Command-Line Usage

The flm command-line tool compiles FLM documents into various output formats.

Basic Usage

Compile an FLM file to standard output:

flm mydocument.flm

Write output to a file:

flm mydocument.flm -o mydocument.html

Specify the output format:

flm mydocument.flm -o mydocument.html --format=html

Read from standard input (when no files are given):

echo '\emph{Hello, world.}' | flm --format=html

Output Formats

Use the -f / --format flag to select the output format:

html

HTML output. Math is marked up with <span> tags for use with MathJax.

text

Plain text output.

latex

LaTeX source output.

markdown

Markdown output.

pdf

PDF output (requires a LaTeX distribution; use with --workflow=runlatexpdf).

You can also specify a fully qualified Python module or class name defining a custom FragmentRenderer subclass.

Templates

Use the -t / --template flag to select a template for wrapping the rendered content:

flm mydocument.flm -o mydocument.html -f html -t simple

Specifying an empty template outputs the raw rendered fragment content without any surrounding template:

flm mydocument.flm -f html -t ''

Additional HTML templates

The flm-templates and flm-htmlplus extension packages provide additional templates and template engines. Install them with:

pip install flm-templates flm-htmlplus

Then use them:

flm mydocument.flm -o output.html -w flm_htmlplus -P 'pkg:flm_templates' -t sunset

Try also the template -t oldtextbook.

Template search paths

Use -P / --template-path to add directories or packages to the template search path. You can specify this option multiple times. Each path is either a relative or absolute directory, or of the form pkg:flm_pkg_name to load template paths from an FLM Python extension package:

flm mydocument.flm -P ./my-templates -P pkg:flm_templates -t mytemplate

Workflows

A workflow controls how the FLM document is processed and rendered. Use -w / --workflow to select a workflow:

templatebasedworkflow (default)

Renders the document and wraps it in a template.

runlatexpdf

Renders to LaTeX and compiles to PDF. Requires a LaTeX distribution (e.g., TeX Live) to be installed. Use with --format=pdf:

flm mydocument.flm -o mydocument.pdf -w runlatexpdf -f pdf

flmlatex

Renders FLM to pure LaTeX source using the FLM recomposer. This differs from the default workflow’s --format=latex in that it uses the FLMPureLatexRecomposer to produce LaTeX output.

You can also specify a fully qualified Python module or class name for a custom workflow.

Configuration

Use -C / --config to specify a configuration file:

flm mydocument.flm -C myconfig.yaml

By default, flmconfig.yaml in the current directory is used if it exists.

Use --inline-config to pass additional configuration as inline YAML or JSON. This is merged into the document’s front-matter configuration. You can specify this option multiple times; earlier occurrences take precedence:

flm mydocument.flm --inline-config '{"flm": {"parsing": {"dollar_inline_math_mode": true}}}'

Use --print-merged-config to debug your configuration by printing the fully merged config and exiting.

See Configuration for full details on the configuration system.

Watch Mode

Use -W / --watch to continuously monitor the input file and automatically update the output file when it changes:

flm mydocument.flm -o mydocument.html -f html -t simple -W

Opening the Output

Use -V / --view to open the output file with your browser or default desktop application after compilation. Requires -o / --output to be specified:

flm mydocument.flm -o mydocument.html -f html -t simple -V

Other Options

-o FILE / --output FILE

Write output to the given file instead of standard output. Use --output=- to explicitly write to standard output.

-c CONTENT / --flm-content CONTENT

Parse the given FLM content string instead of reading from a file.

-B / --force-block-level

Force parsing of the input as block-level (paragraph) content.

-n / --suppress-final-newline

Do not add a trailing newline at the end of the output.

-v / --verbose

Enable verbose debugging output.

--very-verbose

Enable very detailed debugging output, including pylatexenc debug messages.

--version

Print the FLM version and exit.