ASCIIDOC

Section: \ \& (1)
Updated: 02/16/2021
Page Index

NAME

asciidoc - converts an AsciiDoc text file to HTML or DocBook

SYNOPSIS

asciidoc [OPTIONS] FILE

DESCRIPTION

The asciidoc(1) command translates the AsciiDoc text file FILE to DocBook or HTML. If FILE is - then the standard input is used.

OPTIONS

-a, --attribute=ATTRIBUTE

: Define or delete document attribute. ATTRIBUTE is formatted like NAME=VALUE. Command-line attributes take precedence over document and configuration file attributes. Alternate acceptable forms are NAME (the VALUE defaults to an empty string); NAME! (delete the NAME attribute); NAME=VALUE@ (do not override document or configuration file attributes). Values containing spaces should be enclosed in double-quote characters. This option may be specified more than once. A special attribute named trace controls the output of diagnostic information.

-b, --backend=BACKEND

: Backend output file format: docbook45, docbook5, xhtml11, html4, html5, slidy, wordpress or latex (the latex backend is experimental). You can also use the backend alias names html (aliased to xhtml11) or docbook (aliased to docbook45). Defaults to html. The --backend option is also used to manage backend plugins (see PLUGIN COMMANDS).

-f, --conf-file=CONF_FILE

: Use configuration file CONF_FILE.Configuration files processed in command-line order (after implicit configuration files). This option may be specified more than once.

--doctest

: Run Python doctests in asciidoc module.

-d, --doctype=DOCTYPE

: Document type: article, manpage or book. The book document type is only supported by the docbook backends. Default document type is article.

-c, --dump-conf

: Dump configuration to stdout.

--filter=FILTER

: Specify the name of a filter to be loaded (used to load filters that are not auto-loaded). This option may be specified more than once. The --filter option is also used to manage filter plugins (see PLUGIN COMMANDS).

-h, --help [TOPIC]

: Print help TOPIC. --help topics will print a list of help topics, --help syntax summarizes AsciiDoc syntax, --help manpage prints the AsciiDoc manpage.

-e, --no-conf

: Exclude implicitly loaded configuration files except for those named like the input file (infile.conf and infile-backend.conf).

-s, --no-header-footer

: Suppress document header and footer output.

-o, --out-file=OUT_FILE

: Write output to file OUT_FILE. Defaults to the base name of input file with backend extension. If the input is stdin then the outfile defaults to stdout. If OUT_FILE is - then the standard output is used.

-n, --section-numbers

: Auto-number HTML article section titles. Synonym for --attribute numbered.

--safe

: Enable safe mode. Safe mode is disabled by default. AsciiDoc safe mode skips potentially dangerous scripted sections in AsciiDoc source files.

--theme=THEME

: Specify a theme name. Synonym for --attribute theme=THEME. The --theme option is also used to manage theme plugins (see PLUGIN COMMANDS).

-v, --verbose

: Verbosely print processing information and configuration file checks to stderr.

--version

: Print program version number.

PLUGIN COMMANDS

The asciidoc(1) --filter, --backend and --theme options are used to install, remove and list AsciiDoc filter, backend and theme plugins. Syntax:

asciidoc OPTION install ZIP_FILE [PLUGINS_DIR]
asciidoc OPTION remove PLUGIN_NAME [PLUGINS_DIR]
asciidoc OPTION list
asciidoc OPTION build ZIP_FILE PLUGIN_SOURCE

Where:

OPTION

: asciidoc(1) --filter, --backend or --theme option specifying the type of plugin.

PLUGIN_NAME

: A unique plugin name containing only alphanumeric or underscore characters.

ZIP_FILE

: A Zip file containing plugin resources, the name must start with the plugin name e.g. my_filter-1.0.zip packages filter my_filter.

PLUGINS_DIR

: The directory containing installed plugins. Each plugin is contained in its own separate subdirectory which has the same name as the plugin. PLUGINS_DIR defaults to the $HOME/.asciidoc/filters (for filter plugins) or $HOME/.asciidoc/backends (for backend plugins) or $HOME/.asciidoc/themes (for theme plugins).

PLUGIN_SOURCE

: The name of a directory containing the plugin source files or the name of a single source file.

The plugin commands perform as follows:

install

: Create a subdirectory in PLUGINS_DIR with the same name as the plugin then extract the ZIP_FILE into it.

remove

: Delete the PLUGIN_NAME plugin subdirectory and all its contents from the PLUGINS_DIR.

list

: List the names and locations of all installed filter or theme plugins (including standard plugins installed in the global configuration directory).

build

: Create a plugin file named ZIP_FILE containing the files and subdirectories specified by PLUGIN_SOURCE. File and directory names starting with a period are skipped.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH

: If the SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH environment variable is set to a UNIX timestamp, then the {docdate}, {doctime}, {localdate}, and {localtime} attributes are computed in the UTC time zone, with any timestamps newer than SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH replaced by SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH. (This helps software using AsciiDoc to build reproducibly.)

EXAMPLES

asciidoc asciidoc_file_name.txt

: Simply generate an html file from the asciidoc_file_name.txt that is in current directory using asciidoc.

asciidoc -b html5 asciidoc_file_name.txt

: Use the -b switch to use one of the proposed backend or another one you installed on your computer.

asciidoc -a data-uri -a icons -a toc -a max-width=55em article.txt

: Use the -a switch to set attributes from command-line. AsciiDoc generated its stand-alone HTML user guide containing embedded CSS, JavaScript and images from the AsciiDoc article template with this command.

asciidoc -b html5 -d manpage asciidoc.1.txt

: Generating the asciidoc manpage using the html5 backend.

EXIT STATUS

: Success

: Failure (syntax or usage error; configuration error; document processing failure; unexpected error).

BUGS

See the AsciiDoc distribution BUGS file.

AUTHOR

AsciiDoc was originally written by Stuart Rackham. Many people have contributed to it.

RESOURCES

GitHub: https://github.com/asciidoc/asciidoc-py3/

Main web site: https://asciidoc.org/

COPYING

Free use of this software is granted under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2).