NAME

hypertoc - Perl program to generate a table of contents for HTML documents

SYNOPSIS

hypertoc --help | --manpage | --man_help | --man

hypertoc [common options] --gen_anchors [gen_anchors options] file ...

hypertoc [common options] --gen_toc [gen_toc options] file ...

where common options are:

[--bak string | --debug | --infile file | --notoc_match string | --overwrite | --quiet | --toc_after tag=suffix | --toc_before tag=prefix | --toc_end tag=endtag | --toc_entry tag=level | --tocmap file]

and gen_anchors options are:

[--outfile file | --useorg]

and gen_toc options are:

[--entrysep string | --footer file | --header file | --inline | --ol | --textonly | --title string | --toc_file file | --toc file | --toc_label string | --toc_tag string | --toc_tag_replace | --toc_only | --notoc_only | --toclabel string]

DESCRIPTION

hypertoc allows you to specify "significant elements" that will be hyperlinked to in a "Table of Contents" (ToC) for a given set of HTML documents.

Basically, the ToC generated is a multi-level level list containing links to the significant elements. hypertoc inserts the links into the ToC to significant elements at a level specified by the user.

Example:

If H1s are specified as level 1, than they appear in the first level list of the ToC. If H2s are specified as a level 2, than they appear in a second level list in the ToC.

There are two phases to the ToC generation. The first phase (--gen_anchors) is to put suitable anchors into the HTML documents, and the second phase (--gen_toc) is to generate the ToC from HTML documents which have anchors in them for the ToC to link to. Depending on what options are chosen, it may or may not make sense to apply both phases in the same command. It is merely a convenient shorthand; applying both phases in the same command is the equivalent of calling hypertoc with --gen_anchors and then hypertoc with --gen_toc with the same arguments.

Example:

hypertoc --gen_anchors --gen_toc --overwrite --inline index.html

is the equivalent of

hypertoc --gen_anchors --overwrite index.html;
hypertoc --gen_toc --inline --overwrite index.html

If you want more control over how your ToC is created, it may be better to do both phases separately.

hypertoc also supports the ability to incorporate the ToC into the HTML document itself via the -inline option.

In order for hypertoc to support linking to significant elements, hypertoc inserts anchors into the significant elements. One can use hypertoc as a filter, outputing the result to another file, or one can overwrite the original file, with the original backed up with a suffix (default: "org") appended to the filename.

One can also define options in a config file as well as on the command-line.

OPTIONS

A Note about Options

Options can start with "--" or "-"; boolean options can be negated by preceding them with "no"; options with hash or array values can be added to by giving the option again for each value.

See Getopt::Long for more information.

If the Getopt::ArgvFile module is installed, then groups of options can be read from a file or files designated by the @ character preceding the name. For example:

hypertoc --gen_anchors @gen_anch_options  myfile.html

See "Options Files" for more information.

Common Options

The following arguments apply to both generating anchors and generating table-of-contents phases.

• --bak string

  If the input file/files is/are being overwritten (--overwrite is on), copy the original file to "filename.string". If the value is empty, there is no backup file written. (default:org)

• --debug

  Enable verbose debugging output. Used for debugging this module; in other words, don't bother. (default:off)

• --infile file

  Input file. This is a cumulative list argument. If you want to process more than one file, just add another --infile file to the list of arguments. (default:undefined)

• --help

  Print a short help message and exit.

• --man_help | --manpage | --man

  Print all documentation and exit.

• --notoc_match string

  If there are certain individual tags you don't wish to include in the table of contents, even though they match the "significant elements", then if this pattern matches contents inside the tag (not the body), then that tag will not be included, either in generating anchors nor in generating the ToC. (default: class="notoc")

• --overwrite

  Overwrite the input file with the output. If this is in effect, --outfile and --toc_file are ignored. Used in generate_anchors for creating the anchors "in place" and in generate_toc if the --inline option is in effect. (default:off)

• --quiet

  Suppress informative messages.

• --toc_after tag=suffix

  For defining significant elements. The tag is the HTML tag which marks the start of the element. The suffix is what is required to be appended to the Table of Contents entry generated for that tag. This is a cumulative hash argument. (default: undefined)

• --toc_before tag=prefix

  For defining significant elements. The tag is the HTML tag which marks the start of the element. The prefix is what is required to be prepended to the Table of Contents entry generated for that tag. This is a cumulative hash argument. (default: undefined)

• --toc_end tag=endtag

  For defining significant elements. The tag is the HTML tag which marks the start of the element. The endtag the HTML tag which marks the end of the element. When matching in the input file, case is ignored (but make sure that all your tag options referring to the same tag are exactly the same!). This is a cumulative hash argument. (default: H1=/H1 H2=/H2)

• --toc_entry tag=level

  For defining significant elements. The tag is the HTML tag which marks the start of the element. The level is what level the tag is considered to be. The value of level must be numeric, and non-zero. If the value is negative, consective entries represented by the significant_element will be separated by the value set by --entrysep option. This is a cumulative hash argument. (default: H1=1 H2=2)

• --tocmap file

  ToC map file defining significant elements. This is read in immediately, and overrides any previous toc_entry, toc_end, toc_before and toc_after options. However, they can be cleared and/or added to by later options. See "ToC Map File" for further information.

