Command Line Interface - PdfItDown Docs

PdfItDown comes with a command line application from which you can comfortably convert all your files without actually touching a single line of code. Based on clap, the CLI is designed to offer a seamless experience, with almost as much control of inputs and outputs as if you were to write the flow in Rust: it is then the perfect choice if you want an easy and intuitive approach to file conversion, without getting your hands dirty with code.

Installation

# Install from crates.io
cargo install pdfitdown

# With parallelization support
cargo install pdfitdown --features rayon

# Or build from source
git clone https://github.com/AstraBert/PdfItDown.git
cd PdfItDown
cargo install --path crates/pdfitdown

Usage

Below are some example commands for using PdfItDown from the terminal, along with explanations for each option and scenario:

Convert a single file to PDF

Use this command to convert a single file (e.g., a Markdown file) to PDF:

pdfitdown -i README.md -o README.pdf

-i README.md: Specifies the input file to convert.
-o README.pdf: Sets the output PDF file path.

Convert multiple files with custom output paths

You can convert several files at once, specifying a matching output PDF for each input:

pdfitdown -i test0.png -i test1.md -o testoutput0.pdf -o testoutput1.pdf

Multiple -i flags: List each input file you want to convert.
Multiple -o flags: Provide an output path for each input file, in the same order.

Bulk convert all files in a directory

To convert every file in a directory to PDF in one go:

pdfitdown -d tests/data/testdir

-d tests/data/testdir: Specifies the directory containing files to convert. All supported files in this directory will be converted to PDF.

Recursive directory conversion

To recursively convert all files in a directory and its subdirectories:

pdfitdown -d tests/data/testdir --recursive

--recursive: Walks through all subdirectories and converts supported files.

Prevent overwriting existing files

To skip files that would overwrite an existing PDF:

pdfitdown -i README.md -o README.pdf --no-overwrite

--no-overwrite: If the output file already exists, the conversion will fail instead of replacing it.

For more details on available options, run:

pdfitdown --help

​Installation

​Usage

​Convert a single file to PDF

​Convert multiple files with custom output paths

​Bulk convert all files in a directory

​Recursive directory conversion

​Prevent overwriting existing files