Manipulating Text Files with textutil (with examples)

Displaying Information about a text file

Sometimes, you may need to quickly check the details of a text file, such as its file format or character encoding. The textutil -info command provides a convenient way to display this information. Here’s an example:

textutil -info path/to/foo.rtf

• path/to/foo.rtf: This is the path to the text file you want to check. Replace it with the actual path of your file.

Motivation: This command is useful when you want to gather information about a text file without opening it in an editor or a specific application. It provides a quick overview of the file’s properties.

Example output:

Note: Opened format=RTF
File:       path/to/foo.rtf
Type:       Rich Text Format (RTF)
Encoding:   Unicode (UTF-8)
Creator:    -
Version:    1.6

The output provides information about the file format (RTF), encoding (UTF-8), creator, and version.

Converting a text file into HTML

Converting text files into different formats is a common task in document processing. The textutil -convert command allows you to convert a text file into HTML format. Here’s an example:

textutil -convert html path/to/foo.rtf

• html: This argument specifies the output format. In this case, it is set to HTML.
• path/to/foo.rtf: Replace this with the path to the text file you want to convert.

Motivation: Converting a text file to HTML format can be helpful when you want to incorporate the file’s content into a website or web application.

Example output: The command will create a new file named foo.html in the same directory as foo.rtf. The content of foo.rtf will be converted to HTML format and saved in foo.html.

Converting Rich Text to Plain Text

Rich text files often contain formatting and styling information that may not be desirable in certain scenarios. The textutil command can be used to convert such files to plain text. Here’s an example:

textutil path/to/foo.rtf -convert txt

• path/to/foo.rtf: Replace this with the path to the rich text file you want to convert.
• txt: This argument specifies the output format, which is plain text in this case.

Motivation: Converting rich text files to plain text can be useful when you need to extract only the textual content without any formatting or styling. This can be particularly handy for text analysis or processing tasks.

Example output: The command will create a new file named foo.txt in the same directory as foo.rtf. The content of foo.rtf will be converted to plain text and saved in foo.txt.

Converting a Plain Text file into Rich Text format

Converting plain text files into rich text format can be helpful when you want to apply formatting or styling to the content. The textutil command allows you to convert a plain text file into rich text format, while also specifying font and font size. Here’s an example:

textutil -convert rtf -font Times -fontsize 10 path/to/foo.txt

• rtf: This argument specifies the output format, which is rich text format (RTF) in this case.
• Times: This argument specifies the font to be used for the converted text.
• 10: This argument specifies the font size in points.
• path/to/foo.txt: Replace this with the path to the plain text file you want to convert.

Motivation: Converting plain text files to rich text format can be handy when you want to stylize the content, such as applying a specific font or font size.

Example output: The command will create a new file named foo.rtf in the same directory as foo.txt. The content of foo.txt will be converted to rich text format, using the specified font (Times) and font size (10).

Concatenating and converting multiple text files

The textutil command also allows you to manipulate multiple files simultaneously. In this example, we’ll see how to concatenate the contents of multiple RTF files and convert them into a single HTML file.

textutil -cat html -title "Several Files" -output path/to/index.html *.rtf

• html: This argument specifies the output format, which is HTML.
• "Several Files": This argument sets the title of the resulting HTML file.
• path/to/index.html: Replace this with the desired output file path.
• *.rtf: This wildcard allows the command to process all RTF files in the current directory.

Motivation: Merging the content of multiple text files and converting them into a single HTML file can be useful when you want to create an index or combine related documents into one cohesive webpage.

Example output: The command will create a new file named index.html in the specified output path. The contents of all the RTF files in the current directory will be concatenated and saved in index.html with the specified HTML title.

In conclusion, the textutil command provides a flexible and efficient way to manipulate text files of various formats. These examples demonstrate its usefulness in displaying file information, converting between formats, and merging multiple files. Whether you need to extract plain text, convert to HTML, or customize rich text, textutil can simplify your text processing tasks.