Editing Fortune (Unix) (section)

{{Short description|Unix command to print a random message}}
{{refimprove|date=October 2010}}
{{lowercase title}}
{{Infobox software
| name                   = fortune
| logo                   = 
| screenshot             = 
| screenshot size        = 
| caption                = 
| author                 = [[Ken Arnold]]
| developer              = 
| released               = {{Start date and age|1979}}
| latest release version = 
| latest release date    = 
| programming language   = [[C (programming language)|C]]
| operating system       = [[Unix]], [[Unix-like]], [[Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9]], [[Inferno (operating system)|Inferno]]
| genre                  = [[Command (computing)|Command]]
| license                = Plan 9: [[MIT License]]
| website                = 
}}
'''<code>fortune</code>''' is a program that displays a [[pseudorandom]] message from a database of quotations.
Early versions of the program appeared in [[Version 7 Unix]] in 1979.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=V7/usr/src/games/fortune.c | title=V7/usr/src/games/fortune.c |publisher=tuhs.org |access-date=2024-02-10}}</ref>
The most common version on modern systems is the [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]] <code>fortune</code>, originally written by [[Ken Arnold]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/head/usr.bin/fortune/fortune/fortune.c?revision=328486&view=markup|title=[base] Contents of /head/usr.bin/fortune/fortune/fortune.c|website=svnweb.freebsd.org|language=en|access-date=2018-09-15|quote=This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by Ken Arnold.}}</ref> Distributions of fortune are usually bundled with a collection of themed files, containing sayings like those found on [[fortune cookie]]s (hence the name), quotations from famous people, jokes, or poetry.

<code>fortune</code> is predominantly found on [[Unix-like]] systems, but clients for other platforms also exist.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fortunes.cat-v.org/|title=Jar of Fortune Files|website=fortunes.cat-v.org}}</ref> Often, users on text-mode Unix terminals will place this command into either their <code>.profile</code> or <code>.logout</code> files to display them at logon and logout, respectively. It is also used to generate text input for certain [[XScreenSaver]] modes.