Pandoc
Pandoc is an extremely useful 'swiss army knife' for converting between different types of markup languages from the command line. For example, it readily builds PDFs with latex, and markdown - both of which are heavily used in academic research.
We do not actively teach how to use Pandoc in the course - but we will utilize it in some lessons where we produce PDF, Word or HTML output from plain text files.
Linux
Open a terminal window and type
sudo apt install pandoc
to install pandoc from the command line
Mac
Open a terminal window and type
brew install pandoc
to install pandoc from the command line
Windows
Go to the Pandoc Homepage and follow the installation instructions for your operating system.
Verify Your Install
Verify your install by typing the following into a command line:
pandoc --version
The expected output starts with the following information:
pandoc 1.19.2.1
Ensure you have at least version 1.15.1 installed.
Windows PATH Setting redux
Because we want Pandoc available from the command line (it is by default for Mac and Linux), we again need to update our PATH settings.
Right-click on Computer. Then go to "Properties" and select the tab "Advanced System Settings". Choose "Environment Variables" and select Path from the list of system variables.
Check whether the following path has been added:
;C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Pandoc
Windows 7 or 8 machines:
If it has not been, and you accepted all defaults during your installation, and didn't have any other non-default setting prior to starting this guide, copy and paste the following string without spaces at the start or end, updating the username:
;C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Pandoc
Windows 10 machines:
If it has not been added, Click New and paste the following string, updating the username:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Pandoc
Click OK as often as needed.
After you have done this, open a new terminal and try and verify your install.