Possible to print to PDF from Mac terminal?












16














Is it possible to take a file and print it to a PDF using nothing but terminal commands? I am guessing you would somehow make use of the lpr command, but I have yet to discover the correct syntax.










share|improve this question
























  • What sort of file? plain text?
    – Doug Harris
    Jan 5 '11 at 15:46






  • 1




    @Daniel, I should've been more clear in my question: What sort of source file? -- My answer below will work for plain text files, but not for images.
    – Doug Harris
    Jan 5 '11 at 16:06










  • @Doug I apologize, I actually misread the question.
    – Daniel Beck
    Jan 5 '11 at 16:08






  • 1




    @Daniel - What I'm really aiming for is something more graphically intensive, say HTML pages. Is this possible?
    – tambler
    Jan 5 '11 at 18:05






  • 1




    Your main problem probably is, that the viewer application is file format dependent. Make up your mind what format you want and you'll get specific answers.
    – Daniel Beck
    Jan 5 '11 at 18:41
















16














Is it possible to take a file and print it to a PDF using nothing but terminal commands? I am guessing you would somehow make use of the lpr command, but I have yet to discover the correct syntax.










share|improve this question
























  • What sort of file? plain text?
    – Doug Harris
    Jan 5 '11 at 15:46






  • 1




    @Daniel, I should've been more clear in my question: What sort of source file? -- My answer below will work for plain text files, but not for images.
    – Doug Harris
    Jan 5 '11 at 16:06










  • @Doug I apologize, I actually misread the question.
    – Daniel Beck
    Jan 5 '11 at 16:08






  • 1




    @Daniel - What I'm really aiming for is something more graphically intensive, say HTML pages. Is this possible?
    – tambler
    Jan 5 '11 at 18:05






  • 1




    Your main problem probably is, that the viewer application is file format dependent. Make up your mind what format you want and you'll get specific answers.
    – Daniel Beck
    Jan 5 '11 at 18:41














16












16








16


5





Is it possible to take a file and print it to a PDF using nothing but terminal commands? I am guessing you would somehow make use of the lpr command, but I have yet to discover the correct syntax.










share|improve this question















Is it possible to take a file and print it to a PDF using nothing but terminal commands? I am guessing you would somehow make use of the lpr command, but I have yet to discover the correct syntax.







macos pdf printing






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Jan 5 '11 at 15:50









Daniel Beck

92k12232284




92k12232284










asked Jan 5 '11 at 15:38









tambler

181114




181114












  • What sort of file? plain text?
    – Doug Harris
    Jan 5 '11 at 15:46






  • 1




    @Daniel, I should've been more clear in my question: What sort of source file? -- My answer below will work for plain text files, but not for images.
    – Doug Harris
    Jan 5 '11 at 16:06










  • @Doug I apologize, I actually misread the question.
    – Daniel Beck
    Jan 5 '11 at 16:08






  • 1




    @Daniel - What I'm really aiming for is something more graphically intensive, say HTML pages. Is this possible?
    – tambler
    Jan 5 '11 at 18:05






  • 1




    Your main problem probably is, that the viewer application is file format dependent. Make up your mind what format you want and you'll get specific answers.
    – Daniel Beck
    Jan 5 '11 at 18:41


















  • What sort of file? plain text?
    – Doug Harris
    Jan 5 '11 at 15:46






  • 1




    @Daniel, I should've been more clear in my question: What sort of source file? -- My answer below will work for plain text files, but not for images.
    – Doug Harris
    Jan 5 '11 at 16:06










  • @Doug I apologize, I actually misread the question.
    – Daniel Beck
    Jan 5 '11 at 16:08






  • 1




    @Daniel - What I'm really aiming for is something more graphically intensive, say HTML pages. Is this possible?
    – tambler
    Jan 5 '11 at 18:05






  • 1




    Your main problem probably is, that the viewer application is file format dependent. Make up your mind what format you want and you'll get specific answers.
    – Daniel Beck
    Jan 5 '11 at 18:41
















What sort of file? plain text?
– Doug Harris
Jan 5 '11 at 15:46




What sort of file? plain text?
– Doug Harris
Jan 5 '11 at 15:46




1




1




@Daniel, I should've been more clear in my question: What sort of source file? -- My answer below will work for plain text files, but not for images.
– Doug Harris
Jan 5 '11 at 16:06




@Daniel, I should've been more clear in my question: What sort of source file? -- My answer below will work for plain text files, but not for images.
– Doug Harris
Jan 5 '11 at 16:06












@Doug I apologize, I actually misread the question.
– Daniel Beck
Jan 5 '11 at 16:08




@Doug I apologize, I actually misread the question.
– Daniel Beck
Jan 5 '11 at 16:08




1




1




@Daniel - What I'm really aiming for is something more graphically intensive, say HTML pages. Is this possible?
– tambler
Jan 5 '11 at 18:05




@Daniel - What I'm really aiming for is something more graphically intensive, say HTML pages. Is this possible?
– tambler
Jan 5 '11 at 18:05




