Text formatter tools

Question

I make notes in textual format, for example

## TODO list
1. do this
2. do that

## SOMETHING
### ANYTHING
1. do this
2. do that 

Are there tools to change this text into HTML or LaTeX format? I find Sphinx, as it's for Python code formatting, it would be great there's a tool for more general text formatting.

Answer 1

I suggest starting by looking at Markdown, Textile and Grutatxt. But there are many:

List of plain-text markup and tools

• AFT written in Perl. Outputs html, latex, lout, RTF
• APTconvert no longer available? See Doxia below
• APT
• ASCIIDoc Outputs DocBook
• BBcode (alt)
• BHL An add-on for the EMACS editor
• Bobcat
• Creole
• Crossmark
• Deplate Written in Ruby. Outputs LaTex, HTML, DocBook
• Docfrac
• Doxia reads APT and others
• epydoc Mainly for Python API documentation
• etText Written in Perl. Outputs HTML
• gema Macro processor with templates for markup conversion
• Groff
• Grutatxt
• Highlight 160 programming languages to HTML, XHTML, RTF, TeX, LaTeX, SVG, BBCode and XML
• Lout similar to LaTex, outputs PS
• Markdown Written in Perl. Outputs HTML only. Used on SuperUser.com
• MultiMarkdown Extends Markdown with tables etc
• o7acode Outputs HTML only?
• otl Very configurable
• Pandoc Written in Haskell
• Pod Written in Perl
• Proletext Uses spaces and tabs as markup :(
• Regexxer Search/Replacer
• ReST Written in Python. Outputs only HTML?
• rdoc Written in Ruby
• setext
• sisu (alt)
• skribe
• spip More of a CMS?
• stx2any Converts structured text (stx) into other formats
• texy
• Textile
• text2html Written in Perl?
• txt2html
• txt2tags Not customizable
• Yodl
• Xilize Similar to textile markup
• Zoem Used to generate HTML or troff.

Other lists

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/659227/compare-and-contrast-the-lightweight-markup-languages-textile-markdown-and-res
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2158312/language-for-plain-text-documentation
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lightweight_markup_languages
• http://outl.sourceforge.net/lightweight.html
• http://www.i-freeware-download.com/info/Lightweight-markup-language-ifpd-10420.aspx

Grutatxt

I like Grutatxt because it seems to me to be nearest to unadorned plain text and so the plain text is very readable. I use GrutaTxt to generate HTML and PDF (via LaTeX) It handles tables quite well which Markdown doesn't so far as I know. I have a Perl script to add a table of contents and plug in a CSS stylesheet. I use recode to convert character encodings to UTF8. I have all this in a simple makefile so I can just edit the text file and type make to publish it as a web page (and PDF simultaneously).

Comparison of markup for GrutaTxt, ASCIIDOC and APT

NL = new line, SP = space character(s)

Title
  Markdown      Title NL =====
  Grutatxt      Title NL =====
  ASCIIDOC      Title NL =====
  APT           --- NL Title NL --- NL Author NL --- NL Date

H1
  Markdown      Head NL ====   or # Head #
  Grutatxt      Head NL ====
  ASCIIDOC      Head NL ----   or   == Head
  APT           * Head

H2
  Markdown      Head NL ----   or ## Head ##
  Grutatxt      Head NL ----
  ASCIIDOC      Head NL ~~~~   or   === Head
  APT           ** Head

H3
  Markdown      ### Head ###
  Grutatxt      Head NL ~~~~
  ASCIIDOC      head NL ^^^^   or   ==== Head
  APT           *** Head

H4
  Markdown      -
  Grutatxt      -
  ASCIIDOC      Head NL ++++   or   ===== Head
  APT           **** Head       

Bold
  Markdown      **word**
  Grutatxt      *word*
  ASCIIDOC      .word
  APT           <<word>>

Italic
  Markdown      *word*
  Grutatxt      _word_
  ASCIIDOC      -
  APT           <word>

Code
  Markdown      `words`
  Grutatxt      `words'
  ASCIIDOC      `words`
  APT           <<<words>>>

Line Break
  Markdown      words SP SP NL
  Grutatxt      -
  ASCIIDOC      -
  APT           words \ NL words

Non breaking space
  Markdown      -
  Grutatxt      -
  ASCIIDOC      -
  APT           word\ word

Comment
  Markdown      -
  Grutatxt      -
  ASCIIDOC      -
  APT           ~~ comments

HyperLink
  Markdown      [name](http://a.b.c)
  Grutatxt      http://a.b.c(name)
  ASCIIDOC      <<a.b.c, name>>
  APT           http://a.b.c
                {{{http://a.b.c}name}}

Anchor
  Markdown      -
  Grutatxt      -
  ASCIIDOC      [[name]]
  APT           {name}

Unordered List
  Markdown      SP SP - words
  Grutatxt      SP * words
  ASCIIDOC      SP - words
  APT           SP * words

Ordered List
  Markdown      SP SP 1. words
  Grutatxt      SP # words
  ASCIIDOC      -
  APT           [[1]] words

Definition
  Markdown      -
  Grutatxt      SP * term: definition
  ASCIIDOC      term:: NL definition
  APT           [term] definition

Table
  Markdown      -
  Grutatxt      +---+---+
                | a | b |
                +---+---+
  ASCIIDOC      ~~~~~
                h,h,h
                ~~~~~
                a,b,c
                d,e,f
                ~~~~~
  APT           *---*---+---:
                |ctr|lft|rgt|
                *---*---+---:
                caption

Image
  Markdown      ![alt](http://a.b.c.png)
  Grutatxt      << NL <img src="cow.jpg" /> NL >>
  ASCIIDOC      -
  APT           [cow.jpg] caption

Preformatted
  Markdown      SP SP SP SP words    or <pre> NL words NL </pre>
  Grutatxt      SP words
  ASCIIDOC      SP words
  APT           --- NL words NL ---

Horizontal Rule
  Markdown      NL ------ NL      
  Grutatxt      ____
  ASCIIDOC      -
  APT           ====

Citation
  Markdown      -
  Grutatxt      ``words
  ASCIIDOC      -
  APT           -

Answer 2

Another format is Textile. Markdown is more or less comme il faut.