RST2HTML4(1) text processing RST2HTML4(1)
NAME
rst2html4 - convert reST documents to XHTML
SYNOPSIS
rst2html4 [options] [<source> [<destination>]]
DESCRIPTION
Generate XHTML 1.1 documents from standalone reStructuredText sources <
<https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/user/html.html#html4css1> >.
Reads from <source> (default is stdin) and writes to <destination> (de-
fault is stdout). See <https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/user/con-
fig.html> for a detailed settings reference.
OPTIONS
General Docutils Options
--output=<destination>
Output destination name. Obsoletes the <destination> positional
argument. Default: None (stdout).
--title=<title>
Specify the document title as metadata.
--generator, -g
Include a "Generated by Docutils" credit and link.
--no-generator
Do not include a generator credit.
--date, -d
Include the date at the end of the document (UTC).
--time, -t
Include the time & date (UTC).
--no-datestamp
Do not include a datestamp of any kind.
--root-prefix=<path>
Base directory for absolute paths when reading from the local
filesystem. Default "/".
--source-link, -s
Include a "View document source" link.
--source-url=<URL>
Use <URL> for a source link; implies --source-link.
--no-source-link
Do not include a "View document source" link.
--toc-entry-backlinks
Link from section headers to TOC entries. (default)
--toc-top-backlinks
Link from section headers to the top of the TOC.
--no-toc-backlinks
Disable backlinks to the table of contents.
--footnote-backlinks
Link from footnotes/citations to references. (default)
--no-footnote-backlinks
Disable backlinks from footnotes and citations.
--section-numbering
Enable section numbering by Docutils. (default)
--no-section-numbering
Disable section numbering by Docutils.
--strip-comments
Remove comment elements from the document tree.
--leave-comments
Leave comment elements in the document tree. (default)
--strip-elements-with-class=<class>
Remove all elements with classes="<class>" from the document
tree. Warning: potentially dangerous; use with caution. (Multi-
ple-use option.)
--strip-class=<class>
Remove all classes="<class>" attributes from elements in the doc-
ument tree. Warning: potentially dangerous; use with caution.
(Multiple-use option.)
--report=<level>, -r <level>
Report system messages at or higher than <level>: "info" or "1",
"warning"/"2" (default), "error"/"3", "severe"/"4", "none"/"5"
--verbose, -v
Report all system messages. (Same as "--report=1".)
--quiet, -q
Report no system messages. (Same as "--report=5".)
--halt=<level>
Halt execution at system messages at or above <level>. Levels as
in --report. Default: 4 (severe).
--strict
Halt at the slightest problem. Same as "--halt=info".
--exit-status=<level>
Enable a non-zero exit status for non-halting system messages at
or above <level>. Default: 5 (disabled).
--debug
Enable debug-level system messages and diagnostics.
--no-debug
Disable debug output. (default)
--warnings=<file>
Send the output of system messages to <file>.
--traceback
Enable Python tracebacks when Docutils is halted.
--no-traceback
Disable Python tracebacks. (default)
--input-encoding=<name[:handler]>, -i <name[:handler]>
Specify the encoding and optionally the error handler of input
text. Default: <auto-detect>:strict.
--input-encoding-error-handler=INPUT_ENCODING_ERROR_HANDLER
Specify the error handler for undecodable characters. Choices:
"strict" (default), "ignore", and "replace".
--output-encoding=<name[:handler]>, -o <name[:handler]>
Specify the text encoding and optionally the error handler for
output. Default: utf-8:strict.
--output-encoding-error-handler=OUTPUT_ENCODING_ERROR_HANDLER
Specify error handler for unencodable output characters; "strict"
(default), "ignore", "replace", "xmlcharrefreplace", "back-
slashreplace".
--error-encoding=<name[:handler]>, -e <name[:handler]>
Specify text encoding and optionally error handler for error out-
put. Default text encoding: system encoding. Default error han-
dler: backslashreplace.
--error-encoding-error-handler=ERROR_ENCODING_ERROR_HANDLER
Specify the error handler for unencodable characters in error
output. Default: backslashreplace.
--language=<name>, -l <name>
Specify the language (as BCP 47 language tag). Default: en.
--record-dependencies=<file>
Write output file dependencies to <file>.
--config=<file>
Read configuration settings from <file>, if it exists.
--version, -V
Show this program's version number and exit.
--help, -h
Show this help message and exit.
Generic Parser Options
--no-file-insertion
Disable directives that insert the contents of an external file;
replaced with a "warning" system message.
--file-insertion-enabled
Enable directives that insert the contents of an external file.
(default)
--no-raw
Disable the "raw" directive; replaced with a "warning" system
message.
--raw-enabled
Enable the "raw" directive. (default)
--line-length-limit=<length>
Maximal number of characters in an input line. Default 10 000.
reStructuredText Parser Options
--pep-references
Recognize and link to standalone PEP references (like "PEP 258").
