---
name: "markdown2"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "python3-markdown2"
version: "2.4.11-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/markdown2"
---

# markdown2(1)

Command to convert a markdown file to HTML

## NAME

markdown2 - Command to convert a markdown file to HTML

## SYNOPSIS

**markdown2** \[*PATHS*...\]

## DESCRIPTION

A fast and complete Python implementation of Markdown, a text-to-HTML conversion tool for web writers.

Supported extra syntax options (see **-x**\|--extras option below and see \<https://github.com/trentm/python-markdown2/wiki/Extras\> for details):

\* code-friendly: Disable \_ and \_\_ for em and strong. \* cuddled-lists: Allow lists to be cuddled to the preceding paragraph. \* fenced-code-blocks: Allows a code block to not have to be indented

-

  by fencing it with '\`\`\`' on a line before and after. Based on \<http://github.github.com/github-flavored-markdown/\> with support for syntax highlighting.

\* footnotes: Support footnotes as in use on daringfireball.net and

-

  implemented in other Markdown processors (tho not in Markdown.pl v1.0.1).

\* header-ids: Adds "id" attributes to headers. The id value is a slug of

-

  the header text.

\* highlightjs-lang: Allows specifying the language which used for syntax

-

  highlighting when using fenced-code-blocks and highlightjs.

\* html-classes: Takes a dict mapping html tag names (lowercase) to a

-

  string to use for a "class" tag attribute. Currently only supports "img", "table", "pre" and "code" tags. Add an issue if you require this for other tags.

\* link-patterns: Auto-link given regex patterns in text (e.g. bug number

-

  references, revision number references).

\* markdown-in-html: Allow the use of \`markdown="1"\` in a block HTML tag to

-

  have markdown processing be done on its contents. Similar to \<http://michelf.com/projects/php-markdown/extra/#markdown-attr\> but with some limitations.

\* metadata: Extract metadata from a leading '---'-fenced block.

-

  See \<https://github.com/trentm/python-markdown2/issues/77\> for details.

\* nofollow: Add \`rel="nofollow"\` to add \`\<a\>\` tags with an href. See

-

  \<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nofollow\>.

\* numbering: Support of generic counters.  Non standard extension to

-

  allow sequential numbering of figures, tables, equations, exhibits etc.

\* pyshell: Treats unindented Python interactive shell sessions as \<code\>

-

  blocks.

\* smarty-pants: Replaces ' and " with curly quotation marks or curly

- apostrophes.

  Replaces **--**, **---**, ..., and . . . with en dashes, em dashes,

-

  and ellipses.

\* spoiler: A special kind of blockquote commonly hidden behind a

-

  click on SO. Syntax per \<http://meta.stackexchange.com/a/72878\>.

\* strike: text inside of double tilde is ~~strikethrough~~ \* tag-friendly: Requires atx style headers to have a space between the # and

-

  the header text. Useful for applications that require twitter style tags to pass through the parser.

\* tables: Tables using the same format as GFM

-

  \<https://help.github.com/articles/github-flavored-markdown#tables\> and PHP-Markdown Extra \<https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/#table\>.

\* toc: The returned HTML string gets a new "toc\_html" attribute which is

-

  a Table of Contents for the document. (experimental)

\* use-file-vars: Look for an Emacs-style markdown-extras file variable to turn

-

  on Extras.

\* wiki-tables: Google Code Wiki-style tables. See

-

  \<http://code.google.com/p/support/wiki/WikiSyntax#Tables\>.

\* xml: Passes one-liner processing instructions and namespaced XML tags.

## OPTIONS

- **--version**

  show program's version number and exit

- **-h**, **--help**

  show this help message and exit

- **-v**, **--verbose**

  more verbose output

- **--encoding**=*ENCODING*

  specify encoding of text content

- **--html4tags**

  use HTML 4 style for empty element tags

- **-s** MODE, **--safe**=*MODE*

  sanitize literal HTML: 'escape' escapes HTML meta chars, 'replace' replaces with an \[HTML\_REMOVED\] note

- **-x** EXTRAS, **--extras**=*EXTRAS*

  Turn on specific extra features (not part of the core Markdown spec). See above.

- **--use-file-vars**=*USE\_FILE\_VARS*

  Look for and use Emacs-style 'markdown-extras' file var to turn on extras. See \<https://github.com/trentm/pythonmarkdown2/wiki/Extras\>

- **--link-patterns-file**=*LINK\_PATTERNS\_FILE*

  path to a link pattern file

- **--self-test**

  run internal self-tests (some doctests)

- **--compare**

  run against Markdown.pl as well (for testing)