MDP(1)                      General Commands Manual                     MDP(1)

NAME
       mdp - A command-line based markdown presentation tool

SYNOPSIS
       mdp [OPTION]... [FILE]

DESCRIPTION
       mdp is a command-line program that allows you to make elegant
       presentations from markdown formatted FILEs.

       It is as easy as write your presentation content in the text editor of
       your preference and launch the presentation from the command-line.

OPTIONS
   Input Control
       FILE   The input file from which the presentation is read. If no file
              is specified, or if the file name is -, the presentation is read
              from standard input.

   Output Control
       -c, --nocodebg
              Don't change the background color of code blocks.

       -e, --expand
              Enable character entity expansion (e.g. '>' becomes '>').

       -f, --nofade
              Disable color fading in 256 color mode.

       -i, --invert
              Swap black and white color.

       -j N, --jump N
              Jump to slide number N.

       -L N, --left-indent N
              Shift slide content by N columns to the right.

       -s, --noslidenum
              Do not show slide number at the bottom.

       -T N, --top-indent N
              Shift slide content by N rows down.

       -t, --notrans
              Disable transparency in transparent terminal.

       -x, --noslidemax
              Show slide number, but not total number of slides.

   Miscellaneous Options
       -d, --debug
              Enable debug messages on STDERR. Add multiple times to increases
              debug level.

       -h, --help
              Display usage message and exit.

       -v, --version
              Display version and license information.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
   Output Control
       MDP_LIST_HEAD[1-3], MDP_LIST_OPEN[1-3]
              Controls the list characters of unordered lists.

              The default is equivalent to:
              MDP_LIST_OPEN1=' |  '
              MDP_LIST_OPEN2=' |  '
              MDP_LIST_OPEN3=' |  '
              MDP_LIST_HEAD1=' +- '
              MDP_LIST_HEAD2=' +- '
              MDP_LIST_HEAD3=' +- '

MARKDOWN FORMATTING
       For a complete list of supported markups, refer the sample presentation
       (sample.md) provided alongside mdp, or online available at
       https://github.com/visit1985/mdp.

   Slides
       The input FILE is split into multiple slides by horizontal rules. Each
       consisting of at least 3 --- or *** characters on a single line.  This
       line must be prefixed by an completely empty line.  It can also contain
       spaces but no other characters.

       If any slide is too large to fit into your current screen, an error
       message will be displayed at the moment the presentation is launched.

   Line-by-Line Mode
   Block-by-Block Mode
       A single <br>, <BR> or ^ on an otherwise empty line signals mdp to stop
       output of the current slide (stop point) and wait for a key-press by
       the user.

       This enables the user to display bullet points or list items one by one
       (line by line) or block by block.

   Headers
       mdp supports metadata lines at the top of the input file in the form
       [KEY]:[VALUE].  The first metadata entry is used as the title, and
       repeated footer: entries are used for the lower bar. If only one footer
       value is given, it is centered when slide numbers are hidden. For
       example:

       <!--
       title: Example Presentation
       footer: Someone
       footer: 2026-01-01
       -->

       Legacy metadata is also accepted as %title:,%author:,%date: lines at
       the top of the input file. The old %author: and %date: labels are
       treated as the first and second footer values respectively. HTML
       comments may be used to hide those metadata lines from the slide deck,
       and the comment metadata does not require % prefixes.

       Headers are only recognized at the top of the input FILE.

   Line spanning markup
       Supported are headlines, code blocks, quotes and unordered lists.

   In-line markup
       As well as bold text, underlined text and in-line code.

COLOR SUPPORT
       Most terminals are able to display 256 colors these days. But some of
       them enable only 16 colors by default. To enjoy mdp's full
       capabilities, these terminals need to be signaled to enable 256 color
       mode. This is usually done by setting the TERM environment variable.

       export TERM=xterm-256color

KEYBOARD CONTROLS
       h, j, k, l, Arrow keys, Space, Enter, Backspace, Page Up, Page Down
              Display next/previous slide or continue after a stop point.

       g, Home
              Jump to first slide.

       G, End Jump to last slide.

       1..N   Jump to Nth slide.

       r      Reload the input FILE. This key is disabled if input was read
              from standard input.

       q      Exit mdp.

CUSTOMIZATION
       mdp can be configured by modifying config.h and recompiling.

AUTHOR
       Written by Michael Goehler and others, see
       https://github.com/visit1985/mdp/blob/master/AUTHORS.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2026 Michael Goehler

       This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is
       NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
       PURPOSE.

User Commands                     2016-04-02                            MDP(1)