Generate Anchors Options

These arguments apply only to generating anchors, but see above for common arguments.

• --outfile file

  File to write the output to. This is where the modified be-anchored HTML output goes to. Note that it doesn't make sense to use this option if you are processing more than one file. If you give '-' as the filename, then output will go to STDOUT. (default: STDOUT)

• --useorg

  Use pre-existing backup files as the input source; that is, files of the form infile.bak (see --infile and --bak).

Generate TOC Options

These arguments apply only to generating a table-of-contents, but see above for common arguments.

• --entrysep string

  Separator string for non-<li> item entries (default: ", ")

• --footer file

  File containing footer text for ToC

• --header file

  File containing header text for ToC.

• --inline

  Put ToC in document at a given point. See "Inlining the ToC" for more information.

• --ol

  Use an ordered list for level 1 ToC entries.

• --textonly

  Use only text content in significant elements.

• --title string

  Title for ToC page (if not using --header or --inline or --toc_only) (default: "Table of Contents")

• --toc_file file / --toc file

  File to write the output to. This is where the ToC goes. If you give '-' as the filename, then output will go to STDOUT. (default: STDOUT)

• --toc_label string

  HTML text that labels the ToC. Always used. (default: "<H1>Table of Contents</H1>")

• --toc_tag string

  If a ToC is to be included inline, this is the pattern which is used to match the tag where the ToC should be put. This can be a start-tag, an end-tag or a comment, but the < should be left out; that is, if you want the ToC to be placed after the BODY tag, then give "BODY". If you want a special comment tag to make where the ToC should go, then include the comment marks, for example: "!--toc--" (default:BODY)

• --toc_tag_replace

  In conjunction with --toc_tag, this is a flag to say whether the given tag should be replaced, or if the ToC should be put after the tag. (default:false)

• --toc_only / --notoc_only

  Output only the Table of Contents, that is, the Table of Contents plus the toc_label. If there is a --header or a --footer, these will also be output. If --toc_only is false (i.e. --notoc_only is set) then if there is no --header, and --inline is not true, then a suitable HTML page header will be output, and if there is no --footer and --inline is not true, then a HTML page footer will be output. (default:--notoc_only)

• --toclabel string

  (same as --toc_label)

FILE FORMATS

Options Files

Options can be given in files as well as on the command-line by flagging an option file with @filename in the command-line. Also, the files ~/.hypertocrc and ./.hypertocrc are checked for options.

The format is as follows: Lines starting with # are comments. Lines enclosed in PoD markers are also comments. Blank lines are ignored. The options themselves should be given the way they would be on the command line, that is, the option name (including the --) followed by its value (if any).

For example:

# set the ToC to be three-level
--toc_entry H1=1
--toc_entry H2=2
--toc_entry H3=3

--toc_end H1=/H1
--toc_end H2=/H2
--toc_end H3=/H3

See Getopt::ArgvFile for more information.

ToC Map File

For backwards compatibility with htmltoc, this method of specifying significant elements for the ToC is retained.

The ToC map file allows you to specify what significant elements to include in the ToC, what level they should appear in the ToC, and any text to include before and/or after the ToC entry. The format of the map file is as follows:

significant_element:level:sig_element_end:before_text,after_text
significant_element:level:sig_element_end:before_text,after_text
...

Each line of the map file contains a series of fields separated by the `:' character. The definition of each field is as follows:

• significant_element

  The tag name of the significant element. Example values are H1, H2, H5. This field is case-insensitive.

• level

  What level the significant element occupies in the ToC. This value must be numeric, and non-zero. If the value is negative, consective entries represented by the significant_element will be separated by the value set by -entrysep option.

• sig_element_end (Optional)

  The tag name that signifies the termination of the significant_element.

  Example: The DT tag is a marker in HTML and not a container. However, one can index DT sections of a definition list by using the value DD in the sig_element_end field (this does assume that each DT has a DD following it).

  If the sig_element_end is empty, then the corresponding end tag of the specified significant_element is used. Example: If H1 is the significant_element, then the program looks for a "</H1>" for terminating the significant_element.

