bash - How to get display width of a string from Linux command line? -

i working on awk script processes text file line line, formats them , stuffs them svg file text field. svg takes care of text wrapping automatically, want predict each line wrap. (i need characters repeat , extend close end of line). know exact font, font size, , width of text field.

is there standard utility in linux or available in ubuntu give width in pixels or inches given string, font, , font size?

for example:

get-width 'nimbus sans l' 18 "test string" returns "x pixels" 

you can ghostscript interpreter, assuming have , fonts set correctly.

here possibly mysterious incantation:

gs -dquiet -sdevice=nullpage 2>/dev/null - \    <<<'18 /nimbussanl-regu   findfont exch scalefont setfont       (test string)          stringwidth pop ==' 

using -dquiet suppresses warnings font substitution, not idea until have idea how name fonts you're looking for.

ghostscript not layout engine, , may find measurement doesn't work complicated bidirectional text, combining characters, or east asian languages. (i tested little arabic, , ok, no guarantees.) not kern, produce measurements little larger layout engine, , possibly lot larger if font positions diacritics using kerning.

finally, if text includes unbalanced parentheses or backslashes, you'll need escape them. use following:

"$(sed 's/[()\\]/\\&/g' <<<"$text")" 

that's because postscript strings enclosed in (...) -- (test string) -- , allowed include balanced parentheses. unbalanced parentheses generate syntax error, unless backslash-escaped.