htp on-line reference : Command-line and response files

    htp [options] <source filename> <final HTML filename>

Command-line options are discussed in the options and customization section. Most options can also be embedded in the htp source files themselves.

The source file contains standard and htp-specific markup tags. htp processes the source file and writes the resulting output to the final HTML file.

To handle larger sets of files, htp also accepts a response file, which lists input/output filename pairs and additional response files. A response file is specified as so:

    htp [options] @<response filename>

A response file is a text file, with input and output filenames specified on each line, or alternatively, another response file. Also, options can be included provided they are preceded by a minus sign (‘-’), as if they were typed on the command-line. Since the response file is processed once and in order, options should be placed before specifying any files or response files. Finally, a comment can be placed in the response file by adding a semi-colon. All text on the line beyond the semi-colon will be ignored.

    ; sample response file
    -CONDENSE -IMGXY
    index.htp index.htm
    page1.htp page1.htm
    feature/feature.rsp

A hierarchy of response files can be created using this format.

htp will automatically search for a default response file named "htp.rsp" if no response file is specified. Therefore, to execute htp with a default response file, type

    htp [options] @

And, in a response file, only a new directory needs to be specified to use a default response file:

    feature/

Note that the trailing slash (or backslash) must be included for htp to properly discover the response file.

Additionally, htp will automatically convert slashes and backslashes for file names in all response files and htp special tags only. This means that response files and file names specified by a FILE INCLUDE do not need to be changed if the files are taken back and forth between a DOS and UNIX platform. It will not convert slashes in standard HTML tags. It will convert them internally if the file must be accessed, as in the case of IMG, but the pathname will not be changed in the final output.

While processing, htp will display informational, warning, and error messages. Informational messages are preceded with a "[-]" string. Warning messages are preceded with a "[*]" string. Error messages are preceded with a "[!]" string. Error messages will halt processing of the file, and htp will exit with an error level of 1 (one).