1




1




Your main problem probably is, that the viewer application is file format dependent. Make up your mind what format you want and you'll get specific answers.
– Daniel Beck
Jan 5 '11 at 18:41




Your main problem probably is, that the viewer application is file format dependent. Make up your mind what format you want and you'll get specific answers.
– Daniel Beck
Jan 5 '11 at 18:41










9 Answers
9






active

oldest

votes


















10














lpr is indeed the correct command. There's not much to it, just



lpr filename.pdf


should simply work, presuming that the default printer is set correctly. If not, you might have to do



lpr -P printername filename.pdf


Note that there's a man page -- "man lpr" if you need to see the content. Yes, the CUPS print daemon that OS X uses is already PDF aware.






share|improve this answer























  • Provided solution gives zero-size pdf on Yosemite. Any ideas how to solve it?
    – Stanislav Mekhonoshin
    Jun 1 '15 at 12:41












  • Sorry for duplication. Provided solution gives zero-size pdf on Yosemite, when I'm trying to pring .pages document. RTF or txt are printed well. Any ideas how to fix it?
    – Stanislav Mekhonoshin
    Jun 1 '15 at 13:06










  • lpr does not generate pdf files, so I am not sure I understand the comment. You cannot generate pdf files with lpr.
    – Perry
    May 18 '17 at 21:32






  • 4




    This does not answer the original question as it was how to 'print to pdf', not print a pdf.
    – dorien
    Jun 27 '17 at 1:29



















4














I know that I have seen something in a merely hidden system folder:



/Library/Scripts/Printing Scripts/Convert To PDF.scpt


I have created a new application from AppleScript but calling the script directly should work also.



EDIT:
actually you simply can call



/System/Library/Printers/Libraries/convert -f file.rtf -o file.pdf -j "application/pdf"





share|improve this answer



















  • 6




    This answer is obsolete. Tested in OS X 10.9.5.
    – 4ae1e1
    Oct 15 '14 at 7:38










  • @4ae1e1 No, it isn't. Just that "convert" doesn't exist. It's a symlink to /usr/sbin/cupsfilter and cupsfilter will still work this way even on 10.13.6.
    – cde
    Nov 8 at 3:13



















3














1) The Open Source Word processor, AbiWord, includes an option of converting between any formats it knows on the commandline, including PDF e.g.,



abiword --to=pdf filename.html



(It'll also handle, e.g., MS Word .doc files, .docx, .odt, .rtf, etc., both input and output.)



I know it's available for Mac, though I've never used it on a mac.



2) The ebook-convert command line program from calibre (on mac you need to follow the instructions here to get the commandline tools) is useful for many formats, too.



ebook-convert filename.html filename.pdf



It can handle .rtf and .odt input, and lots of ebook formats like .epub and .mobi.



3) PrinceXML can be used on the commandline, and will convert HTML to PDF very beautifully.



4) There's wkhtmltopdf, which uses the webkit engine to convert HTML to PDF from the commandline. I've never tried it.



5) I can think of other methods using, e.g., ConTeXt or pdflatex, but they get more and more involved.






share|improve this answer





















  • NB: AbiWord doesn't work on intel based Mac
    – inspectorG4dget
    Jan 22 '14 at 18:31



















2














For plain text files, you can use enscript (comes with OS X) to generate a postscript file.



$ enscript -p ~/Desktop/profile.ps /etc/profile
[ 1 pages * 1 copy ] left in /Users/dharris/Desktop/profile.ps


OS X's Preview app can open (and convert) to PDF, or you can install ps2pdf (I installed it via macports) and convert at the command line.



$ ps2pdf ~/Desktop/profile.ps ~/Desktop/profile.pdf





share|improve this answer





















  • What if I wanted to do something more graphically intensive? Say, converting an HTML page to PDF from the terminal?
    – tambler
    Jan 5 '11 at 17:53










  • I know this is old, but PhantomJS can do this, and it does it very well.
    – Brad
    Jun 13 '13 at 3:34



















2














You could also use pandoc from http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/installing.html



With this command you would convert the html file to pdf:



pandoc -o output.pdf input.html


But note that pandoc uses LaTeX for the conversion, so you have to have a LaTeX system installed (http://www.tug.org/mactex/).



Pandoc can also convert to other formats like .odt, .docx and .epub






share|improve this answer





























    0














    For local web page files, you can try to use Download URLs as PDF Automator action. Download and install.





    I had to start Automator in 32 bit mode:



    alt text





    Create an Automator Application that automatically receives files and folders as input, with this action as the only one. Save e.g. as Save as PDF.



    Open the Get Info dialog of your application, and check Open in 32-bit mode also here. Double-click it once to make sure Launch Services knows the application.





    You can use this application from the command line like this:



    osascript -e 'tell application "Save as PDF" to open { POSIX file "/path/to/file.html" as alias }'



    Of course, you can wrap this in a nice AppleScript .scpt, bash function, shell script, or what not.





