vnu-client(1)

📦
version 26.8.15.1 · 2 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💅 vnu-client — the manual page, but make it cute

okay bestie, welcome to vnu-client(1) (that's section 1 of the General Commands Manual, iykyk). this whole page is your group chat briefing on the HTTP client for the Nu Html Checker. buckle up 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

vnu-client — the HTTP client that talks to a server instance of the Nu Html Checker. literally what it says on the tin. 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

JAVA_ARGS="-D[property=value]..." vnu-client [FILE]..

that's it. that's the whole vibe. set your Java args, point it at files, go. ✨

👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

so vnu-client is the HTTP client you run from the command line, and its whole main character job is sending documents to a checker HTTP service. two options, both iconic:

  • a locally-running instance of the checker HTTP service (vnu-server) — for fast command-line checking, like instant gratification
  • a remote instance anywhere on the Web — because the internet is big and your HTML can be judged from anywhere 🌈

periodt. that's the description.

💖 OPTIONS 💖

📄 FILE

  • FILE — the file you wish to send to the server for check. yes bestie, hand over your HTML, the server will look at it 🫶

🧚 PROPERTIES 🧚

when you're using the packaged HTTP client to send documents to an instance of the checker HTTP service for checking, you can set Java system properties to control configuration options for the checker's behavior. it's giving "customization era" 💅

most of the properties listed below map to the common input parameters for the checker service — those are documented over at github.com/validator/validator/wiki/Service-»-Common-params. (not me sending you to the wiki, but fr fr, that's where the lore lives 📚)

  • nu.validator.client.host=hostname — specifies the hostname of the checker for the client to connect to.
    • default: "localhost"
    • example: nu.validator.client.host=127.0.0.1
  • nu.validator.client.port=port — specifies the port of the checker for the client to connect to.
    • default: "8080"
    • example: nu.validator.client.port=8888
  • nu.validator.client.path=path — specifies the path of the checker for the client to connect to.
    • default: "/vnu"
    • example: nu.validator.client.path=/
  • nu.validator.client.level=error — specifies the severity level of messages to report. want to suppress those warning-level messages and only show error-level ones? set this property to "error".
    • default: [unset]
    • possible values: "error"
    • example: nu.validator.client.level=error
  • nu.validator.client.parser=parser — specifies which parser to use.
  • nu.validator.client.charset=encoding — specifies the encoding of the input document.
    • default: [unset]
  • nu.validator.client.content-type=content-type — specifies the content-type of the input document.
    • default: "text/html"; or, for *.xhtml files, "application/xhtml+xml"
  • nu.validator.client.out=output-format — specifies the output format for messages.
  • nu.validator.client.asciiquotes=boolean — specifies whether ASCII quotation marks are substituted for Unicode smart quotation marks in messages. (the curly ones vs the straight ones, you know the ones ✨)
    • default: "yes"
    • possible values: "yes" or "no"

🌈 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 🌈

  • JAVA_ARGS — use the JAVA_ARGS environment variable to set the properties (see the PROPERTIES section above, bestie, it's all up there 💜)

🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

want to send FILE.html to an instance of the checker at http://html5.validator.nu/? invoke:

JAVA_ARGS="-Dnu.validator.client.port=80 -Dnu.validator.client.host=html5.validator.nu -Dnu.validator.client.path=/" vnu-client FILE.html

and if you want to suppress warning-level messages and only show error-level ones by setting the value of the nu.validator.client.level system property to error, do it like this:

JAVA_ARGS="-Dnu.validator.client.level=error" vnu-client FILE.html

both of these? ate. no crumbs. 👑

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

vnu(1) — go read it, it's the sibling, they're a duo 💕

and that's the page!! source/version is vnu-client 26.8.15.1+dfsg, dated 2026-08-18, and honestly? iconic of it to be this thorough. go check your HTML, bestie, you got this 🌸✨💖

📦 where this page comes from