XMLTO(1) Reference XMLTO(1)NAMExmlto - apply an XSL stylesheet to an XML document
SYNOPSISxmlto [-o output_dir] [-x custom_xsl] [-m xsl_fragment] [-v]
[-p postprocessor_opts] [--extensions] [--searchpath path]
[--skip-validation] {format} {file}
xmlto {[--help] [--version]}
DESCRIPTION
The purpose of xmlto is to convert an XML file to the desired format
using whatever means necessary. This may involve two steps:
1. The application of an appropriate XSL stylesheet using an XSL-T
processor.
2. Further processing with other tools. This step may not be necessary.
To decide which stylesheet to use and what, if any, needs to be done to
post-process the output, xmlto makes use of format scripts, which are
simple shell scripts that xmlto calls during the conversion.
The appropriate format script is selected based on the type of XML file
and the desired output format. xmlto comes with some format scripts
for converting DocBook XML files to a variety of formats. You may
specify your own format script by using an absolute filename for format
on the command line.
Firstly, if xmlto has not been told explicitly which stylesheet to use
(with the -x option), the format script will be called with $1 set to
stylesheet. The environment variable XSLT_PROCESSOR contains the base
name of the executable that will be used to perform the XSL-T
transformation (for example xsltproc), and the environment variable
XSL_DIR contains the path to the directory containing some useful
stylesheets that come with xmlto. The format script should write the
name of the stylesheet to use to standard output and exit successfully,
or exit with a non-zero return code if there is no appropriate
stylesheet to use (for example, if the only available stylesheet is
known not to work with the XSL-T processor that will be used). If
nothing is written to standard output but the script exits
successfully, no XSL-T transformation will be performed.
Secondly, after an XSL-T processor has been run using the stylesheet,
the format script will be called again, this time with $1 set to
post-process. The format script should perform any necessary steps to
translate the XSL-T processed output into the desired output format,
including copying the output to the desired output directory. For
post-processing, the format script is run in a temporary directory
containing just the processed output (whose name is stored in
XSLT_PROCESSED and whose basename is that of the original XML file with
any filename extension replaced with INPUT_FILE is set to the name of
the original XML file, OUTPUT_DIR is set to the name of the directory
that the output (and only the output) must end up in, and SEARCHPATH is
set to a colon-separate list of fallback directories in which to look
for input (for images, for example). If this step is unsuccessful the
format script should exit with a non-zero return code.
-v Be verbose (-vv for very verbose).
-x stylesheet
Use stylesheet instead of asking the format script to choose
one.
-m fragment
Use the provided XSL fragment to modify the stylesheet.
-o directory
Put output in the specified directory instead of the current
working directory.
-p postprocessor_opts
Pass postprocessor_opts to processing stages after stylesheet
application (e.g. lynx or links when going through HTML to
text, or xmltex when going from through TeX to DVI). If -p is
specified a second time, the options specified will be passed to
second-stage postprocessing; presently this is only applicable
when going through xmltex and dvips to PostScript.
--extensions
Turn on stylesheet extensions for the tool chain in use (for
example, this might turn on passivetex.extensions and
use.extensions if PassiveTeX is being used). The variables
turned on are the ones used by Norman Walsh's DocBook XSL
stylesheets.
--searchpath path
Add the colon-separated list of directories in path as fallback
directories for including input.
--skip-validation
Skip the validation step that is normally performed.
--help Display a short usage message. It will describe xmlto's options,
and the available output formats.
--version
Display the version number of xmlto.
EXAMPLES
To convert a DocBook XML document to PDF, use:
xmlto pdf mydoc.xml
To convert a DocBook XML document to HTML and store the resulting HTML
files in a separate directory use:
xmlto-o html-dir html mydoc.xml
To convert a DocBook XML document to a single HTML file use:
xmlto html-nochunks mydoc.xml
To modify the output using an XSL fragment use:
xmlto-m ulink.xsl pdf mydoc.xml
To specify which stylesheet to use (overriding the one that the format
script would choose) use:
xmlto-x mystylesheet.xsl pdf mydoc.xml
Linux October 2002 XMLTO(1)