    This solution is actually pretty flexible. I was able to convert text files and HTML files, and the Automator action is also somewhat configurable.






    share|improve this answer





























      0














      First get the printer name



      lpstat -p


      Then use the printer name (Canon1234 - for eg)



      lp -d Canon1234 PathToDocument.pdf





      share|improve this answer





















      • Op is looking to print an arbitrary file to a pdf document, not print a pdf to a real printer.
        – cde
        Nov 8 at 3:37



















      0














      Actually it's a lot easier than that. You can just type on the command line open *.pdf and Preview will open with all the files there. Weirdly though if you type open *.pdf */*.pdf you get two windows. In each you then have to go into the side bar, select one of the boxy formats (if there are a lot of files it opens by default in list format which doesn't work) type CMD-A to select all, then use the print-selected-pages command to get all of them.






      share|improve this answer































        0














        you can add pdf printer driver from using pdf printer




        • first install pdf printer from the store then

        • start pdf printer

        • go to system preferences


        • open printers and scanners


        • click + button


        • in printers list select pdf printer


        • wait for a second


        • then click add


        • set pdf printer as default printer then close...



        open terminal
        then execute the command for print a file



        lp /path/to/your/file/to/print.txt





        share|improve this answer





















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          9 Answers
          9






          active

          oldest

          votes








          9 Answers
          9






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          10














          lpr is indeed the correct command. There's not much to it, just



          lpr filename.pdf


          should simply work, presuming that the default printer is set correctly. If not, you might have to do



          lpr -P printername filename.pdf


          Note that there's a man page -- "man lpr" if you need to see the content. Yes, the CUPS print daemon that OS X uses is already PDF aware.






          share|improve this answer























          • Provided solution gives zero-size pdf on Yosemite. Any ideas how to solve it?
            – Stanislav Mekhonoshin
            Jun 1 '15 at 12:41












          • Sorry for duplication. Provided solution gives zero-size pdf on Yosemite, when I'm trying to pring .pages document. RTF or txt are printed well. Any ideas how to fix it?
            – Stanislav Mekhonoshin
            Jun 1 '15 at 13:06










          • lpr does not generate pdf files, so I am not sure I understand the comment. You cannot generate pdf files with lpr.
            – Perry
            May 18 '17 at 21:32






          • 4




            This does not answer the original question as it was how to 'print to pdf', not print a pdf.
            – dorien
            Jun 27 '17 at 1:29
















          10














          lpr is indeed the correct command. There's not much to it, just



          lpr filename.pdf


          should simply work, presuming that the default printer is set correctly. If not, you might have to do



          lpr -P printername filename.pdf


          Note that there's a man page -- "man lpr" if you need to see the content. Yes, the CUPS print daemon that OS X uses is already PDF aware.






          share|improve this answer























          • Provided solution gives zero-size pdf on Yosemite. Any ideas how to solve it?
            – Stanislav Mekhonoshin
            Jun 1 '15 at 12:41












          • Sorry for duplication. Provided solution gives zero-size pdf on Yosemite, when I'm trying to pring .pages document. RTF or txt are printed well. Any ideas how to fix it?
            – Stanislav Mekhonoshin
            Jun 1 '15 at 13:06










          • lpr does not generate pdf files, so I am not sure I understand the comment. You cannot generate pdf files with lpr.
            – Perry
            May 18 '17 at 21:32






          • 4




            This does not answer the original question as it was how to 'print to pdf', not print a pdf.
            – dorien
            Jun 27 '17 at 1:29














          10












          10








          10






          lpr is indeed the correct command. There's not much to it, just



          lpr filename.pdf


          should simply work, presuming that the default printer is set correctly. If not, you might have to do



          lpr -P printername filename.pdf


          Note that there's a man page -- "man lpr" if you need to see the content. Yes, the CUPS print daemon that OS X uses is already PDF aware.






          share|improve this answer














          lpr is indeed the correct command. There's not much to it, just



          lpr filename.pdf


          should simply work, presuming that the default printer is set correctly. If not, you might have to do



          lpr -P printername filename.pdf


          Note that there's a man page -- "man lpr" if you need to see the content. Yes, the CUPS print daemon that OS X uses is already PDF aware.







          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited Jan 20 '16 at 2:09









          Alex K

          1034




          1034










          answered Jun 13 '13 at 21:10









          Perry

          21524




          21524












          • Provided solution gives zero-size pdf on Yosemite. Any ideas how to solve it?
            – Stanislav Mekhonoshin
            Jun 1 '15 at 12:41












          • Sorry for duplication. Provided solution gives zero-size pdf on Yosemite, when I'm trying to pring .pages document. RTF or txt are printed well. Any ideas how to fix it?
            – Stanislav Mekhonoshin
            Jun 1 '15 at 13:06










          • lpr does not generate pdf files, so I am not sure I understand the comment. You cannot generate pdf files with lpr.
            – Perry
            May 18 '17 at 21:32






