8 Different Use Cases of the Slimrb Command (with examples)

Convert a Slim file to HTML

To convert a Slim file to HTML, you can use the following command:

slimrb input.slim output.html

• Motivation: This use case is useful when you have a Slim file and you want to generate HTML from it. Slim is a concise and easy-to-read template language, and by converting it to HTML, you can use it in web applications and static webpages.
• Explanation: The slimrb command is used to convert Slim files to HTML. In this use case, we provide the input.slim file as the first argument, and the output.html file as the second argument. The command will read the content of the Slim file, process it, and generate HTML code in the output file.
• Example Output: Suppose we have a input.slim file with the following content:

  h1 Hello, Slim!
  p Welcome to the world of Slim templates.
  

  After running the command, the output.html file will contain the following HTML code:

  <h1>Hello, Slim!</h1>
  <p>Welcome to the world of Slim templates.</p>
  

Convert a Slim file and output to prettified HTML

When you want the generated HTML code to be nicely formatted and indented, you can use the --pretty option. Here’s an example command:

slimrb --pretty input.slim output.html

• Motivation: Prettifying the HTML output can improve code readability and make it easier to understand and maintain. It can also be useful during development and debugging to have well-formatted HTML code.
• Explanation: By adding the --pretty flag to the slimrb command, we instruct Slim to generate indented and prettified HTML code. The rest of the command remains the same as the previous use case.
• Example Output: Using the same input.slim file as before, running the command with the --pretty option will result in the following HTML code in the output.html file:

  <h1>
    Hello, Slim!
  </h1>
  <p>
    Welcome to the world of Slim templates.
  </p>
  

Convert a Slim file to ERB

If you need to convert a Slim file to ERB (Embedded Ruby) format, you can use the --erb option. Here’s an example command:

slimrb --erb input.slim output.erb

• Motivation: ERB is a templating language that allows for the seamless integration of Ruby code into HTML. Converting Slim to ERB can be useful when working with frameworks or libraries that only support ERB templates.
• Explanation: The --erb flag tells the slimrb command to generate ERB code instead of HTML. The input and output file arguments are the same as before.
• Example Output: Suppose we have the following content in input.slim:

  h1 Hello, <%= name %>!
  p Welcome to the world of Slim templates.
  

  After running the command, the output.erb file will contain the following ERB code:

  <h1>Hello, <%= name %>!</h1>
  <p>Welcome to the world of Slim templates.</p>
  

These were the first three use cases of the slimrb command. In the rest of the article, we will cover five more use cases, each demonstrating a different aspect of the command.