  Caution: the sig_element_end value should not contain the `<` and `>' tag delimiters. If you want the sig_element_end to be the end tag of another element than that of the significant_element, than use "/element_name".

  The sig_element_end field is case-insensitive.

• before_text,after_text (Optional)

  This is literal text that will be inserted before and/or after the ToC entry for the given significant_element. The before_text is separated from the after_text by the `,' character (which implies a comma cannot be contained in the before/after text). See examples following for the use of this field.

In the map file, the first two fields MUST be specified.

Following are a few examples to help illustrate how a ToC map file works.

EXAMPLE 1

The following map file reflects the default mapping used if no map file is explicitly specified:

# Default mapping
# Comments can be inserted in the map file via the '#' character
H1:1 # H1 are level 1 ToC entries
H2:2 # H2 are level 2 ToC entries

EXAMPLE 2

The following map file makes use of the before/after text fields:

# A ToC map file that adds some formatting
H1:1::<STRONG>,</STRONG>      # Make level 1 ToC entries <STRONG>
H2:2::<EM>,</EM>              # Make level 2 entries <EM>
H2:3                          # Make level 3 entries as is

EXAMPLE 3

The following map file tries to index definition terms:

# A ToC map file that can work for Glossary type documents
H1:1
H2:2
DT:3:DD:<EM>,<EM>    # Assumes document has a DD for each DT, otherwise ToC
                   # will get entries with alot of text.

DETAILS

See ToC Map File on how to tell hypertoc what are the significant elements and at what level they should occur in the ToC.

Formatting the ToC

The ToC Map File gives you control on how the ToC entries may look, but there are other options to affect the final appearance of the ToC file created.

With the -header option, the contents of the given file will be prepended before the generated ToC. This allows you to have introductory text, or any other text, before the ToC.

Note:

If you use the -header option, make sure the file specified contains the opening HTML tag, the HEAD element (containing the TITLE element), and the opening BODY tag. However, these tags/elements should not be in the header file if the -inline options is used. See "Inlining the ToC" for information on what the header file should contain for inlining the ToC.

With the --toc_label option, the contents of the given string will be prepended before the generated ToC (but after any text taken from a --header file).

With the -footer option, the contents of the file will be appended after the generated ToC.

Note:

If you use the -footer, make sure it includes the closing BODY and HTML tags (unless, of course, you are using the --inline option).

If the -header option is not specified, the appropriate starting HTML markup will be added, unless the --toc_only option is specified. If the -footer option is not specified, the appropriate closing HTML markup will be added, unless the --toc_only option is specified.

If you do not want/need to deal with header, and footer, files, then you are alloed to specify the title, -title option, of the ToC file; and it allows you to specify a heading, or label, to put before ToC entries' list, the -toclabel option. Both options have default values, see OPTIONS for more information on each option.

If you do not want HTML page tags to be supplied, and just want the ToC itself, then specify the --toc_only option. If there are no --header or --footer files, then this will simply output the contents of --toc_label and the ToC itself.

Inlining the ToC

The ability to incorporate the ToC directly into an HTML document is supported via the -inline option.

Inlining will be done on the first file in the list of files processed, and will only be done if that file contains an opening tag matching the --toc_tag value.

If --overwrite is true, then the first file in the list will be overwritten, with the generated ToC inserted at the appropriate spot. Otherwise a modified version of the first file is output to either STDOUT or to the output file defined by the --toc_file option.

The options --toc_tag and --toc_tag_replace are used to determine where and how the ToC is inserted into the output.

Example 1

# this is the default
--toc_tag BODY --notoc_tag_replace

This will put the generated ToC after the BODY tag of the first file. If the --header option is specified, then the contents of the specified file are inserted after the BODY tag. If the --toc_label option is not empty, then the text specified by the --toc_label option is inserted. Then the ToC is inserted, and finally, if the --footer option is specified, it inserts the footer. Then the rest of the input file follows as it was before.

Example 2

--toc_tag '!--toc--' --toc_tag_replace

This will put the generated ToC after the first comment of the form <!--toc-->, and that comment will be replaced by the ToC (in the order --header --toc_label ToC --footer) followed by the rest of the input file.

Note:

The header file should not contain the beginning HTML tag and HEAD element since the HTML file being processed should already contain these tags/elements.

