pandoc command · Linux Junkies

Synopsis

pandoc [OPTIONS] [INPUT_FILE...]

Description

Pandoc is a universal document converter that reads from one format and writes to another. It supports a wide range of input and output formats including Markdown, HTML, LaTeX, Word, PDF, EPUB, and many others. Pandoc is commonly used for converting between markup languages, generating documentation, and batch-processing documents.

The command reads from input files (or stdin if none specified) and writes to stdout by default. You can specify the input and output formats explicitly, though Pandoc will attempt to infer them from file extensions.

Common options

Flag	What it does
`-f FORMAT, --from=FORMAT`	Specify input format (e.g., markdown, html, latex, docx, pdf)
`-t FORMAT, --to=FORMAT`	Specify output format (e.g., html, pdf, docx, epub, markdown)
`-o FILE, --output=FILE`	Write output to FILE instead of stdout
`-s, --standalone`	Produce a standalone document with headers and footers
`--template=FILE`	Use FILE as template for generating output
`-V KEY=VAL, --variable=KEY:VAL`	Set template variable KEY to VAL
`--css=URL`	Link to CSS stylesheet in HTML output
`--toc, --table-of-contents`	Include table of contents in output
`-N, --number-sections`	Number section headings in output
`--highlight-style=STYLE`	Specify syntax highlighting style (e.g., pygments, kate, monochrome)
`-M KEY=VAL, --metadata=KEY:VAL`	Set metadata field KEY to VAL
`--verbose`	Print diagnostic information to stderr

Examples

Convert Markdown file to HTML

pandoc README.md -o README.html

Convert Markdown to PDF with explicit format specification

pandoc document.md -t pdf -o document.pdf

Convert HTML to Markdown, piping output to a file

pandoc -f html -t markdown website.html > converted.md

Generate standalone HTML with table of contents from Markdown

pandoc article.md -s --toc -o article.html

Convert Markdown to Beamer presentation PDF

pandoc presentation.md -t beamer -o slides.pdf

Convert Word document to Markdown

pandoc -f docx document.docx -t markdown -o document.md

Combine multiple Markdown files into EPUB with numbered sections

pandoc chapter*.md --toc -N -o book.epub

Generate HTML with custom CSS and language metadata

pandoc notes.md -s --css=style.css -V lang=en -o notes.html