--pep-base-url=<URL>
Base URL for PEP references (default " <https://peps.python.org/>
").
--pep-file-url-template=<URL>
Template for PEP file part of URL. (default "pep-%04d")
--rfc-references
Recognize and link to standalone RFC references (like "RFC 822").
--rfc-base-url=<URL>
Base URL for RFC references (default "
<https://tools.ietf.org/html/> ").
--tab-width=<width>
Set number of spaces for tab expansion (default 8).
--trim-footnote-reference-space
Remove spaces before footnote references.
--leave-footnote-reference-space
Leave spaces before footnote references.
--syntax-highlight=<format>
Token name set for parsing code with Pygments: one of "long",
"short", or "none" (no parsing). Default is "long".
--smart-quotes=<yes/no/alt>
Change straight quotation marks to typographic form: one of
"yes", "no", "alt[ernative]" (default "no").
--smartquotes-locales=<language:quotes[,language:quotes,...]>
Characters to use as "smart quotes" for <language>.
--word-level-inline-markup
Inline markup recognized at word boundaries only (adjacent to
punctuation or whitespace). Force character-level inline markup
recognition with "" (backslash + space). Default.
--character-level-inline-markup
Inline markup recognized anywhere, regardless of surrounding
characters. Backslash-escapes must be used to avoid unwanted
markup recognition. Useful for East Asian languages. Experimen-
tal.
Standalone Reader Options
--no-doc-title
Disable the promotion of a lone top-level section title to docu-
ment title (and subsequent section title to document subtitle
promotion; enabled by default).
--no-doc-info
Disable the bibliographic field list transform (enabled by de-
fault).
--section-subtitles
Activate the promotion of lone subsection titles to section sub-
titles (disabled by default).
--no-section-subtitles
Deactivate the promotion of lone subsection titles.
HTML Writer Options
--template=<file>
Template file. (UTF-8 encoded, default: "/usr/share/docu-
tils/writers/html4css1/template.txt")
--stylesheet=<URL[,URL,...]>
Comma separated list of stylesheet URLs. Overrides previous
--stylesheet and --stylesheet-path settings.
--stylesheet-path=<file[,file,...]>
Comma separated list of stylesheet paths. Relative paths are ex-
panded if a matching file is found in the --stylesheet-dirs. With
--link-stylesheet, the path is rewritten relative to the output
HTML file. (default: "html4css1.css")
--stylesheet-dirs=<dir[,dir,...]>
Comma-separated list of directories where stylesheets are found.
Used by --stylesheet-path when expanding relative path arguments.
(default: ".,/usr/share/docut ils/writ-
ers/html4css1,/usr/share/docutils/writers/html 5_polyglot")
--embed-stylesheet
Embed the stylesheet(s) in the output HTML file. The stylesheet
files must be accessible during processing. (default)
--link-stylesheet
Link to the stylesheet(s) in the output HTML file.
--initial-header-level=<level>
Specify the initial header level. Does not affect document title
& subtitle (see --no-doc-title). (default: 1 for "<h1>")
--footnote-references=<format>
Format for footnote references: one of "superscript" or "brack-
ets". (default: "brackets")
--attribution=<format>
Format for block quote attributions: one of "dash" (em-dash pre-
fix), "parentheses"/"parens", or "none". (default: "dash")
--compact-lists
Remove extra vertical whitespace between items of "simple" bullet
lists and enumerated lists. (default)
--no-compact-lists
Disable compact simple bullet and enumerated lists.
--compact-field-lists
Remove extra vertical whitespace between items of simple field
lists. (default)
--no-compact-field-lists
Disable compact simple field lists.
--table-style=TABLE_STYLE
Added to standard table classes. Defined styles: borderless,
booktabs, align-left, align-center, align- right, colwidths-auto,
colwidths-grid.
--math-output=MATH_OUTPUT
Math output format (one of "MathML", "HTML", "MathJax", or "La-
TeX") and option(s). (default: "HTML math.css")
--xml-declaration
Prepend an XML declaration (default).
--no-xml-declaration
Omit the XML declaration.
--cloak-email-addresses
Obfuscate email addresses to confuse harvesters while still keep-
ing email links usable with standards- compliant browsers.
HTML4 Writer Options
--field-name-limit=<level>
Specify the maximum width (in characters) for one- column field
names. Longer field names will span an entire row of the table
used to render the field list. Default is 14 characters. Use 0
for "no limit".
--option-limit=<level>
Specify the maximum width (in characters) for options in option
lists. Longer options will span an entire row of the table used
to render the option list. Default is 14 characters. Use 0 for
"no limit".
RST2HTML4(1)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Sat Oct 3 05:59:31 CEST 2026.