          • 4




            This does not answer the original question as it was how to 'print to pdf', not print a pdf.
            – dorien
            Jun 27 '17 at 1:29


















          • Provided solution gives zero-size pdf on Yosemite. Any ideas how to solve it?
            – Stanislav Mekhonoshin
            Jun 1 '15 at 12:41












          • Sorry for duplication. Provided solution gives zero-size pdf on Yosemite, when I'm trying to pring .pages document. RTF or txt are printed well. Any ideas how to fix it?
            – Stanislav Mekhonoshin
            Jun 1 '15 at 13:06










          • lpr does not generate pdf files, so I am not sure I understand the comment. You cannot generate pdf files with lpr.
            – Perry
            May 18 '17 at 21:32






          • 4




            This does not answer the original question as it was how to 'print to pdf', not print a pdf.
            – dorien
            Jun 27 '17 at 1:29
















          Provided solution gives zero-size pdf on Yosemite. Any ideas how to solve it?
          – Stanislav Mekhonoshin
          Jun 1 '15 at 12:41






          Provided solution gives zero-size pdf on Yosemite. Any ideas how to solve it?
          – Stanislav Mekhonoshin
          Jun 1 '15 at 12:41














          Sorry for duplication. Provided solution gives zero-size pdf on Yosemite, when I'm trying to pring .pages document. RTF or txt are printed well. Any ideas how to fix it?
          – Stanislav Mekhonoshin
          Jun 1 '15 at 13:06




          Sorry for duplication. Provided solution gives zero-size pdf on Yosemite, when I'm trying to pring .pages document. RTF or txt are printed well. Any ideas how to fix it?
          – Stanislav Mekhonoshin
          Jun 1 '15 at 13:06












          lpr does not generate pdf files, so I am not sure I understand the comment. You cannot generate pdf files with lpr.
          – Perry
          May 18 '17 at 21:32




          lpr does not generate pdf files, so I am not sure I understand the comment. You cannot generate pdf files with lpr.
          – Perry
          May 18 '17 at 21:32




          4




          4




          This does not answer the original question as it was how to 'print to pdf', not print a pdf.
          – dorien
          Jun 27 '17 at 1:29




          This does not answer the original question as it was how to 'print to pdf', not print a pdf.
          – dorien
          Jun 27 '17 at 1:29













          4














          I know that I have seen something in a merely hidden system folder:



          /Library/Scripts/Printing Scripts/Convert To PDF.scpt


          I have created a new application from AppleScript but calling the script directly should work also.



          EDIT:
          actually you simply can call



          /System/Library/Printers/Libraries/convert -f file.rtf -o file.pdf -j "application/pdf"





          share|improve this answer



















          • 6




            This answer is obsolete. Tested in OS X 10.9.5.
            – 4ae1e1
            Oct 15 '14 at 7:38










          • @4ae1e1 No, it isn't. Just that "convert" doesn't exist. It's a symlink to /usr/sbin/cupsfilter and cupsfilter will still work this way even on 10.13.6.
            – cde
            Nov 8 at 3:13
















          4














          I know that I have seen something in a merely hidden system folder:



          /Library/Scripts/Printing Scripts/Convert To PDF.scpt


          I have created a new application from AppleScript but calling the script directly should work also.



          EDIT:
          actually you simply can call



          /System/Library/Printers/Libraries/convert -f file.rtf -o file.pdf -j "application/pdf"





          share|improve this answer



















          • 6




            This answer is obsolete. Tested in OS X 10.9.5.
            – 4ae1e1
            Oct 15 '14 at 7:38










          • @4ae1e1 No, it isn't. Just that "convert" doesn't exist. It's a symlink to /usr/sbin/cupsfilter and cupsfilter will still work this way even on 10.13.6.
            – cde
            Nov 8 at 3:13














          4












          4








          4






          I know that I have seen something in a merely hidden system folder:



          /Library/Scripts/Printing Scripts/Convert To PDF.scpt


          I have created a new application from AppleScript but calling the script directly should work also.



          EDIT:
          actually you simply can call



          /System/Library/Printers/Libraries/convert -f file.rtf -o file.pdf -j "application/pdf"





          share|improve this answer














          I know that I have seen something in a merely hidden system folder:



          /Library/Scripts/Printing Scripts/Convert To PDF.scpt


          I have created a new application from AppleScript but calling the script directly should work also.



