---
name: "html2pdbtxt"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "txt2pdbdoc"
version: "1.4.4-8+b1"
release: "Debian 12 (Bookworm)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/html2pdbtxt"
---

# html2pdbtxt(1)

HTML to Doc Text converter for Palm Pilots

## NAME

html2pdbtxt - HTML to Doc Text converter for Palm Pilots

## SYNOPSIS

**html2pdbtxt** \[ **-b***chars* \] \[ **-t***title* \] \[ **-u***URL* \] *file.html* \[ *file.txt* \]\
 **html2pdbtxt -v**

## DESCRIPTION

**html2pdbtxt** converts HTML to text suitable for conversion to a **Doc**(4) file via [**txt2pdbdoc**(1)](/txt2pdbdoc/1.md). If no text filename is given, the generated text is sent to standard output.

### HTML Tags

The following HTML tags (and corresponding ending tags) are recognized: `ADDRESS`, `A NAME`, `BLOCKQUOTE`, `BR`, `CENTER`, `DIV`, `DL`, `DT`, `H1`, `H2`, `H3`, `H4`, `H5`, `H6`, `OL`, `OPTION`, `PRE`, `P`, `SELECT`, `SCRIPT`, `STYLE`, `TABLE`, `TITLE`, `UL`. In all cases, the most \`\`reasonable'' thing is done given the constraints of the **Doc**(4) format which is essentially plain text. `ALT` attributes (typically found in IMG` tags)` `have their text extracted and placed between brackets` `[like this].` `All other HTML tags are stripped.`

### Character Entities

`Both HTML character and numeric (decimal and hexadecimal) entity references` `are converted to their byte value` `according to the ISO 8859-1 (Latin 1) character set` `so they appear properly on the Pilot.` ```For example, ``résumé'' becomes ``resume''``` `with accented letter 'e's.`

### Document Title

`Unless specified with the` **-t** `option, the HTML file is scanned for <TITLE> ... </TITLE> tags` `and, if found, the title is extracted and put on line 1 of the generated file.`

### Bookmarks

`Bookmarks are placed into the generated file` `wherever <A NAME="..."> tags are found in the HTML file.`

## OPTIONS

- **-b***chars*

  `Specify the character sequence that is to serve as the bookmark indicator.` `The default is (*).` `(See the CAVEATS.)`

- **-t***title*

  `Specify the title of the document that is to appear on line 1` `of the generated file overriding any title found inside the HTML file` `between <TITLE> ... </TITLE> tags.`

- **-u***url*

  `Specify the URL the HTML file supposedly came from` `and put it on the line after the title, if any, in the generated file.`

- **-v**

  `Print the version number to standard output and exit.`

## EXAMPLE

`To convert an HTML file to Doc:`

```
html2pdbtxt -u http://www.wonderland.org/ alice.html alice.txt
txt2pdbdoc "`head -1 alice.txt`" alice.txt alice.pdb
```

## CAVEATS

- 1\.

  Some Doc readers have a \`\`feature'' whereby, during the scan for bookmarks phase, they recognize the bookmark sequence of characters **anywhere** in the text and not just at the beginning of a line.

- 2\.

  Some Doc readers do not allow the bookmark sequence to contain the `>` character since they interpret that as the sequence delimiter, e.g., `<->>` will be interpreted as the sequence being merely `-`.

- 3\.

  Ordered lists (via the `OL` tag) are treated as unordered lists (like the `UL` tag) because it would greatly complicate the code since it would have to be parsed rather than simple substitutions being performed.

## SEE ALSO

[pdbtxt2html(1)](/pdbtxt2html/1.md), [txt2pdbdoc(1)](/txt2pdbdoc/1.md), [doc(4)](/doc/4.md), [pdb(4)](/pdb/4.md)

International Standards Organization. \`\`ISO 8859-1: Information Processing -- 8-bit single-byte coded graphic character sets -- Part 1: Latin alphabet No. 1.'' 1987.

World Wide Web Consortium. \`\`Character entity references in HTML 4.0.'' *HTML 4.0 Specification,* http://www.w3.org/

## AUTHOR

Paul J. Lucas \<*pauljlucas@mac.com*\>