py-whatsapp-formatter: Python Library for WhatsApp Text Formatting

Convert Markdown and HTML to WhatsApp formatting in Python — A lightweight, zero-dependency library for bidirectional conversion between WhatsApp, Markdown, and HTML text formatting. Perfect for WhatsApp chatbots, messaging automation, WhatsApp Business API integrations, and any application that needs to format text for WhatsApp messages.

Key Features:

• 🔄 Bidirectional conversion (to and from WhatsApp format)
• 📝 Supports Markdown ↔ WhatsApp and HTML ↔ WhatsApp
• 🎯 Zero dependencies, fully typed
• ⚡ Fast and lightweight
• 🔗 Handles nested formatting correctly

Installation

pip install py-whatsapp-formatter

Use Cases

• WhatsApp Chatbots: Format bot responses with proper WhatsApp styling
• WhatsApp Business API: Convert rich text to WhatsApp-compatible format
• Content Management: Transform CMS content (HTML/Markdown) for WhatsApp
• Message Automation: Programmatically format WhatsApp messages
• AI Chat Integration: Convert ChatGPT/Claude markdown responses to WhatsApp format

Usage

Convert to WhatsApp Format

from whatsapp_formatter import convert_markdown_to_whatsapp, convert_html_to_whatsapp

# Convert Markdown to WhatsApp format
text = convert_markdown_to_whatsapp("**Bold** and *italic* and ~~strikethrough~~")
# Output: "*Bold* and _italic_ and ~strikethrough~"

# Convert HTML to WhatsApp format
text = convert_html_to_whatsapp("<strong>Bold</strong> <em>italic</em>")
# Output: "*Bold* _italic_"

Convert from WhatsApp Format

from whatsapp_formatter import convert_whatsapp_to_markdown, convert_whatsapp_to_html

# Convert WhatsApp to Markdown format
text = convert_whatsapp_to_markdown("*Bold* and _italic_ and ~strikethrough~")
# Output: "**Bold** and *italic* and ~~strikethrough~~"

# Convert WhatsApp to HTML format
text = convert_whatsapp_to_html("*Bold* and _italic_ and ~strikethrough~")
# Output: "<strong>Bold</strong> and <em>italic</em> and <del>strikethrough</del>"

WhatsApp Formatting Reference

All conversions are bidirectional. Nested formatting is supported (e.g., *_bold and italic_*).

Advanced Usage

For more control, use the converter classes directly:

from whatsapp_formatter import (
    MarkdownToWhatsAppConverter,
    HTMLToWhatsAppConverter,
    WhatsAppToMarkdownConverter,
    WhatsAppToHTMLConverter,
)

# Custom Markdown converter with post-processing
converter = MarkdownToWhatsAppConverter()
converter.add_post_processor(lambda x: x.strip())
result = converter.convert("  **Hello**  ")

# HTML converter without tag stripping
converter = HTMLToWhatsAppConverter(strip_remaining_tags=False)
result = converter.convert("<b>Bold</b> <span>kept</span>")

# WhatsApp to Markdown
converter = WhatsAppToMarkdownConverter()
result = converter.convert("*bold* _italic_ ~strike~")
# Output: "**bold** *italic* ~~strike~~"

# WhatsApp to HTML (with optional line break conversion)
converter = WhatsAppToHTMLConverter(include_line_breaks=True)
result = converter.convert("*bold*\n_italic_")
# Output: "<strong>bold</strong><br>\n<em>italic</em>"

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• No external dependencies

License

MIT License