          EDIT:
          actually you simply can call



          /System/Library/Printers/Libraries/convert -f file.rtf -o file.pdf -j "application/pdf"






          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited Jan 15 '12 at 14:29

























          answered Jan 15 '12 at 13:53







          user113731















          • 6




            This answer is obsolete. Tested in OS X 10.9.5.
            – 4ae1e1
            Oct 15 '14 at 7:38










          • @4ae1e1 No, it isn't. Just that "convert" doesn't exist. It's a symlink to /usr/sbin/cupsfilter and cupsfilter will still work this way even on 10.13.6.
            – cde
            Nov 8 at 3:13














          • 6




            This answer is obsolete. Tested in OS X 10.9.5.
            – 4ae1e1
            Oct 15 '14 at 7:38










          • @4ae1e1 No, it isn't. Just that "convert" doesn't exist. It's a symlink to /usr/sbin/cupsfilter and cupsfilter will still work this way even on 10.13.6.
            – cde
            Nov 8 at 3:13








          6




          6




          This answer is obsolete. Tested in OS X 10.9.5.
          – 4ae1e1
          Oct 15 '14 at 7:38




          This answer is obsolete. Tested in OS X 10.9.5.
          – 4ae1e1
          Oct 15 '14 at 7:38












          @4ae1e1 No, it isn't. Just that "convert" doesn't exist. It's a symlink to /usr/sbin/cupsfilter and cupsfilter will still work this way even on 10.13.6.
          – cde
          Nov 8 at 3:13




          @4ae1e1 No, it isn't. Just that "convert" doesn't exist. It's a symlink to /usr/sbin/cupsfilter and cupsfilter will still work this way even on 10.13.6.
          – cde
          Nov 8 at 3:13











          3














          1) The Open Source Word processor, AbiWord, includes an option of converting between any formats it knows on the commandline, including PDF e.g.,



          abiword --to=pdf filename.html



          (It'll also handle, e.g., MS Word .doc files, .docx, .odt, .rtf, etc., both input and output.)



          I know it's available for Mac, though I've never used it on a mac.



          2) The ebook-convert command line program from calibre (on mac you need to follow the instructions here to get the commandline tools) is useful for many formats, too.



          ebook-convert filename.html filename.pdf



          It can handle .rtf and .odt input, and lots of ebook formats like .epub and .mobi.



          3) PrinceXML can be used on the commandline, and will convert HTML to PDF very beautifully.



          4) There's wkhtmltopdf, which uses the webkit engine to convert HTML to PDF from the commandline. I've never tried it.



          5) I can think of other methods using, e.g., ConTeXt or pdflatex, but they get more and more involved.






          share|improve this answer





















          • NB: AbiWord doesn't work on intel based Mac
            – inspectorG4dget
            Jan 22 '14 at 18:31
















          3














          1) The Open Source Word processor, AbiWord, includes an option of converting between any formats it knows on the commandline, including PDF e.g.,



          abiword --to=pdf filename.html



          (It'll also handle, e.g., MS Word .doc files, .docx, .odt, .rtf, etc., both input and output.)



          I know it's available for Mac, though I've never used it on a mac.



          2) The ebook-convert command line program from calibre (on mac you need to follow the instructions here to get the commandline tools) is useful for many formats, too.



          ebook-convert filename.html filename.pdf



          It can handle .rtf and .odt input, and lots of ebook formats like .epub and .mobi.



          3) PrinceXML can be used on the commandline, and will convert HTML to PDF very beautifully.



          4) There's wkhtmltopdf, which uses the webkit engine to convert HTML to PDF from the commandline. I've never tried it.



          5) I can think of other methods using, e.g., ConTeXt or pdflatex, but they get more and more involved.






          share|improve this answer





















          • NB: AbiWord doesn't work on intel based Mac
            – inspectorG4dget
            Jan 22 '14 at 18:31














          3












          3








          3






          1) The Open Source Word processor, AbiWord, includes an option of converting between any formats it knows on the commandline, including PDF e.g.,



          abiword --to=pdf filename.html



          (It'll also handle, e.g., MS Word .doc files, .docx, .odt, .rtf, etc., both input and output.)



          I know it's available for Mac, though I've never used it on a mac.



          2) The ebook-convert command line program from calibre (on mac you need to follow the instructions here to get the commandline tools) is useful for many formats, too.



          ebook-convert filename.html filename.pdf



          It can handle .rtf and .odt input, and lots of ebook formats like .epub and .mobi.



          3) PrinceXML can be used on the commandline, and will convert HTML to PDF very beautifully.



          4) There's wkhtmltopdf, which uses the webkit engine to convert HTML to PDF from the commandline. I've never tried it.



          5) I can think of other methods using, e.g., ConTeXt or pdflatex, but they get more and more involved.






          share|improve this answer












          1) The Open Source Word processor, AbiWord, includes an option of converting between any formats it knows on the commandline, including PDF e.g.,



          abiword --to=pdf filename.html



          (It'll also handle, e.g., MS Word .doc files, .docx, .odt, .rtf, etc., both input and output.)



          I know it's available for Mac, though I've never used it on a mac.



          2) The ebook-convert command line program from calibre (on mac you need to follow the instructions here to get the commandline tools) is useful for many formats, too.



          ebook-convert filename.html filename.pdf



          It can handle .rtf and .odt input, and lots of ebook formats like .epub and .mobi.



          3) PrinceXML can be used on the commandline, and will convert HTML to PDF very beautifully.



          4) There's wkhtmltopdf, which uses the webkit engine to convert HTML to PDF from the commandline. I've never tried it.



