DOCUTILS(1) text processing DOCUTILS(1)
NAME
docutils - generic command line interface for the docutils package
SYNOPSIS
docutils [options] [<source> [<destination>]]
DESCRIPTION
Convert documents into useful formats. Reads from <source> (default is
stdin) and writes to <destination> (default is stdout). See
<https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/user/config.html> for a detailed
settings reference.
OPTIONS
General Docutils Options
--output=<destination>
Output destination name. Obsoletes the <destination> positional
argument. Default: None (stdout).
--title=<title>
Specify the document title as metadata.
--generator, -g
Include a "Generated by Docutils" credit and link.
--no-generator
Do not include a generator credit.
--date, -d
Include the date at the end of the document (UTC).
--time, -t
Include the time & date (UTC).
--no-datestamp
Do not include a datestamp of any kind.
--root-prefix=<path>
Base directory for absolute paths when reading from the local
filesystem. Default "/".
--source-link, -s
Include a "View document source" link.
--source-url=<URL>
Use <URL> for a source link; implies --source-link.
--no-source-link
Do not include a "View document source" link.
--toc-entry-backlinks
Link from section headers to TOC entries. (default)
--toc-top-backlinks
Link from section headers to the top of the TOC.
--no-toc-backlinks
Disable backlinks to the table of contents.
--footnote-backlinks
Link from footnotes/citations to references. (default)
--no-footnote-backlinks
Disable backlinks from footnotes and citations.
--section-numbering
Enable section numbering by Docutils. (default)
--no-section-numbering
Disable section numbering by Docutils.
--strip-comments
Remove comment elements from the document tree.
--leave-comments
Leave comment elements in the document tree. (default)
--strip-elements-with-class=<class>
Remove all elements with classes="<class>" from the document
tree. Warning: potentially dangerous; use with caution. (Multi-
ple-use option.)
--strip-class=<class>
Remove all classes="<class>" attributes from elements in the doc-
ument tree. Warning: potentially dangerous; use with caution.
(Multiple-use option.)
--report=<level>, -r <level>
Report system messages at or higher than <level>: "info" or "1",
"warning"/"2" (default), "error"/"3", "severe"/"4", "none"/"5"
--verbose, -v
Report all system messages. (Same as "--report=1".)
--quiet, -q
Report no system messages. (Same as "--report=5".)
--halt=<level>
Halt execution at system messages at or above <level>. Levels as
in --report. Default: 4 (severe).
--strict
Halt at the slightest problem. Same as "--halt=info".
--exit-status=<level>
Enable a non-zero exit status for non-halting system messages at
or above <level>. Default: 5 (disabled).
--debug
Enable debug-level system messages and diagnostics.
--no-debug
Disable debug output. (default)
--warnings=<file>
Send the output of system messages to <file>.
--traceback
Enable Python tracebacks when Docutils is halted.
--no-traceback
Disable Python tracebacks. (default)
--input-encoding=<name[:handler]>, -i <name[:handler]>
Specify the encoding and optionally the error handler of input
text. Default: <auto-detect>:strict.
--input-encoding-error-handler=INPUT_ENCODING_ERROR_HANDLER
Specify the error handler for undecodable characters. Choices:
"strict" (default), "ignore", and "replace".
--output-encoding=<name[:handler]>, -o <name[:handler]>
Specify the text encoding and optionally the error handler for
output. Default: utf-8:strict.
--output-encoding-error-handler=OUTPUT_ENCODING_ERROR_HANDLER
Specify error handler for unencodable output characters; "strict"
(default), "ignore", "replace", "xmlcharrefreplace", "back-
slashreplace".
--error-encoding=<name[:handler]>, -e <name[:handler]>
Specify text encoding and optionally error handler for error out-
put. Default text encoding: system encoding. Default error han-
dler: backslashreplace.
--error-encoding-error-handler=ERROR_ENCODING_ERROR_HANDLER
Specify the error handler for unencodable characters in error
output. Default: backslashreplace.
--language=<name>, -l <name>
Specify the language (as BCP 47 language tag). Default: en.
--record-dependencies=<file>
Write output file dependencies to <file>.
--config=<file>
Read configuration settings from <file>, if it exists.
--version, -V
Show this program's version number and exit.
--help, -h
Show this help message and exit.
Generic Parser Options
--no-file-insertion
Disable directives that insert the contents of an external file;
replaced with a "warning" system message.
--file-insertion-enabled
Enable directives that insert the contents of an external file.
(default)
--no-raw
Disable the "raw" directive; replaced with a "warning" system
message.
--raw-enabled
Enable the "raw" directive. (default)
--line-length-limit=<length>
Maximal number of characters in an input line. Default 10 000.
reStructuredText Parser Options
--pep-references
Recognize and link to standalone PEP references (like "PEP 258").
