HtmlToText Unicode C Reference Documentation
HtmlToText
Current Version: 11.5.0
Chilkat.HtmlToText
Convert HTML markup into readable text suitable for display, logging,
indexing, email alternatives, or text-only output.
Decode HTML entities so text such as named entities and numeric
character references becomes normal readable output.
Use
Suppress hyperlink URLs for cleaner text, or emit URLs when the output
needs to preserve the destination of HTML links.
Convert HTML directly from a
Read HTML from files and write text output using a specified character
encoding.
For an extended overview, see
HtmlToText Class Overview.
Convert HTML into readable plain text with control over links, wrapping, and encoding.
Chilkat.HtmlToText converts HTML content into readable plain
text. It can decode HTML entities, wrap output at a configurable right
margin, optionally include or suppress hyperlink URLs, convert HTML supplied
as a string or StringBuilder, and read or write files using an
explicit character encoding.
HTML to plain text
Entity decoding
Line wrapping
RightMargin to wrap text at a chosen width, or set it to
0 when no right-margin wrapping is wanted.
Link handling
StringBuilder support
StringBuilder when working with
larger or incrementally built HTML content.
File and charset helpers
StringBuilder, choose
whether to decode entities and include link URLs, set the desired right
margin, then convert the result to plain text. Use
HtmlToText when the goal is readable text, not structured XML
or DOM-style parsing.
Create/Dispose
HCkHtmlToTextW instance = CkHtmlToTextW_Create(); // ... CkHtmlToTextW_Dispose(instance);
Creates an instance of the HCkHtmlToTextW object and returns a handle ("void *" pointer). The handle is passed in the 1st argument for the functions listed on this page.
Objects created by calling CkHtmlToTextW_Create must be freed by calling this method. A memory leak occurs if a handle is not disposed by calling this function. Also, any handle returned by a Chilkat "C" function must also be freed by the application by calling the appropriate Dispose method, such as CkHtmlToTextW_Dispose.
Properties
DebugLogFilePath
void CkHtmlToTextW_putDebugLogFilePath(HCkHtmlToTextW cHandle, const wchar_t *newVal);
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToTextW_debugLogFilePath(HCkHtmlToTextW cHandle);
If set to a file path, this property logs the LastErrorText of each Chilkat method or property call to the specified file. This logging helps identify the context and history of Chilkat calls leading up to any crash or hang, aiding in debugging.
Enabling the VerboseLogging property provides more detailed information. This property is mainly used for debugging rare instances where a Chilkat method call causes a hang or crash, which should generally not happen.
Possible causes of hangs include:
- A timeout property set to 0, indicating an infinite timeout.
- A hang occurring within an event callback in the application code.
- An internal bug in the Chilkat code causing the hang.
DecodeHtmlEntities
void CkHtmlToTextW_putDecodeHtmlEntities(HCkHtmlToTextW cHandle, BOOL newVal);
Controls whether HTML character references are decoded when converting HTML to plain text. The default value is TRUE.
| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
TRUE |
HTML entities and numeric character references are decoded to their corresponding characters. For example, & becomes &. |
FALSE |
Character references are left encoded in the plain-text output. |
TRUE when the goal is human-readable text. Set it to FALSE when the original entity notation itself must be preserved.
LastErrorHtml
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToTextW_lastErrorHtml(HCkHtmlToTextW cHandle);
Provides HTML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.
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const wchar_t *CkHtmlToTextW_lastErrorText(HCkHtmlToTextW cHandle);
Provides plain text information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.
LastErrorXml
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToTextW_lastErrorXml(HCkHtmlToTextW cHandle);
Provides XML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.
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void CkHtmlToTextW_putLastMethodSuccess(HCkHtmlToTextW cHandle, BOOL newVal);
Indicates the success or failure of the most recent method call: TRUE means success, FALSE means failure. This property remains unchanged by property setters or getters. This method is present to address challenges in checking for null or Nothing returns in certain programming languages. Note: This property does not apply to methods that return integer values or to boolean-returning methods where the boolean does not indicate success or failure.
RightMargin
void CkHtmlToTextW_putRightMargin(HCkHtmlToTextW cHandle, int newVal);
Controls line wrapping in the generated plain text. The default value is 80. As a line approaches the configured margin, Chilkat attempts to wrap at a SPACE character. Set this property to 0 to disable right-margin wrapping.
SuppressLinks
void CkHtmlToTextW_putSuppressLinks(HCkHtmlToTextW cHandle, BOOL newVal);
Controls whether hyperlink destination URLs are included in the generated plain text. The default value is TRUE.
| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
TRUE |
The visible anchor text is retained, but hyperlink destination URLs are omitted. |
FALSE |
Hyperlink URLs are included. By default, they are collected in a References: section at the end of the plain text. |
SuppressLinks set to FALSE, an HTML link whose visible text is chilkat and whose URL is https://www.chilkatsoft.com/ produces the visible text and a numbered reference at the end of the output.
UncommonOptions can be used to suppress the trailing references list with NoReferencesList or emit URLs inline with EmitUrls.
UncommonOptions
void CkHtmlToTextW_putUncommonOptions(HCkHtmlToTextW cHandle, const wchar_t *newVal);
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToTextW_uncommonOptions(HCkHtmlToTextW cHandle);
Specifies uncommon HTML-to-text conversion options as a comma-separated list of keywords. The default is the empty string, which is appropriate for normal use.
| Keyword | Effect |
|---|---|
NoReferencesList |
Does not generate the hyperlink-reference list at the end of the plain-text output. |
EmitUrls |
Emits hyperlink URLs inline in the plain-text output instead of relying on the default trailing reference list. |
SuppressLinks is TRUE, hyperlink URLs are suppressed.
VerboseLogging
void CkHtmlToTextW_putVerboseLogging(HCkHtmlToTextW cHandle, BOOL newVal);
If set to TRUE, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is FALSE. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.
Version
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToTextW_version(HCkHtmlToTextW cHandle);
Methods
ToText
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToTextW_toText(HCkHtmlToTextW cHandle, const wchar_t *html);
Converts the HTML in html to readable plain text and returns the result.
The conversion honors DecodeHtmlEntities, RightMargin, SuppressLinks, and UncommonOptions. HTML markup is interpreted to produce readable text rather than simply being removed with a tag-stripping operation.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
ToTextSb
Converts the HTML currently contained in sb to plain text in place. On success, the same StringBuilder contains the converted plain-text result.
The conversion honors DecodeHtmlEntities, RightMargin, SuppressLinks, and UncommonOptions.
StringBuilder and you want the conversion result returned through that same object rather than as a separate string.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
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ReadFileToString
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToTextW_readFileToString(HCkHtmlToTextW cHandle, const wchar_t *filename, const wchar_t *srcCharset);
Reads an entire text file and returns its contents as a string. The srcCharset argument specifies the character encoding used to decode the file bytes, such as utf-8 or iso-8859-1.
ReadFileToString and pass the returned string to ToText.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
WriteStringToFile
Writes stringToWrite to filename using the character encoding specified by charset. The string is converted to that charset as it is written. Common values include utf-8 and iso-8859-1.
ToText, then pass that result to WriteStringToFile.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
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