          5) I can think of other methods using, e.g., ConTeXt or pdflatex, but they get more and more involved.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered Jan 5 '11 at 20:25









          frabjous

          8,52822726




          8,52822726












          • NB: AbiWord doesn't work on intel based Mac
            – inspectorG4dget
            Jan 22 '14 at 18:31


















          • NB: AbiWord doesn't work on intel based Mac
            – inspectorG4dget
            Jan 22 '14 at 18:31
















          NB: AbiWord doesn't work on intel based Mac
          – inspectorG4dget
          Jan 22 '14 at 18:31




          NB: AbiWord doesn't work on intel based Mac
          – inspectorG4dget
          Jan 22 '14 at 18:31











          2














          For plain text files, you can use enscript (comes with OS X) to generate a postscript file.



          $ enscript -p ~/Desktop/profile.ps /etc/profile
          [ 1 pages * 1 copy ] left in /Users/dharris/Desktop/profile.ps


          OS X's Preview app can open (and convert) to PDF, or you can install ps2pdf (I installed it via macports) and convert at the command line.



          $ ps2pdf ~/Desktop/profile.ps ~/Desktop/profile.pdf





          share|improve this answer





















          • What if I wanted to do something more graphically intensive? Say, converting an HTML page to PDF from the terminal?
            – tambler
            Jan 5 '11 at 17:53










          • I know this is old, but PhantomJS can do this, and it does it very well.
            – Brad
            Jun 13 '13 at 3:34
















          2














          For plain text files, you can use enscript (comes with OS X) to generate a postscript file.



          $ enscript -p ~/Desktop/profile.ps /etc/profile
          [ 1 pages * 1 copy ] left in /Users/dharris/Desktop/profile.ps


          OS X's Preview app can open (and convert) to PDF, or you can install ps2pdf (I installed it via macports) and convert at the command line.



          $ ps2pdf ~/Desktop/profile.ps ~/Desktop/profile.pdf





          share|improve this answer





















          • What if I wanted to do something more graphically intensive? Say, converting an HTML page to PDF from the terminal?
            – tambler
            Jan 5 '11 at 17:53










          • I know this is old, but PhantomJS can do this, and it does it very well.
            – Brad
            Jun 13 '13 at 3:34














          2












          2








          2






          For plain text files, you can use enscript (comes with OS X) to generate a postscript file.



          $ enscript -p ~/Desktop/profile.ps /etc/profile
          [ 1 pages * 1 copy ] left in /Users/dharris/Desktop/profile.ps


          OS X's Preview app can open (and convert) to PDF, or you can install ps2pdf (I installed it via macports) and convert at the command line.



          $ ps2pdf ~/Desktop/profile.ps ~/Desktop/profile.pdf





          share|improve this answer












          For plain text files, you can use enscript (comes with OS X) to generate a postscript file.



          $ enscript -p ~/Desktop/profile.ps /etc/profile
          [ 1 pages * 1 copy ] left in /Users/dharris/Desktop/profile.ps


          OS X's Preview app can open (and convert) to PDF, or you can install ps2pdf (I installed it via macports) and convert at the command line.



          $ ps2pdf ~/Desktop/profile.ps ~/Desktop/profile.pdf






          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered Jan 5 '11 at 15:58









          Doug Harris

          20.2k1463103




          20.2k1463103












          • What if I wanted to do something more graphically intensive? Say, converting an HTML page to PDF from the terminal?
            – tambler
            Jan 5 '11 at 17:53










          • I know this is old, but PhantomJS can do this, and it does it very well.
            – Brad
            Jun 13 '13 at 3:34


















          • What if I wanted to do something more graphically intensive? Say, converting an HTML page to PDF from the terminal?
            – tambler
            Jan 5 '11 at 17:53










          • I know this is old, but PhantomJS can do this, and it does it very well.
            – Brad
            Jun 13 '13 at 3:34
















          What if I wanted to do something more graphically intensive? Say, converting an HTML page to PDF from the terminal?
          – tambler
          Jan 5 '11 at 17:53




          What if I wanted to do something more graphically intensive? Say, converting an HTML page to PDF from the terminal?
          – tambler
          Jan 5 '11 at 17:53












          I know this is old, but PhantomJS can do this, and it does it very well.
          – Brad
          Jun 13 '13 at 3:34




          I know this is old, but PhantomJS can do this, and it does it very well.
          – Brad
          Jun 13 '13 at 3:34











          2














          You could also use pandoc from http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/installing.html



          With this command you would convert the html file to pdf:



          pandoc -o output.pdf input.html


          But note that pandoc uses LaTeX for the conversion, so you have to have a LaTeX system installed (http://www.tug.org/mactex/).



          Pandoc can also convert to other formats like .odt, .docx and .epub






          share|improve this answer


























            2














            You could also use pandoc from http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/installing.html



            With this command you would convert the html file to pdf:



            pandoc -o output.pdf input.html


            But note that pandoc uses LaTeX for the conversion, so you have to have a LaTeX system installed (http://www.tug.org/mactex/).



