crowbook/book_example/arguments.md

Arguments

Crowbook can takes a list of arguments:

Render a markdown book in Epub, PDF or HTML.

USAGE:
        crowbook [OPTIONS] <BOOK> [--] [ARGS]

OPTIONS:
        --autoclean <BOOL>    Try to clean input markdown [values: true, false]
        --create              Creates a new book file with existing markdown files
    -h, --help                Prints help information
        --numbering <BOOL>    Number chapters or not [values: true, false]
    -o, --output <FILE>       Specify output file
    -t, --to <FORMAT>         Generate specific format [values: epub, pdf, html, tex, odt]
    -V, --version             Prints version information
    -v, --verbose             Activate verbose mode

ARGS:
    <BOOK>     A file containing the book configuration
    <FILES>...    Files to put in book when using --create

Command line options allow to override options defined in <BOOK> configuration file. 
E.g., even if this file specifies 'verbose: false', calling 'crowbook --verbose <BOOK>' 
will activate verbose mode.

Note that Crowbook generates output files relatively to the directory where <BOOK> is:
$ crowbook foo/bar.book --to pdf --output baz.pdf
will thus generate baz.pdf in directory foo and not in current
directory.

The most important ones is obviously , i.e. the file configuration book. It is mandatory: if you don't pass it, crowbook will simply display this help message. In a normal use case this is the only argument you'll need to pass, and crowbook will generate the book in all formats specified in the configuration file.

It is, however, possible to pass more arguments to crowbook.

--create

Usage: crowbook --create <BOOK> file_1.md file_2.md ...

Creates a new book from a list of Markdown files. It will generate the file BOOK (or abort if it already exists) with all file names specified added as chapters.

Most other crowbook options have no impact when using --create, but if --numbering is set to false, the files will be included with - instead of + in the Markdown file.

Example

crowbook --create foo.book README.md ChangeLog.md LICENSE.md

will generate a file foo.book containing:

author: Your name
title: Your title
lang: en

# Uncomment and fill to generate files
# output.html: some_file.html
# output.epub: some_file.epub
# output.pdf: some_file.pdf

# Uncomment and fill to set cover image (for Epub)
# cover: some_cover.png

# List of chapters
+ README.md
+ ChangeLog.md
+ LICENSE.md

--set

usage: crowbook --set [KEY] [VALUE] <BOOK>

This options allows to override a wide range of options normally defined in book configuration file. Valid keys are:

• description
• subject
• cover
• html.template
• html.css
• epub.template
• epub.css
• tex.template

For the usage of these keys, see the configuration file page.

Example

$ crowbook --set html.css style.css foo.book

will override the CSS for HTML generation to style.css.

--verbose

usage: crowbook --verbose <BOOK>

If this flag is set, Crowbook will print some more messages.

--to

usage: crowbook --to <FORMAT> <BOOK>

(or crowbook -t <FORMAT> <BOOK>)

Generate only the specified format. FORMAT must be either epub, pdf, html, odt or tex.

If an output file for the format is not specified in the book configuration file, crowbook will fail to render PDF, ODT and Epub (whereas it will print HTML and Tex files on stdout). It is however possible to specify a file with the --output option.

Examples

crowbook --to html foo.book

will generate some HTML, and prints it either to the file specified by output.html in foo.book, or to stdout.

crowbook --to pdf --output foo.pdf foo.book

will (try to) generate a foo.pdf file,.

--output

usage: crowbook --to <FORMAT> --output <FILE> <BOOK>

(or crowbook -t <FORMAT> -o <FILE> <BOOK>)

Specifies an output file. Only valid when --to is used.

Note that Crowbook generates output files relatively to the directory where BOOK is:

$ crowbook foo/bar.book --to pdf --output baz.pdf

will thus generate baz.pdf in directory foo and not in current directory.

--numbering

usage: crowbook --numbering <BOOL> <BOOK>

Turns numbering on or off. Overrides the option set in BOOK configuration file.

Example

crowbook --numbering false foo.book

--autoclean

usage: crowbook --autoclean <BOOL> <BOOK>

Turns autoclean on or off. Overrides the option set in BOOK configuration file.