What is this?
Pandoc is a Haskell library for converting documents from one markup format to another, plus the command-line tool built on top of it — a universal markup converter.
Pandoc is a Haskell library for converting documents from one markup format to another, plus the command-line tool built on top of it — a universal markup converter.Is it a command-line tool or a library I code against?Both. It ships as a command-line tool for direct conversions and as a Haskell library you can build into your own programs.
Both. It ships as a command-line tool for direct conversions and as a Haskell library you can build into your own programs.Is installing it straightforward?Yes — the README just points to the pandoc website for installation, where you pick an installer for your OS; after that you run pandoc from the terminal.
Yes — the README just points to the pandoc website for installation, where you pick an installer for your OS; after that you run pandoc from the terminal.Can I expect a conversion to be perfect every time?No. Pandoc preserves a document structure but not formatting details such as margin sizes, and converting from formats more expressive than its Markdown can be lossy.
No. Pandoc preserves a document structure but not formatting details such as margin sizes, and converting from formats more expressive than its Markdown can be lossy.Can I try it in the browser without installing anything?Yes — the pandoc website hosts a WebAssembly-based online demo (next to a limited classic one), so you can run conversions right in the browser.
Yes — the pandoc website hosts a WebAssembly-based online demo (next to a limited classic one), so you can run conversions right in the browser.Just how many formats are we talking?About 50 input formats — including Word docx, LaTeX, EPUB, Jupyter notebooks, MediaWiki and even Excel spreadsheets — and an even longer output list, with PDF produced via LaTeX, Groff ms, or HTML.
About 50 input formats — including Word docx, LaTeX, EPUB, Jupyter notebooks, MediaWiki and even Excel spreadsheets — and an even longer output list, with PDF produced via LaTeX, Groff ms, or HTML.What does Pandoc Markdown add over plain Markdown?Its enhanced Markdown includes syntax for tables, definition lists, metadata blocks, footnotes, citations, math, and much more.
Its enhanced Markdown includes syntax for tables, definition lists, metadata blocks, footnotes, citations, math, and much more.How does one tool manage to support all those formats?Modular design: readers parse each input into an internal abstract syntax tree and writers render that tree into the target format, so a new format needs just one reader or writer.
Modular design: readers parse each input into an internal abstract syntax tree and writers render that tree into the target format, so a new format needs just one reader or writer.Can I change what happens between reading and writing?Yes — you can run custom pandoc filters, including Lua filters, that modify the intermediate AST before the output format is produced.
Yes — you can run custom pandoc filters, including Lua filters, that modify the intermediate AST before the output format is produced.What are similar projects?quarkdown, typst, marktext, Zettlr, ReLaXed, PasteMD, Evidence-Bound-Press-Conference-Revision-Skill, flyingmouse-format
quarkdown, typst, marktext, Zettlr, ReLaXed, PasteMD, Evidence-Bound-Press-Conference-Revision-Skill, flyingmouse-formatWhich topics is it in?file-converter, pandoc, publishing, markup, commonmark, ebooks, haskell, academic-writing, docx, document, converter, text-processing
file-converter, pandoc, publishing, markup, commonmark, ebooks, haskell, academic-writing, docx, document, converter, text-processing