odt Command: Open Document Text (ODT) File Converter
Summary
The odt command, part of the odt2txt package, is a simple command-line utility for converting OpenDocument Text (.odt) files to plain text.
Introduction
The odt command provides a quick and easy way to extract text content from ODT files without relying on graphical interfaces or full-fledged office suites. It's particularly useful for scripting, automation, or when you need to process text from ODT documents in a text-based environment. Under the hood, it uses odt2txt to perform the actual conversion.
Use case and Examples
Convert an ODT file to plain text and display it on the screen
This command convertsmydocument.odt to plain text and prints the output to the standard output (your terminal). Convert an ODT file to plain text and save it to a file
This command convertsmydocument.odt to plain text and redirects the output to a new file named mydocument.txt. Convert an ODT file to plain text and append it to an existing file
This command convertsmydocument.odt to plain text and appends the output to existingfile.txt. Using odt2txt directly with more options
This example shows how the underlyingodt2txt program can be used directly. Here, the -w 80 flag is used to wrap the output at 80 characters per line. See man odt2txt for more odt2txt specific flags Commonly used flags
| Flag | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
None (directly uses the odt2txt options) | odt command doesn't have its own flags. Flags must be passed to the underlying odt2txt command. Refer to man odt2txt for specific flags. | odt2txt -w 72 mydocument.odt |
-w <number> (odt2txt) | Wrap text at the specified column number. | odt2txt -w 72 mydocument.odt (wraps text at 72 characters per line) |
-e <encoding> (odt2txt) | Sets the encoding of the output text. | odt2txt -e UTF-8 mydocument.odt (sets the output encoding to UTF-8) |
-n (odt2txt) | Suppress line numbering in the output. | odt2txt -n mydocument.odt |