Combine with Markdown¶

Several fpdf2 methods allow Markdown syntax elements:

FPDF.cell() has an optional markdown=True parameter that makes it possible to use **bold**, __italics__, ~~strikethrough~~ or --underlined-- Markdown markers
FPDF.multi_cell() & FPDF.table() methods have a similar feature

But fpdf2 also allows for basic conversion from HTML to PDF (cf. HTML). This can be combined with a Markdown-rendering library in order to generate PDF documents from Markdown:

mistletoe¶

The mistletoe library follows the CommonMark specification:

pip install mistletoe

from mistletoe import markdown

html = markdown(
    """
# Top title (ATX)

Subtitle (setext)
-----------------

### An even lower heading (ATX)

**Text in bold**

_Text in italics_

~~Strikethrough~~

[This is a link](https://github.com/PyFPDF/fpdf2)

<https://py-pdf.github.io/fpdf2/>

This is an unordered list:
* an item
* another item

This is an ordered list:
1. first item
2. second item
3. third item with an unordered sublist:
    * an item
    * another item

Inline `code span`

A table:

| Foo | Bar | Baz |
| ---:|:---:|:--- |
| Foo | Bar | Baz |

Actual HTML:

<dl>
  <dt>Term1</dt><dd>Definition1</dd>
  <dt>Term2</dt><dd>Definition2</dd>
</dl>

Some horizontal thematic breaks:

***
---
___

![Alternate description](https://py-pdf.github.io/fpdf2/fpdf2-logo.png)
"""
)

from fpdf import FPDF

pdf = FPDF()
pdf.add_page()
pdf.write_html(html)
pdf.output("pdf-from-markdown-with-mistletoe.pdf")

The library can be easily extended: Creating a custom token and renderer.

Rendering unicode characters¶

from mistletoe import markdown

html = markdown(
    """
# Unicode:

| Emoji | Description |
| --- | - |
| 😀 | GRINNING FACE |
| 😁 | GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES |
| 😈 | SMILING FACE WITH HORNS |

# A checklist:

* ☐ item 1
* ☑ item 2
* ☐ item 3
"""
)

from fpdf import FPDF

pdf = FPDF()
pdf.add_font("DejaVuSans", fname="test/fonts/DejaVuSans.ttf")
pdf.add_font("DejaVuSans", fname="test/fonts/DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf", style="B")
pdf.set_font("DejaVuSans", size=24)
pdf.add_page()
pdf.write_html(html)
pdf.output("pdf-from-markdown-with-mistletoe-unicode.pdf")

Result:

markdown-it-py¶

The markdown-it-py library also follows the CommonMark specification:

pip install markdown-it-py

from markdown_it import MarkdownIt

md = (
    MarkdownIt("commonmark", {"breaks": True, "html": True})
    .enable("strikethrough")
    .enable("table")
)
html = md.render(
    """
# Top title (ATX)

Subtitle (setext)
-----------------

### An even lower heading (ATX)

**Text in bold**

_Text in italics_

~~Strikethrough~~

[This is a link](https://github.com/PyFPDF/fpdf2)

<https://py-pdf.github.io/fpdf2/>

This is an unordered list:
* an item
* another item

This is an ordered list:
1. first item
2. second item
3. third item with an unordered sublist:
    * an item
    * another item

Inline `code span`

A table:

| Foo | Bar | Baz |
| ---:|:---:|:--- |
| Foo | Bar | Baz |

Actual HTML:

<dl>
  <dt>Term1</dt><dd>Definition1</dd>
  <dt>Term2</dt><dd>Definition2</dd>
</dl>

Some horizontal thematic breaks:

***
---
___

![Alternate description](https://py-pdf.github.io/fpdf2/fpdf2-logo.png)
"""
)

from fpdf import FPDF

pdf = FPDF()
pdf.add_page()
pdf.write_html(html)
pdf.output("pdf-from-markdown-with-markdown-it.pdf")

Plugin extensions: the strikethrough & table plugins are embedded within the core package, and many other plugins are then available via the mdit-py-plugins package, including:

Footnotes
Definition lists
Task lists
Heading anchors
LaTeX math
Containers
Word count

mistune¶

There is also the mistune library, that may be the fastest, but it does not follow the CommonMark spec:

pip install mistune

from mistune import html

html = html(
    """
# Top title (ATX)

Subtitle (setext)
-----------------

### An even lower heading (ATX)

**Text in bold**

_Text in italics_

~~Strikethrough~~

[This is a link](https://github.com/PyFPDF/fpdf2)

<https://py-pdf.github.io/fpdf2/>

This is an unordered list:
* an item
* another item

This is an ordered list:
1. first item
2. second item
3. third item with an unordered sublist:
    * an item
    * another item

Inline `code span`

A table:

| Foo | Bar | Baz |
| ---:|:---:|:--- |
| Foo | Bar | Baz |

Actual HTML:

<dl>
  <dt>Term1</dt><dd>Definition1</dd>
  <dt>Term2</dt><dd>Definition2</dd>
</dl>

Some horizontal thematic breaks:

***
---
___

![Alternate description](https://py-pdf.github.io/fpdf2/fpdf2-logo.png)
"""
)

from fpdf import FPDF

pdf = FPDF()
pdf.add_page()
pdf.write_html(html)
pdf.output("pdf-from-markdown-with-mistune.pdf")

Python-Markdown¶

There is also the Python-Markdown library, which is the oldest Markdown rendering Python lib still active, but it does not follow the CommonMark spec:

pip install markdown

from markdown import markdown

html = markdown(
    """
# Top title (ATX)

Subtitle (setext)
-----------------

### An even lower heading (ATX)

**Text in bold**

_Text in italics_

[This is a link](https://github.com/PyFPDF/fpdf2)

<https://py-pdf.github.io/fpdf2/>

This is an unordered list:

* an item
* another item

This is an ordered list:

1. first item
2. second item
3. third item with an unordered sublist:
    * an item
    * another item

Inline `code span`

A table:

Foo | Bar | Baz
--- | --- | ---
Foo | Bar | Baz

Definition list:

Term
: Definition

Actual HTML:

<dl>
  <dt>Term1</dt><dd>Definition1</dd>
  <dt>Term2</dt><dd>Definition2</dd>
</dl>

Some horizontal thematic breaks:

***

---

___

![Alternate description](https://py-pdf.github.io/fpdf2/fpdf2-logo.png)
""",
    extensions=["def_list", "sane_lists", "tables"],
)

from fpdf import FPDF

pdf = FPDF()
pdf.add_page()
pdf.write_html(html)
pdf.output("pdf-from-markdown-with-markdown.pdf")