EXAMPLES

Create an inline ToC for one file

hypertoc --inline --gen_anchors --overwrite --gen_toc index.html

This will create anchors in index.html, create a ToC with a heading of "Table of Contents" and place it after the BODY tag of index.html

Note that the file in "index.html.org" won't actually be the original file, but will be the version with the anchors in it, after the gen_anchors phase. This is because the command is the equivalent of:

hypertoc --gen_anchors --overwrite index.html

followed by

hypertoc --gen_toc --inline --gen_anchors --overwrite index.html

After the first phase, the file index.html.org contains the original file; then the second phase takes the be-anchored file as its input, and backs it up to index.html.org, overwriting the first original file.

Create a ToC file from multiple files

First, create the anchors.

hypertoc --gen_anchors --overwrite index.html fred.html george.html

Then create the ToC

hypertoc --gen_toc --toc_file table.html

Create an inline ToC after the first heading of the first file

hypertoc --gen_anchors --inline --overwrite --gen_toc --toc_tag /H1 \
--notoc_tag_replace --toc_label "" index.html fred.html george.html

This will create anchors in the index.html, fred.html and george.html files, create a ToC with no header and place it after the first H1 header in index.html and back up the original files to index.html.org, fred.html.org and george.html.org

Note that the file in "index.html.org" won't actually be the original file, but will be the version with the anchors in it, after the gen_anchors phase.

NOTES

• hypertoc is smart enough to detect anchors inside significant elements. If the anchor defines the NAME attribute, hypertoc uses the value. Else, it adds its own NAME attribute to the anchor.

• The TITLE element is treated specially if specified in the ToC map file. It is illegal to insert anchors (A) into TITLE elements. Therefore, hypertoc will actually link to the filename itself instead of the TITLE element of the document.

• hypertoc will ignore significant elements if it does not contain any non-whitespace characters. A warning message is generated if such a condition exists.

CAVEATS

• Version 2.00 of hypertoc behaves slightly differently in regard to default values for hash options than did the earlier (1.x) versions. In the 1.x versions, all user options for things like --toc_entry, --toc_end, --toc_before and --toc_after were added to the default values; the default values had to be explicitly CLEARed. Now, if any value is given for these options, the default value is replaced for that option.

• Care needs to be taken when using --gen_anchors and --gen_toc in the same command, because the options for both of them may interact in ways one does not expect. Particularly of note is if one is using --inline and --overwrite -- the backup file will not be the original one.

• When using --inline, care needs to be taken if overwriting -- if one sets the ToC to be included after a given tag (such as the default BODY) then if one runs the command repeatedly one could get multiple ToCs in the same file, one after the other.

• hypertoc is not very efficient (memory and speed), and can be extremely slow for large documents.

• Invalid markup will be generated if a significant element is contained inside of an anchor. For example:

  <A NAME="foo"><H1>The FOO command</H1></A>

  will be converted to (if H1 is a significant element),

  <A NAME="foo"><H1><A NAME="xtocidX">The</A> FOO command</H1></A>

  which is illegal since anchors cannot be nested.

  It is better style to put anchor statements within the element to be anchored. For example, the following is preferred:

  <H1><A NAME="foo">The FOO command</A></H1>

  hypertoc will detect the "foo" NAME and use it.

• NAME attributes without quotes are not recognized.

BUGS

Tell me about them.

PREREQUISITES

Getopt::Long
Getopt::ArgvFile
Pod::Usage
HTML::GenToc
perldoc

SCRIPT CATEGORIES

Web

ENVIRONMENT

HOME

hypertoc looks in the HOME directory for config files.

FILES

These files are only read if the Getopt::ArgvFile module is available on the system.

~/.hypertocrc

User configuration file.

.hypertocrc

Configuration file in the current working directory; overrides options in ~/.hypertocrc and is overridden by command-line options.

SEE ALSO

perl(1) htmltoc(1) HTML::GenToc Getopt::ArgvFile Getopt::Long

AUTHOR

Kathryn Andersen http://www.katspace.com based on htmltoc by Earl Hood ehood AT medusa.acs.uci.edu

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 1994-1997 Earl Hood, ehood AT medusa.acs.uci.edu Copyright (C) 2002 Kathryn Andersen

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

HISTORY

Version 1.0

initial version

Version 1.1

added --notoc_match option

Version 1.2

Revamped the --manpage option to prevent duplication of effort when HTML::GenToc changes its options. This means that hypertoc --manpage

actually gives more information than perldoc hypertoc

because the --manpage option takes certain sections directly from the documentation of HTML::GenToc rather than having to document the same thing twice.

Version 1.3

Expanded the SYNOPSIS to actually contain useful information.

Version 2.00

Made hypertoc part of the the HTML::GenToc distribution, and changed version numbers to match. Replaced AppConfig with Getopt::Long and Getopt::ArgvFile. Expanded the manpage so all documentation for this script is back here in this file.

cpanm HTML::GenToc

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install HTML::GenToc