Apple includes as part of the Printer Libraries, a small conversion utility. Â I presume it is used to help convert certain formats to either PDF or Postscript internally… Â But here’s some fun we can have with it.
For example, let’s say we have a file called “my.html”, but using this command line:
/System/Library/Printers/Libraries/convert -f my.html -o my.pdf
You would end up with a PDF version of the HTML file. Â Strings doesn’t reveal the Mime Type database, so I can’t tell what mime-types this will convert. Â My research indicates that it can handle most native formats from Mac OS X (rtf, Jpeg, gif, png, html, txt and more).
Usage: convert [ options ]
Options:
-f filename      Set file to be converted (otherwise stdin)
-o filename      Set file to be generated (otherwise stdout)
-i mime/type     Set input MIME type (otherwise auto-typed)
-j mime/type     Set output MIME type (otherwise application/pdf)
-P filename.ppd    Set PPD file
-a ‘name=value …’ Â Set option(s)
-U username      Set username for job
-J title       Set title
-c copies       Set number of copies
-u          Remove the PPD file when finished
-D Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Remove the input file when finished