pdf_dir.sh (archived)

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This is is a bash script over pandoc that converts all files in a directory, matching an extension, into PDF.

By default, the output directory is the same directory where the original documents are found.

Optionally, a markdown parser can be applied.

Usage

• Install pandoc and the relevant extensions for it to be able to write PDF your system. It is usually a TeX/LaTeX distribution (e.g.: BasicTeX on Mac). Check pandoc for options on this.
• Clone or download this repo as a zip, and unpack.
• Open a Terminal at the directory you've unpacked the zip, and run:

$ ./pdf_dir.sh 
# converts all docx files into PDF, in the current directory
$ ./pdf_dir.sh -m -e txt 
# converts all txt files into PDF, in the current directory, interpreting
# their contents as Markdown
$ ./pdf_dir.sh -e odt -d ~/Documents/reports 
# converts all odt documents into PDF, in the document Documents/reports
# relative to the current user's home.
$ ./pdf_dir.sh -e odt -d ~/Documents/reports -o ~/Documents
# converts all odt documents into PDF, in the document Documents/reports 
# relative to the current user's home. Places the results in Documents, 
# relative to the current user's home

It's important to note that the PDF files will be left in the same directory where the original files are, unless a specific other directory is specified with the -o option.

The command has a help option (any invalid option will print the help text):

$ pdf_dir.sh -h
pdf_dir.sh: convert all documents in a directory to PDF.

USAGE: pdf_dir.sh [-e extension] [-d input dir.] [-o output dir.] [-m]
         -e extension: of the files to process, no dots (.) or wildcards,
                e.g.: docx. Optional, default: docx
         -d input dir.: directory to process.
                Optional, default: current directory
         -o output dir.: directory to store the PDF files.
                Optional, default: the input directory
         -m: applies markdown parser to input files

Examples:
         pdf_dir.sh -e txt
             # converts all txt files in current directory
             # to PDF
         pdf_dir.sh -e txt -m
             # Same, but intepreting the content as markdown
         pdf_dir.sh
             # converts all docx files in current directory
             # to PDF
         pdf_dir.sh -d ~/Downloads
             # converts all docx files in current user's
             # Download directory to PDF
         pdf_dir.sh -d ~/Downloads -o ~/Documents/out
             # converts all docx files in current user's
             # Download directory to PDF, placing the PDF
             # files in Documents/out (relative to current
             # user's home)

Adding the script to the PATH

The best approach is to update the PATH environment variable to include the script, to be able to invoke it from anywhere in the system.

For macOS, edit the file .zshrc at your user directory. For that, open the terminal and run nano .zshrc. For Linux, edit the relevant file (.zshrc. .bashrc, .profile,... depending on your particular distribution).

If you have saved pdf_dir.sh to Applications/Scripts under your home directory, add the following line adapted to your case.

PATH="$HOME/Applications/Scripts:$PATH"

Save and close the file (for nano, use CTRL+O to save (confirm with return) and then CTRL+X to exit).

Otherwise, adapt the $HOME/Applications/Scripts part of the example to your case.

After making this modification, either reopen the terminal or source the changes by running source .zshrc, source ~/.bashrc, or the relevant file of your system --the one you've just changed.