--pep-base-url=<URL>
Base URL for PEP references (default " <https://peps.python.org/>
").
--pep-file-url-template=<URL>
Template for PEP file part of URL. (default "pep-%04d")
--rfc-references
Recognize and link to standalone RFC references (like "RFC 822").
--rfc-base-url=<URL>
Base URL for RFC references (default "
<https://tools.ietf.org/html/> ").
--tab-width=<width>
Set number of spaces for tab expansion (default 8).
--trim-footnote-reference-space
Remove spaces before footnote references.
--leave-footnote-reference-space
Leave spaces before footnote references.
--syntax-highlight=<format>
Token name set for parsing code with Pygments: one of "long",
"short", or "none" (no parsing). Default is "long".
--smart-quotes=<yes/no/alt>
Change straight quotation marks to typographic form: one of
"yes", "no", "alt[ernative]" (default "no").
--smartquotes-locales=<language:quotes[,language:quotes,...]>
Characters to use as "smart quotes" for <language>.
--word-level-inline-markup
Inline markup recognized at word boundaries only (adjacent to
punctuation or whitespace). Force character-level inline markup
recognition with "" (backslash + space). Default.
--character-level-inline-markup
Inline markup recognized anywhere, regardless of surrounding
characters. Backslash-escapes must be used to avoid unwanted
markup recognition. Useful for East Asian languages. Experimen-
tal.
Standalone Reader Options
--no-doc-title
Disable the promotion of a lone top-level section title to docu-
ment title (and subsequent section title to document subtitle
promotion; enabled by default).
--no-doc-info
Disable the bibliographic field list transform (enabled by de-
fault).
--section-subtitles
Activate the promotion of lone subsection titles to section sub-
titles (disabled by default).
--no-section-subtitles
Deactivate the promotion of lone subsection titles.
HTML Writer Options
--template=<file>
Template file. (UTF-8 encoded, default: "/usr/share/do cu-
tils/writers/html5_polyglot/template.txt")
--stylesheet=<URL[,URL,...]>
Comma separated list of stylesheet URLs. Overrides previous
--stylesheet and --stylesheet-path settings.
--stylesheet-path=<file[,file,...]>
Comma separated list of stylesheet paths. Relative paths are ex-
panded if a matching file is found in the --stylesheet-dirs. With
--link-stylesheet, the path is rewritten relative to the output
HTML file. (default: "minimal.css,plain.css")
--stylesheet-dirs=<dir[,dir,...]>
Comma-separated list of directories where stylesheets are found.
Used by --stylesheet-path when expanding relative path arguments.
(default: ".,/usr/share/docutils/writers/html5_polyglot")
--embed-stylesheet
Embed the stylesheet(s) in the output HTML file. The stylesheet
files must be accessible during processing. (default)
--link-stylesheet
Link to the stylesheet(s) in the output HTML file.
--initial-header-level=<level>
Specify the initial header level. Does not affect document title
& subtitle (see --no-doc-title). (default: 2 for "<h2>")
--footnote-references=<format>
Format for footnote references: one of "superscript" or "brack-
ets". (default: "brackets")
--attribution=<format>
Format for block quote attributions: one of "dash" (em-dash pre-
fix), "parentheses"/"parens", or "none". (default: "dash")
--compact-lists
Remove extra vertical whitespace between items of "simple" bullet
lists and enumerated lists. (default)
--no-compact-lists
Disable compact simple bullet and enumerated lists.
--compact-field-lists
Remove extra vertical whitespace between items of simple field
lists. (default)
--no-compact-field-lists
Disable compact simple field lists.
--table-style=TABLE_STYLE
Added to standard table classes. Defined styles: borderless,
booktabs, align-left, align-center, align- right, colwidths-auto,
colwidths-grid.
--math-output=MATH_OUTPUT
Math output format (one of "MathML", "HTML", "MathJax", or "La-
TeX") and option(s). (default: "HTML math.css")
--xml-declaration
Prepend an XML declaration.
--no-xml-declaration
Omit the XML declaration (default).
--cloak-email-addresses
Obfuscate email addresses to confuse harvesters while still keep-
ing email links usable with standards- compliant browsers.
HTML5 Writer Options
--image-loading=IMAGE_LOADING
Suggest at which point images should be loaded: "embed", "link"
(default), or "lazy".
--section-self-link
Append a self-link to section headings.
--no-section-self-link
Do not append a self-link to section headings. (default)
Docutils Application Options
Reader, writer, and parser settings influence the available options.
Example: use --help --writer=latex to see LaTeX writer options.
--reader=<reader>
Reader name (currently: "standalone").
--parser=<parser>
Parser name (currently: "rst").
--writer=<writer>
Writer name (currently: "html5").
DOCUTILS(1)
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