The “enscript” command-line tool is used to convert text files into various formats, including PostScript, HTML, RTF (Rich Text Format), ANSI, and overstrikes. It provides a flexible and customizable way to transform plain text files into visually formatted documents or files that can be easily processed by other tools or systems.
Here’s a more detailed explanation of the “enscript” command-line tool and its key features:
- Text File Conversion: The main purpose of “enscript” is to convert plain text files into different formats. It takes a text file as input and generates an output file in the specified format. This allows you to transform text-based content into more visually appealing or structurally enhanced representations.
- PostScript Generation: “enscript” can convert text files to PostScript, a page description language commonly used for printing and document generation. This feature allows you to generate PostScript files from plain text, which can then be further processed or printed using appropriate tools.
- HTML Conversion: With “enscript”, you can convert text files to HTML, a widely used markup language for creating web pages. This conversion makes it possible to convert plain text documents into HTML format, which can be viewed in web browsers or processed by web-related tools and systems.
- RTF Conversion: “enscript” supports conversion to RTF (Rich Text Format), a document file format compatible with various word processing applications. This enables you to convert plain text files into RTF files, preserving basic formatting such as font styles, colors, and alignments.
- ANSI Output: The “enscript” tool can generate output in ANSI format, which is a character-encoding scheme used to display text with special formatting in terminal environments. This allows you to convert plain text files into ANSI-formatted text, which can be displayed with enhanced visual effects in ANSI-compatible terminals or editors.
- Overstrikes: “enscript” supports overstrikes, which are special characters used to create text effects like underlining, striking through, or highlighting. By including overstrike codes in your input text files, you can generate output files with the desired visual effects applied.
- Customization Options: “enscript” provides a range of options and parameters that allow you to customize the output according to your specific requirements. You can control the page layout, select fonts, specify header and footer information, set line numbering, and configure many other formatting aspects.
- Integration with Other Tools: “enscript” can be integrated into scripts or used as part of a larger toolchain. It can be combined with other command-line tools or utilities to automate text file conversion, create reports, generate printable documents, or perform various text processing tasks.
- Cross-Platform Compatibility: “enscript” is available for multiple operating systems, including Linux, macOS, and Windows. This ensures that you can use the tool across different environments and platforms.
“enscript” is a versatile command-line tool that provides text file conversion capabilities, allowing you to transform plain text into formats suitable for printing, web display, or further processing. By leveraging its features, you can enhance the visual appearance, structure, and compatibility of your text-based content.
enscript Command Examples
1. Generate a PostScript file from a text file:
# enscript /path/to/input_file --output=/path/to/output_file
2. Generate a file in a different language than PostScript:
# enscript /path/to/input_file --language=[html|rtf|...] --output=/path/to/output_file
3. Generate a PostScript file with a landscape layout, splitting the page into columns (maximum 9):
4. Display available syntax highlighting languages and file formats:
# enscript --help-highlight
5. Generate a PostScript file with syntax highlighting and color for a specified language:
# enscript /path/to/input_file --color=1 --highlight=language --output=/path/to/output_file