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Build a markdown to PDF converter

Written by

Bernardo Palos

in

Here’s a simple Markdown to PDF converter implemented in Python using the markdown and pdfkit libraries. It reads a .md file and converts it into a .pdf file.

✅ Prerequisites

Install the following packages:

bash
pip install markdown pdfkit

Also install wkhtmltopdf (required by pdfkit):

Make sure wkhtmltopdf is in your system’s PATH.

🧾 Python Script: Markdown to PDF

python
import markdown
import pdfkit
import sys
import os

def markdown_to_pdf(input_md_file, output_pdf_file):
    if not os.path.exists(input_md_file):
        print(f"Error: File {input_md_file} not found.")
        return

    with open(input_md_file, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
        md_text = f.read()

    # Convert Markdown to HTML
    html_text = markdown.markdown(md_text)

    # Add basic HTML structure for rendering
    full_html = f"""
    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
        <meta charset="utf-8">
        <style>
            body {{
                font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
                margin: 40px;
            }}
        </style>
    </head>
    <body>
        {html_text}
    </body>
    </html>
    """

    # Convert HTML to PDF
    try:
        pdfkit.from_string(full_html, output_pdf_file)
        print(f"PDF saved to {output_pdf_file}")
    except Exception as e:
        print("PDF conversion failed:", e)

# Example usage
if __name__ == "__main__":
    if len(sys.argv) != 3:
        print("Usage: python markdown_to_pdf.py input.md output.pdf")
    else:
        markdown_to_pdf(sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2])

🏁 How to Use

bash
python markdown_to_pdf.py sample.md output.pdf

This will convert sample.md to output.pdf using HTML styling for better formatting.

Let me know if you want an interactive GUI version or integration into a web app.

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