The ebook-convert command is a tool that is part of the Calibre e-book library. It provides functionality to convert e-books between various common formats, such as PDF, EPUB, and MOBI. It is a versatile command-line tool for manipulating and transforming e-book files.
Here’s a more detailed explanation of the ebook-convert command:
- Calibre E-book Library: Calibre is a popular open-source e-book management tool that allows users to organize, convert, and view e-books in different formats. It provides a comprehensive set of features for managing e-book collections.
- E-book Conversion: The ebook-convert command is one of the utilities provided by Calibre. Its primary purpose is to convert e-books from one format to another. It supports a wide range of input and output formats, including PDF, EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, and many others.
- Input Formats: ebook-convert can accept various input formats, such as EPUB, MOBI, LIT, HTML, TXT, and more. This allows you to convert e-books from different formats into your desired output format.
- Output Formats: The command can convert e-books into multiple output formats, including PDF, EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, TXT, HTML, and more. This flexibility allows you to choose the format that suits your needs or is compatible with your e-reader or reading device.
- Customization Options: ebook-convert provides several options to customize the conversion process. You can specify the output file’s layout, add metadata (e.g., author, title, cover image), set the font size, and configure various other parameters to tailor the output to your preferences.
- Command-Line Interface (CLI): The ebook-convert command is used from the command line, making it scriptable and suitable for automation. You can incorporate it into scripts or workflows to batch convert e-books or integrate it into other applications.
Here’s an example usage of the ebook-convert command:
# ebook-convert input.epub output.pdf
In this example, input.epub represents the input e-book file in EPUB format, and output.pdf specifies the desired output file name and format. Running the command converts the EPUB file to a PDF file.
To use ebook-convert, you need to have Calibre installed on your system. Calibre provides detailed documentation and resources on using the command, including additional options and examples.
ebook-convert Command Examples
1. Convert an e-book into another format:
# ebook-convert /path/to/input_file output_file
2. Convert Markdown or HTML to e-book with TOC, title and author:
# ebook-convert path/to/input_file output_file --level1-toc="//h:h1" --level2-toc="//h:h2" --level3-toc="//h:h3" --title=title --authors=author