WeasyPrint
When it comes to converting HTML to PDF files using Python, one of the most recommended libraries is WeasyPrint. WeasyPrint is a powerful library that allows you to generate PDF documents from HTML and CSS. It is built on top of Cairo, Pango, and GDK-PixBuf, which are widely used libraries for rendering graphics and text.
WeasyPrint provides a simple and intuitive API that allows you to convert HTML to PDF with just a few lines of code. It supports a wide range of CSS features, including advanced layout options, page breaks, and custom fonts. It also has excellent support for handling complex documents with multiple pages and tables.
To use WeasyPrint, you need to install it using pip:
pip install WeasyPrintOnce installed, you can start converting HTML to PDF by importing the necessary modules:
from weasyprint import HTML, CSS
Then, you can use the HTML class to load the HTML file and the CSS class to apply any necessary styles:
html = HTML('path/to/html/file.html')
css = CSS('path/to/css/file.css')
Finally, you can generate the PDF file by calling the write_pdf() method:
html.write_pdf('path/to/output/file.pdf', stylesheets=[css])
WeasyPrint also provides additional options for customizing the PDF output, such as setting the page size, margins, and adding headers and footers. You can find more information in the official documentation.
pdfkit
Another popular library for converting HTML to PDF in Python is pdfkit. pdfkit is a wrapper around the wkhtmltopdf command-line tool, which uses the WebKit rendering engine to convert HTML to PDF.
pdfkit provides a simple and straightforward API that allows you to convert HTML to PDF with just a few lines of code. It supports a wide range of options for customizing the PDF output, such as setting the page size, margins, and adding headers and footers.
To use pdfkit, you need to install both pdfkit and wkhtmltopdf:
pip install pdfkit
Once installed, you can start converting HTML to PDF by importing the necessary module:
import pdfkit
Then, you can use the pdfkit.from_file() method to convert the HTML file to PDF:
pdfkit.from_file('path/to/html/file.html', 'path/to/output/file.pdf')
pdfkit also provides additional options for customizing the PDF output, such as setting the page size, margins, and adding headers and footers. You can find more information in the official documentation.
xhtml2pdf
xhtml2pdf is another library that allows you to convert HTML to PDF in Python. It is based on the ReportLab library, which is a powerful PDF generation library for Python.
xhtml2pdf provides a simple and intuitive API that allows you to convert HTML to PDF with just a few lines of code. It supports a wide range of CSS features, including advanced layout options, page breaks, and custom fonts.
To use xhtml2pdf, you need to install it using pip:
pip install xhtml2pdf
Once installed, you can start converting HTML to PDF by importing the necessary module:
from xhtml2pdf import pisa
Then, you can use the pisa.CreatePDF() method to convert the HTML file to PDF:
with open('path/to/html/file.html', 'r') as f:
html = f.read()
output_file = open('path/to/output/file.pdf', 'wb')
pisa.CreatePDF(html, dest=output_file)
output_file.close()
xhtml2pdf also provides additional options for customizing the PDF output, such as setting the page size, margins, and adding headers and footers. You can find more information in the official documentation.
PyPDF2
PyPDF2 is a library that allows you to manipulate PDF files in Python. Although it is not specifically designed for converting HTML to PDF, it can be used for this purpose by combining it with other libraries.
To convert HTML to PDF using PyPDF2, you first need to convert the HTML file to PDF using one of the other libraries mentioned above. Once you have the PDF file, you can use PyPDF2 to manipulate it, such as merging multiple PDF files, extracting pages, or adding watermarks.
To use PyPDF2, you need to install it using pip:
pip install PyPDF2
Once installed, you can start manipulating PDF files by importing the necessary module:
import PyPDF2
Then, you can use the various methods provided by PyPDF2 to manipulate the PDF file:
pdf_file = open('path/to/pdf/file.pdf', 'rb')
pdf_reader = PyPDF2.PdfFileReader(pdf_file)
# Get the number of pages in the PDF file
num_pages = pdf_reader.numPages
# Extract a specific page from the PDF file
page = pdf_reader.getPage(0)
# Merge multiple PDF files into a single PDF file
pdf_writer = PyPDF2.PdfFileWriter()
pdf_writer.addPage(page)
pdf_writer.addPage(page)
pdf_writer.write(open('path/to/output/file.pdf', 'wb'))
pdf_file.close()
PyPDF2 provides a wide range of methods for manipulating PDF files, so you can customize the output according to your needs. You can find more information in the official documentation.
ReportLab
ReportLab is a powerful PDF generation library for Python. Although it is not specifically designed for converting HTML to PDF, it can be used for this purpose by combining it with other libraries.
ReportLab provides a comprehensive set of tools for creating complex PDF documents from scratch. It supports a wide range of features, including advanced layout options, page breaks, custom fonts, and vector graphics.
To use ReportLab, you need to install it using pip:
pip install reportlab
Once installed, you can start creating PDF documents by importing the necessary modules:
from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas
from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import letter
Then, you can use the various methods provided by ReportLab to create the PDF document:
pdf_file = canvas.Canvas('path/to/output/file.pdf', pagesize=letter)
pdf_file.drawString(100, 100, 'Hello, World!')
pdf_file.showPage()
pdf_file.save()
ReportLab provides a wide range of methods for creating PDF documents, so you can customize the output according to your needs. You can find more information in the official documentation.