            Pandoc can also convert to other formats like .odt, .docx and .epub






            share|improve this answer
























              2












              2








              2






              You could also use pandoc from http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/installing.html



              With this command you would convert the html file to pdf:



              pandoc -o output.pdf input.html


              But note that pandoc uses LaTeX for the conversion, so you have to have a LaTeX system installed (http://www.tug.org/mactex/).



              Pandoc can also convert to other formats like .odt, .docx and .epub






              share|improve this answer












              You could also use pandoc from http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/installing.html



              With this command you would convert the html file to pdf:



              pandoc -o output.pdf input.html


              But note that pandoc uses LaTeX for the conversion, so you have to have a LaTeX system installed (http://www.tug.org/mactex/).



              Pandoc can also convert to other formats like .odt, .docx and .epub







              share|improve this answer












              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer










              answered Jul 5 '13 at 16:06









              nnn

              14616




              14616























                  0














                  For local web page files, you can try to use Download URLs as PDF Automator action. Download and install.





                  I had to start Automator in 32 bit mode:



                  alt text





                  Create an Automator Application that automatically receives files and folders as input, with this action as the only one. Save e.g. as Save as PDF.



                  Open the Get Info dialog of your application, and check Open in 32-bit mode also here. Double-click it once to make sure Launch Services knows the application.





                  You can use this application from the command line like this:



                  osascript -e 'tell application "Save as PDF" to open { POSIX file "/path/to/file.html" as alias }'



                  Of course, you can wrap this in a nice AppleScript .scpt, bash function, shell script, or what not.





                  This solution is actually pretty flexible. I was able to convert text files and HTML files, and the Automator action is also somewhat configurable.






                  share|improve this answer


























                    0














                    For local web page files, you can try to use Download URLs as PDF Automator action. Download and install.





                    I had to start Automator in 32 bit mode:



                    alt text





                    Create an Automator Application that automatically receives files and folders as input, with this action as the only one. Save e.g. as Save as PDF.



                    Open the Get Info dialog of your application, and check Open in 32-bit mode also here. Double-click it once to make sure Launch Services knows the application.





                    You can use this application from the command line like this:



                    osascript -e 'tell application "Save as PDF" to open { POSIX file "/path/to/file.html" as alias }'



                    Of course, you can wrap this in a nice AppleScript .scpt, bash function, shell script, or what not.





                    This solution is actually pretty flexible. I was able to convert text files and HTML files, and the Automator action is also somewhat configurable.






                    share|improve this answer
























                      0












                      0








                      0






                      For local web page files, you can try to use Download URLs as PDF Automator action. Download and install.





                      I had to start Automator in 32 bit mode:



                      alt text





                      Create an Automator Application that automatically receives files and folders as input, with this action as the only one. Save e.g. as Save as PDF.



                      Open the Get Info dialog of your application, and check Open in 32-bit mode also here. Double-click it once to make sure Launch Services knows the application.





                      You can use this application from the command line like this:



                      osascript -e 'tell application "Save as PDF" to open { POSIX file "/path/to/file.html" as alias }'



                      Of course, you can wrap this in a nice AppleScript .scpt, bash function, shell script, or what not.





                      This solution is actually pretty flexible. I was able to convert text files and HTML files, and the Automator action is also somewhat configurable.






                      share|improve this answer












                      For local web page files, you can try to use Download URLs as PDF Automator action. Download and install.





                      I had to start Automator in 32 bit mode:



                      alt text





                      Create an Automator Application that automatically receives files and folders as input, with this action as the only one. Save e.g. as Save as PDF.



                      Open the Get Info dialog of your application, and check Open in 32-bit mode also here. Double-click it once to make sure Launch Services knows the application.





                      You can use this application from the command line like this:



                      osascript -e 'tell application "Save as PDF" to open { POSIX file "/path/to/file.html" as alias }'



                      Of course, you can wrap this in a nice AppleScript .scpt, bash function, shell script, or what not.





                      This solution is actually pretty flexible. I was able to convert text files and HTML files, and the Automator action is also somewhat configurable.







                      share|improve this answer












                      share|improve this answer



                      share|improve this answer










                      answered Jan 5 '11 at 18:35









                      Daniel Beck

                      92k12232284




                      92k12232284























                          0














                          First get the printer name



                          lpstat -p


                          Then use the printer name (Canon1234 - for eg)



                          lp -d Canon1234 PathToDocument.pdf





                          share|improve this answer





















                          • Op is looking to print an arbitrary file to a pdf document, not print a pdf to a real printer.
                            – cde
                            Nov 8 at 3:37
















                          0














                          First get the printer name



                          lpstat -p


                          Then use the printer name (Canon1234 - for eg)



                          lp -d Canon1234 PathToDocument.pdf





                          share|improve this answer





















                          • Op is looking to print an arbitrary file to a pdf document, not print a pdf to a real printer.
                            – cde
                            Nov 8 at 3:37














