nbconvert#

nbconvert

converts notebooks to other formats

Installation#

$ pipenv install nbconvert

Important

To be able to use all functions of nbconvert, Pandoc and TeX (especially XeLaTeX) are required. These must be installed separately.

Install Pandoc#

nbconvert uses Pandoc to convert Markdown to formats other than HTML.

$ sudo apt install pandoc

$ brew install pandoc

Install Tex#

For the conversion to PDF, nbconvert uses the Tex ecosystem in preparation: A .tex file is created, which is converted into a PDF by the XeTeX engine.

$ sudo apt install texlive-xetex

$ eval "$(/usr/libexec/path_helper)"
$ brew install --cask mactex

See also

MacTeX

Use on the command line#

$ jupyter nbconvert --to FORMAT mynotebook.ipynb
latex

creates a NOTEBOOK_NAME.tex file and possibly images as PNG files in a folder. With --template you can choose between one of two templates:

--template article

default

Latex article, derived from the Sphinx how-to

--template report

Latex report with table of contents and chapters

pdf

creates a PDF over latex. Supports the same templates as latex.

slides

creates Reveal.js slides.

script

kconverts the notebook into an executable script. This is the easiest way to create a Python script or a script in another language.

Note

If a notebook contains Magics, then this can possibly only be carried out in one Jupyter session.

We can for example convert foo.ipynb into a Python script with:

$ pipenv run jupyter nbconvert --to script workspace/ipython/mypackage/foo.ipynb
[NbConvertApp] Converting notebook docs/basics/ipython/mypackage/foo.ipynb to script
[NbConvertApp] Writing 245 bytes to docs/basics/ipython/mypackage/foo.py

The result is then foo.py with:

#!/usr/bin/env python
# coding: utf-8

# # `foo.ipynb`

# In[1]:
def bar():
    return "bar"

# In[2]:
def has_ip_syntax():
    listing = get_ipython().getoutput("ls")
    return listing

# In[3]:
def whatsmyname():
    return __name__

Note

In order to assign notebook cells to slides, you should select View ‣ Cell Toolbar ‣ Slideshow. Then a menu is displayed in each cell at the top right with the options: Slide, Sub-Slide, Fragment, Skip, Notes.

Note

Lecture notes require a local copy of reveal.js. The following option can be specified so that nbconvert can find this: --reveal-prefix /path/to/reveal.js.

Further details for FORMAT are asciidoc, custom, html, markdown, notebook, and rst.

nb2xls#

nb2xls converts Jupyter notebooks into Excel files (.xlsx) taking into account pandas DataFrames and Matplotlib outputs. However, the input cells are not converted and only part of the Markdown is converted.

Own exporters#

See also

Customizing exporters allows you to write your own exporters.