HTML to PDF / Command Line Examples

This page contains various examples of using the HTML to PDF API in Command Line. The examples are complete and fully functional. Read more about how to convert HTML to PDF in Command Line.

Basic examples
Advanced examples
Template rendering examples

Basic examples

Webpage to PDF file

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -content-viewport-width "balanced" \
    "http://www.example.com" > "example.pdf"

HTML file to PDF file

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -content-viewport-width "balanced" \
    "/path/to/MyLayout.html" > "MyLayout.pdf"

HTML string to PDF file

echo -n "<html><body><h1>Hello World!</h1></body></html>" | \
html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -content-viewport-width "balanced" - > "HelloWorld.pdf"

Advanced examples

Customize the page size and the orientation

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -page-size "Letter" \
    -orientation "landscape" \
    -no-margins \
    "http://www.example.com" > "letter_landscape.pdf"

Put the source URL in the header and the page number in the footer

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -header-height "15mm" \
    -footer-height "10mm" \
    -header-html "<a class='pdfcrowd-source-url' data-pdfcrowd-placement='href-and-content'></a>" \
    -footer-html "<center><span class='pdfcrowd-page-number'></span></center>" \
    -margin-top "0" \
    -margin-bottom "0" \
    "http://www.example.com" > "header_footer.pdf"

Create fillable PDF form

echo -n "<html><body>Enter name:<input type=text></body></html>" | \
html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -enable-pdf-forms - > "form.pdf"

Zoom the HTML document

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -scale-factor 300 \
    "http://www.example.com" > "zoom_300.pdf"

Set PDF metadata

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -author "Pdfcrowd" \
    -title "Hello World" \
    -subject "Demo" \
    -keywords "Pdfcrowd,demo" \
    "http://www.example.com" > "with_metadata.pdf"

Create a Powerpoint like presentation from an HTML document

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -page-layout "single-page" \
    -page-mode "full-screen" \
    -initial-zoom-type "fit-page" \
    -orientation "landscape" \
    -no-margins \
    "https://pdfcrowd.com/api/" > "slide_show.pdf"

Convert an HTML document section

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -element-to-convert "#main" \
    "https://pdfcrowd.com/api/" > "html_part.pdf"

Inject an HTML code

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -custom-javascript "el=document.createElement('h2'); el.textContent='Hello from Pdfcrowd API'; el.style.color='red'; el_before=document.getElementsByTagName('h1')[0]; el_before.parentNode.insertBefore(el, el_before.nextSibling)" \
    "http://www.example.com" > "html_inject.pdf"

Convert a responsive web page as it appears on a large device

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -content-viewport-width "large" \
    -no-margins \
    "https://getbootstrap.com/" > "bootstrap.pdf"

Renderer debugging - highlight HTML elements

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -custom-javascript "libPdfcrowd.highlightHtmlElements({backgroundColor: 'rgba(255, 191, 0, 0.1)', borderColor:null})" \
    "http://www.example.com" > "highlight_background.pdf"

Renderer debugging - borders with spacing around HTML elements

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -custom-javascript "libPdfcrowd.highlightHtmlElements({borderColor: 'orange', backgroundColor: null, padding: '4px', margin: '4px'})" \
    "http://www.example.com" > "highlight_borders.pdf"

Template rendering examples

Create PDF from JSON data

echo -n "Hello {{ name }} from {{ product }}" | \
html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -data-string "$(echo -e "{
            \"name\": \"World\",
            \"product\": \"Pdfcrowd API\"
        }")" - > "output.pdf"

Create PDF from XML data

echo -n "Hello {{ data.name }} from {{ data.product }}" | \
html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -data-string "$(echo -e "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>
        <data>
          <name>World</name>
          <product>Pdfcrowd API</product>
        </data>")" - > "output.pdf"

Create PDF from YAML data

echo -n "Hello {{ name }} from {{ product }}" | \
html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -data-string "$(echo -e "name: World
product: Pdfcrowd API")" - > "output.pdf"

Create PDF from CSV data

echo -n "Hello {{ name }} from {{ product }}" | \
html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "demo" \
    -data-string "$(echo -e "name,product
World,Pdfcrowd API")" - > "output.pdf"