html2text
html2text is a Python script that converts a page of HTML into clean, easy-to-read plain ASCII text. Better yet, that ASCII also happens to be valid Markdown (a text-to-HTML format).
Usage: html2text [filename [encoding]]
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
--version |
Show program's version number and exit |
-h, --help |
Show this help message and exit |
--ignore-links |
Don't include any formatting for links |
--escape-all |
Escape all special characters. Output is less readable, but avoids corner case formatting issues. |
--reference-links |
Use reference links instead of links to create markdown |
--mark-code |
Mark preformatted and code blocks with [code]...[/code] |
For a complete list of options see the docs
Or you can use it from within Python:
>>> import html2text
>>>
>>> print(html2text.html2text("<p><strong>Zed's</strong> dead baby, <em>Zed's</em> dead.</p>"))
**Zed's** dead baby, _Zed's_ dead.
Or with some configuration options:
>>> import html2text
>>>
>>> h = html2text.HTML2Text()
>>> # Ignore converting links from HTML
>>> h.ignore_links = True
>>> print h.handle("<p>Hello, <a href='https://www.google.com/earth/'>world</a>!")
Hello, world!
>>> print(h.handle("<p>Hello, <a href='https://www.google.com/earth/'>world</a>!"))
Hello, world!
>>> # Don't Ignore links anymore, I like links
>>> h.ignore_links = False
>>> print(h.handle("<p>Hello, <a href='https://www.google.com/earth/'>world</a>!"))
Hello, [world](https://www.google.com/earth/)!
Originally written by Aaron Swartz. This code is distributed under the GPLv3.
How to install
html2text is available on pypi
https://pypi.org/project/html2text/
$ pip install html2text
Development
How to run unit tests
$ tox
To see the coverage results:
$ coverage html
then open the ./htmlcov/index.html file in your browser.
Code Quality & Pre Commit
The CI runs several linting steps, including:
- mypy
- Flake8
- Black
To make sure the code passes the CI linting steps, run:
$ tox -e pre-commit
Documentation
Documentation lives here
Release files for html2text 2025.4.15
For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.
Source distribution (sdist)
| File | Size | Uploaded | Provenance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| html2text-2025.4.15.tar.gz | 64.3 kB | With provenance | Details |
Built distribution (wheel)
| File | Interpreter | ABI | Platform | Reset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| html2text-2025.4.15-py3-none-any.whl | Python 3 | none | any | Details |
Total release size: 99.0 kB
Release files / html2text-2025.4.15.tar.gz
| Download URL | html2text-2025.4.15.tar.gz |
|---|---|
| Size | 64.3 kB |
| Tags | Source |
|
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Transparency logRelease files / html2text-2025.4.15-py3-none-any.whl
| Download URL | html2text-2025.4.15-py3-none-any.whl |
|---|---|
| Size | 34.7 kB |
| Tags | Python 3 |
|
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums |
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|
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing? |
Yes |
| Uploaded via |
twine/6.1.0 CPython/3.12.9
|
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PyPI verified that this artifact, at this checksum, originated from the publisher listed below.
Signed by GitHub Actions, verified by PyPI on Apr 15, 2025.
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PyPI verified that this artifact, at this checksum, originated from the publisher listed below.
Signed by GitHub Actions, verified by PyPI on Apr 15, 2025.
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