Using Python-Markdown on the Command Line
=========================================

While Python-Markdown is primarily a python library, it also serves as a 
command line program. While there are many other command line implementations 
of Markdown, you may not have them installed, or you may prefer to use 
Python-Markdown's various extensions.

The Basics
----------

To use ``markdown.py`` from the command line, run it as 

    python markdown.py input_file.txt

or 

    python markdown.py input_file.txt > output_file.html

More Options

If you are using Python 2.3 or higher, you can also use advanced
command line options to specify encoding or to run extensions.

    $ python markdown.py
    Usage: markdown.py INPUTFILE [options]

    Options:
      -h, --help            show this help message and exit
      -f OUTPUT_FILE, --file=OUTPUT_FILE
                            write output to OUTPUT_FILE
      -e ENCODING, --encoding=ENCODING
                            encoding for input and output files
      -q, --quiet           suppress all messages
      -v, --verbose         print info messages
      -s SAFE_MODE, --safe=SAFE_MODE
                            safe mode ('replace', 'remove' or 'escape'  user's
                            HTML tag)
      --noisy               print debug messages
      -x EXTENSION, --extension=EXTENSION
                            load extension EXTENSION

Using Extensions
----------------

For an extension to be ran this way it must be provided in a module
named ``mdx_{extensionname}.py`` which should be in your python path,
e.g. ``mdx_footnotes.py``.  It can then be invoked as by name (the
part after "mdx_"):

    python markdown.py -x footnotes text_with_footnotes.txt > output.html

If the extension supports config options (see below), you can also
pass them in as well:

    python markdown.py -x "footnotes(PLACE_MARKER=~~~~~~~~)" input.txt