Cowsay a | cowsay = slaughterhouse

[ftarazona]

$ cowsay a | cowsay
 ________________
/  ___ < a >     \
|                |
| ---            |
|                |
| \ ^__^         |
|                |
| \ (oo)\_______ |
|                |
| (__)\ )\/\     |
|                |
| ||----w |      |
|                |
\ || ||          /
 ----------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

Trying to pipe cowsay into cowsay is very ugly, I think this is a real big issue we have to fix as soon as possible.

[k12ish]

You can use the -n flag to prevent cowsay from mangling whitespace.

❯ cowsay a | cowsay -n
 ______________________________
/  ___                         \
| < a >                        |
|  ---                         |
|         \   ^__^             |
|          \  (oo)\_______     |
|             (__)\       )\/\ |
|                 ||----w |    |
\                 ||     ||    /
 ------------------------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

Consider setting an alias cowsay=cowsay -n if this behavior bothers you.