Text to HTML converter

txt2html is a filter that will convert plain, ordinary, text to HTML.

My intent in writing this tool is to provide an easier way of converting existing text documents to HTML format. txt2html can also be used to aid in writing new HTML documents, but there are probably better ways of doing that.

If you need to convert something other than plain text to HTML, or you need to convert from HTML, you should look for a more appropriate tool.

You can search these pages.

How to Install txt2html

1. Get a copy of the script
2. Make sure you can run it. On unix systems, try: chmod 555 txt2html
3. You may also want to get the sample links dictionary. If you name it ~/.txt2html-linkdict it will be used automatically.

How to Use txt2html

It's a simple filter that takes a plain text file on stdin, and outputs HTML on stdout. One of these days I'll put file i/o options in there, but it hasn't seemed very important. (If you disagree, tell me, and I'll move it higher on my to-do list.)

So what does all this mean? Well, if you are in a standard Unix shell or MS-DOS, you would do something like this:
txt2html < someTextFile > yourNewHTMLfile

More Help

The most popular request for txt2html is documentation. Ok, I'm a lout. There's still no documentation, but undocumented features are better than no features at all. I have a few suggestions for learning how to use txt2html.

• txt2html --help
  This will give you a list of options. You probably won't ever need to use more than a few of these. Most of them are for tweaking various features. Most text files I've tried this on convert decently without tweaking, but I'm a big fan of configurability, so I threw tons of options in.
• Look at the sample down below. It's not much of a guide in how to use txt2html, but it will show you what sort of things it can handle.
• Read the Configurable Options section at the beginning of the script. That's where you'll find a more complete description of all the options, as well as the default values for everything.
• "Use the source."
  I try to comment my code, but I still don't recommend this route for the faint of heart.

sample document

• Plain text copy (before conversion)
• HTML copy (after conversion)

For learning how to use the new hyperlinking features, take a look at the sample links dictionary. If you have improvements for this file, send them in so everyone can benefit.

Future Plans

The current version is v1.11, which was released on 20 Sep 1995. A list of all my changes can be found within the script itself.

If txt2html isn't converting your text as well as you'd like it to, please send me a sample copy along with your ideas of what it should have done with it.

If you have suggestions, complaints, questions, or just want to say hi, please feel free to send me some mail.

Thanks

Thanks to all the people who have given me ideas for improvements.