HastyScribe

HastyScribe is a simple command-line program able to convert markdown files into HTML files.

Usage

hastyscribe filename-or-glob-expression [ <options> ]

Where:

• filename-or-glob-expression is a valid file or glob expression that will be compiled into HTML.
• The following options are supported:
  • --field/<field>=<value> causes HastyScribe to set a custom field to a specific value.
  • --notoc causes HastyScribe to output HTML documents without automatically generating a Table of Contents at the start.
  • --user-css=<file> causes HastyScribe to insert the contents of the specified local file as a CSS stylesheet.
  • --user-js=<file> causes HastyScribe to insert the contents of the specified local file as a Javascript script.
  • --output-file=<file> causes HastyScribe to write output to a local file (Use --output-file=- to output to standard output).
  • --watermark=<file> causes HastyScribe to embed and display an image as a watermark throughout the document.
  • --fragment causes HastyScribe to output just an HTML fragment instead of a full document, without embedding any image, font or stylesheet.
  • --dump=all|styles|fonts causes HastyScribe to dump all resources/stylesheets/fonts to the current directory.
  • --help causes HastyScribe to display the usage information and quit.

FAQs

Why is HastyScribe different from other markdown converters?

Because:

• It is a cross-platform, self-contained executable file.
• It can generate standalone HTML files.
• It comes with its own stylesheet, which is automatically embedded into every HTML document, along with all the needed web fonts.
• It is built on top of Discount, which means that besides standard markdown you also get:
  • strikethrough
  • automatic Table of Contents generation
  • SmartyPants substitutions
  • paragraph centering
  • image sizes
  • definition lists
  • alphabetic lists
  • pseudo-protocols to generate span tags with arbitrary CSS classes, abbr tags, and anchors
  • class blocks
  • tables
  • fenced code blocks
  • Pandoc-style document headers
• It automatically embeds any referenced image as data URI.
• It has supports for text snippets, custom fields, and substitution macros.

What can I use it for?

HastyScribe is best suited to produce self-contained documents such as essays, meeting notes, project status documents, and articles.

What language is HastyScribe implemented in?

HastyScribe is implemented in Nim, a very expressive language that compiles to C and is able to generate small, standalone and self-contained executable files.

How do I build HastyScribe from source?

1. Download and install Nim.
2. Download and build Nifty, and put it somewhere in your $PATH.
3. Clone the HastyScribe repository.
4. Navigate to the HastyScribe repository local folder.
5. Run nifty install to download HastyScribe's dependencies.

• Note: Some users may need to install libmarkdown2-dev

6. Run nifty build discount to build the Discount markdown library.
7. Run nim c -d:release hastyscribe.nim.

Quick Installation

nimble install nifty
&& sudo apt install libmarkdown2-dev
&& nimble install hastyscribe

If you are using another operating system without apt you can install libmarkdown2 here