HPR2637: Convert it to Text

Why use plain text?

• Portability
• Use with Unix tools
• Use with Ranger

Ranger for the win

• Ranger is a free console file manager that gives you greater flexibility and a good overview of your files without having to leave your *nix console. It visualizes the directory tree in two dimensions: the directory hierarchy on one, lists of files on the other, with a preview to the right so you know where you’ll be going.
• The scope functionality is where converting to text pays off. Located at $HOME/.config/ranger/scope.sh, scope is the feature that allows for file preview from inside the console. Text files are highlighted based on their file extension, for non-text files, different converters can be used to coerce the file into a text representation. Some items are available out of the box, but the configuration is written in such a way that any text can be presented in the preview screen.
• The basic format of the scope switch statement is as follows:

case "$extension" in
    odt|odp)
        try odt2txt "$path" && { dump | trim | fmt -s -w $width; exit 0; };;

Tools in the toolset

• atool
• caca-utils
• poppler-utils
• catdoc
• catppt
• odt2txt
• ods2tsv
• docx2txt
• xlsx2csv
• mediainfo
• lynx/w3m/elinks
• highlight

Bonus tools

• q
• jq
• xmlstarlet

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