ODFBUILD(1)

👑 ODFBUILD — the OpenDocument file creation utility, bestie edition ✨

okay so picture this: it's a User Contributed Perl Documentation page (yes, that's the manual family, we love a humble queen), and it's about odfbuild — which literally just makes OpenDocument files for you. no cap. you give it a filename, it gives you a whole document. it's giving assistant energy and we're obsessed 💅

✨ NAME ✨

odfbuild — the OpenDocument file creation utility 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

odfbuild filename.odt

odfbuild filename.odt --title "My Document" --subject "Test"

odfbuild filename.ods --class spreadsheet --source "data.csv"
--tablesize "8x16"

cat data.txt | odfbuild filename.odt -

see how the last one pipes stdin straight in with that little -? iconic. 🫶

💖 OPTIONS 💖

• --class — what kind of document are we making, bestie. the choices are text, spreadsheet, drawing, presentation. default: text. (text is the main character, obviously 👑)
• --opendocument — takes no value. if this is on, the document will be in OpenDocument format. if you don't turn it on, the format gets picked according to the general configuration of your OpenOffice::OODoc installation. so like, it's not deciding, the config is deciding. iykyk 🌈
• --creator — the author of the document. default: the current user's login name. so it just claims you wrote it. slay ✨
• --date — creation date. default is current local time. if you do provide it, it must be in ISO-8601 format, and the format is YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS. no vibes-based date formats, okay? ⭐
• --description — the description (abstract) of the document. default: none. give your doc a little blurb, it deserves one 🦋
• --force — takes no value. if this is on, any existing file with the same path as the target file gets replaced. without it, the program will fail if the target already exists. so like... it will not overwrite unless you explicitly say so. respect the boundaries, honestly 🙈
• --generator — the software signature stored in the file (not visible to the end user, so it's a secret little signature, very mysterious of it 💀). default: "Genicorp OpenOffice::OODoc <version>"
• --keywords — a list of comma-separated keywords. default: none. tag it like a tumblr post 🔥
• --source — a text file used as the content of the document. and the behaviour depends, so let me break it down:
  • if the document class is text, each line is loaded as a new paragraph with the standard style.
  • if the document class is spreadsheet, the file is processed as CSV data and loaded in one sheet.
  • if the document class is neither text nor spreadsheet, the file is not processed. at all. it just sits there 💀
  • if source = -, or if a - argument is provided, the data file is read through the standard input. pipeline girlies stay winning 🧚
• --subject — the subject of the document. default: none. 🌸
• --tablename — the name of the sheet to be created if the document class is spreadsheet and if a data file is provided. default: the name of the data file, or "Unnamed Sheet" if the data is read from the standard input. (unnamed sheet said no name, no problem 😭)
• --tablesize — the size of the sheet to be created if the document class is spreadsheet and if a data file is provided, in 'HxW' format where H is the number of lines and W is the number of columns. default: '16x8'. watch the order, it's H then W — height girlies first 💅
• --title — the title of the document. default: "Untitled". (untitled is such a mood but like, name your art 🎀)
• --readable_XML — takes no value. for debugging only. if this is on, the XML content of the target file is indented, so you can go in and edit it later. it's the "make it readable" button and it's lowkey so useful 🦋

real talk: --force genuinely replaces existing files, and --readable_XML is debugging only — don't be out here shipping debug output to your boss, bestie 😭

🫶 the sign-off 🫶

this page is from perl v5.42.3, dated 2010-07-12, and it's the ODFBUILD(1) manual — so like, it's been serving this information for a minute and honestly? still ate. go make some documents. periodt. 💜🌈✨