**Pandoc** is a **universal document converter** and command-line tool written in Haskell that can convert between numerous markup and word processing formats. ## What is Pandoc? Pandoc is a **free, open-source tool** that serves as a "Swiss Army knife" for document conversion. It can convert files between dozens of formats including: - **Markdown** (various flavors) - **HTML** - **LaTeX** - **Microsoft Word (.docx)** - **PDF** - **EPUB** - **Google Docs** - **And many more** (over 40+ formats supported) ## Key Features 1. **Universal Conversion**: Convert from any supported format to any other supported format 2. **Command-Line Tool**: Simple syntax like `pandoc input.md -o output.docx` 3. **Modular Design**: Uses readers (parsers) and writers (formatters) for each format 4. **PDF Generation**: Can create PDFs via LaTeX, ConTeXt, or HTML 5. **Metadata Support**: Handles document metadata, citations, and bibliographies 6. **Extensible**: Supports custom filters and templates ## Common Use Cases - **Technical Writing**: Convert Markdown to Word/Google Docs for collaborative editing - **Academic Writing**: Convert between LaTeX, Markdown, and Word for journal submissions - **Documentation**: Merge multiple documents into one, convert between formats - **Publishing**: Generate PDFs, EPUBs, and HTML from a single source document ## Basic Examples ```bash # Convert Markdown to Word pandoc input.md -o output.docx # Convert Word to Markdown pandoc input.docx -o output.md # Convert Markdown to PDF pandoc input.md -o output.pdf # Convert HTML to Markdown pandoc -f html -t markdown input.html -o output.md ``` Pandoc is widely used by technical writers, academics, developers, and anyone who needs to work with multiple document formats efficiently.