                          0












                          0








                          0






                          First get the printer name



                          lpstat -p


                          Then use the printer name (Canon1234 - for eg)



                          lp -d Canon1234 PathToDocument.pdf





                          share|improve this answer












                          First get the printer name



                          lpstat -p


                          Then use the printer name (Canon1234 - for eg)



                          lp -d Canon1234 PathToDocument.pdf






                          share|improve this answer












                          share|improve this answer



                          share|improve this answer










                          answered Oct 9 '15 at 8:11









                          Thejus Krishna

                          1091




                          1091












                          • Op is looking to print an arbitrary file to a pdf document, not print a pdf to a real printer.
                            – cde
                            Nov 8 at 3:37


















                          • Op is looking to print an arbitrary file to a pdf document, not print a pdf to a real printer.
                            – cde
                            Nov 8 at 3:37
















                          Op is looking to print an arbitrary file to a pdf document, not print a pdf to a real printer.
                          – cde
                          Nov 8 at 3:37




                          Op is looking to print an arbitrary file to a pdf document, not print a pdf to a real printer.
                          – cde
                          Nov 8 at 3:37











                          0














                          Actually it's a lot easier than that. You can just type on the command line open *.pdf and Preview will open with all the files there. Weirdly though if you type open *.pdf */*.pdf you get two windows. In each you then have to go into the side bar, select one of the boxy formats (if there are a lot of files it opens by default in list format which doesn't work) type CMD-A to select all, then use the print-selected-pages command to get all of them.






                          share|improve this answer




























                            0














                            Actually it's a lot easier than that. You can just type on the command line open *.pdf and Preview will open with all the files there. Weirdly though if you type open *.pdf */*.pdf you get two windows. In each you then have to go into the side bar, select one of the boxy formats (if there are a lot of files it opens by default in list format which doesn't work) type CMD-A to select all, then use the print-selected-pages command to get all of them.






                            share|improve this answer


























                              0












                              0








                              0






                              Actually it's a lot easier than that. You can just type on the command line open *.pdf and Preview will open with all the files there. Weirdly though if you type open *.pdf */*.pdf you get two windows. In each you then have to go into the side bar, select one of the boxy formats (if there are a lot of files it opens by default in list format which doesn't work) type CMD-A to select all, then use the print-selected-pages command to get all of them.






                              share|improve this answer














                              Actually it's a lot easier than that. You can just type on the command line open *.pdf and Preview will open with all the files there. Weirdly though if you type open *.pdf */*.pdf you get two windows. In each you then have to go into the side bar, select one of the boxy formats (if there are a lot of files it opens by default in list format which doesn't work) type CMD-A to select all, then use the print-selected-pages command to get all of them.







                              share|improve this answer














                              share|improve this answer



                              share|improve this answer








                              edited Oct 9 '15 at 8:30









                              kenorb

                              10.7k1577111




                              10.7k1577111










                              answered May 5 '11 at 12:52









                              Joanna Bryson

                              91




                              91























                                  0














                                  you can add pdf printer driver from using pdf printer




                                  • first install pdf printer from the store then

                                  • start pdf printer

                                  • go to system preferences


                                  • open printers and scanners


                                  • click + button


                                  • in printers list select pdf printer


                                  • wait for a second


                                  • then click add


                                  • set pdf printer as default printer then close...



                                  open terminal
                                  then execute the command for print a file



                                  lp /path/to/your/file/to/print.txt





                                  share|improve this answer


























                                    0














                                    you can add pdf printer driver from using pdf printer




                                    • first install pdf printer from the store then

                                    • start pdf printer

                                    • go to system preferences


                                    • open printers and scanners


                                    • click + button


                                    • in printers list select pdf printer


                                    • wait for a second


                                    • then click add


                                    • set pdf printer as default printer then close...



                                    open terminal
                                    then execute the command for print a file



                                    lp /path/to/your/file/to/print.txt





                                    share|improve this answer
























                                      0












                                      0








                                      0






                                      you can add pdf printer driver from using pdf printer




                                      • first install pdf printer from the store then

                                      • start pdf printer

                                      • go to system preferences


                                      • open printers and scanners


                                      • click + button


                                      • in printers list select pdf printer


                                      • wait for a second


                                      • then click add


                                      • set pdf printer as default printer then close...



                                      open terminal
                                      then execute the command for print a file



                                      lp /path/to/your/file/to/print.txt





                                      share|improve this answer












                                      you can add pdf printer driver from using pdf printer




                                      • first install pdf printer from the store then

                                      • start pdf printer

                                      • go to system preferences


                                      • open printers and scanners


                                      • click + button


                                      • in printers list select pdf printer


                                      • wait for a second


                                      • then click add


                                      • set pdf printer as default printer then close...



                                      open terminal
                                      then execute the command for print a file



                                      lp /path/to/your/file/to/print.txt






                                      share|improve this answer












                                      share|improve this answer



                                      share|improve this answer










                                      answered Dec 14 at 4:50









                                      NuOne T Attygalle

                                      101




                                      101






























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