centers the canvas and resets magnification.
lowkey crucial: hitting any other key on the keyboard shows a command prompt where the following commands may be entered. 👀

🧚 command prompt commands 🧚

  • rfile — reads the canvas from file. yep, that's the r command followed by your filename, iykyk.
  • wfile — writes the canvas to file. again: w plus filename, no cap.
  • <command — executes command and reads the canvas from its standard output.
  • >command — executes command and writes the canvas to its standard input.
  • |command — transforms the canvas by piping it thru command.
  • q — quits the program.

🔥 SOURCE 🔥

/sys/src/cmd/paint.c

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

resample(1), rotate(1), crop(1), jpg(1), page(1), image(6)

👑 HISTORY 👑

Paint first appeared in 9front (October, 2011).

mwah 💋 — that's the whole page, bestie: PAINT(1), General Commands Manual, first appeared in 9front (October, 2011), source at /sys/src/cmd/paint.c. now go make some Plan 9 bitmap art 🫶🎀✨

📦 where this page comes from