Is there a simple way to convert a Unicode text file to PDF on the command line on macOS?

Question

What is a simple way to convert a Unicode text file to PDF on the command line on macOS?

One can open a text file in e.g. TextEdit and print it as a PDF. Is there a command line equivalent?

Anders Lundstedt · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-21 00:59:02Z

8

The following has been tested on Mac OS 10.12.1.

To convert a Unicode text file text.txt to a pdf file text.pdf:

textutil -convert html test.txt
cupsfilter test.html > test.pdf

To specify font:

textutil -font 'Menlo Regular' -fontsize 11 -convert html test.txt
cupsfilter test.html > test.pdf

answered Feb 21, 2017 at 0:59

Anders Lundstedt

1311 silver badge5 bronze badges

1

> cupsfilter release-notes.html > cupsfilter: No filter to convert from text/html to application/pdf. I've tried you method but got this error, maybe do you know what's wrong ?
– Zohar81
Aug 2, 2020 at 8:44
1

@Zohar81 I am afraid not. Since writing this answer I have moved towards a more heavyweight solution where I use XeLaTeX to convert the text file to pdf.
– Anders Lundstedt
Aug 7, 2020 at 8:44
It is working in osx Monterey 12.6. Thank you, Anders.
– aironman
Oct 17, 2022 at 15:04

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Andreas Abel · Accepted Answer · 2023-03-25 20:27:55Z

1

https://pandoc.org/ can convert from text to PDF (and much more). Basic invocation:

pandoc input.txt -o output.pdf

answered Mar 25 at 20:27

Andreas Abel

212 bronze badges

This is an online converter which pretty much throws any expected privacy right out the window. For security purposes, I highly suggest people avoid this.
– Allan
Mar 25 at 21:13

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2 Answers 2