ospam Command in Linux



The ospam command in Linux is SGML/XML markup stream editor. It is part of the OpenSP toolset, which provides tools for working with SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) and XML documents. It specifically reads an SGML/XML document and writes the output with modifications or additional markup as specified.

Table of Contents

Here is a comprehensive guide to the options available with the ospam command −

Installation of ospam Command

The ospam command is a part of the OpenSP toolset, to use it, the OpenSP must be installed on Linux.

To install OpenSP on Ubuntu, Kali Linux, Debian, and other Debian-based distributions, use the following command −

sudo apt install opensp

To install it on Arch Linux, use the command given below −

sudo pacman -S opensp

To install it on CentOS, use −

sudo yum install opensp

To install it on Fedora, use the following command −

sudo dnf install opensp

To verify the installation, check the version of ospam command −

ospam --version
ospam Command in Linux1

Or check the binary path, using the which command −

which ospam
ospam Command in Linux2

Syntax of ospam Command

The syntax of ospam command is as follows −

ospam [options] [file]

In the above syntax, the [options] field is used to specify the various options to modify the command's behavior. The [file] is used to specify files that need to be processed.

ospam Command Options

The options of ospam command are listed below −

Flags Options Description
-a name --activate= name Activate doctype or linktype name
-A architecture --architecture= architecture Parse with respect to architecture
-b bctf --bctf= bctf Use bctf for output
-c sysid --catalog= sysid Use catalog file sysid
-C --catalogs Use catalogs as in onsgmls
-D directory --directory= directory Search directory for system identifiers.
-e --open-entities Include open entities in error messages.
-E max_errors --max-errors= max_errors Stop after max_errors errors
-f file --error-file= file Redirect errors to file
-h --hoist-omitted-tags Hoist omitted tags from internal entities
--help Display help and exit
-i name --include= name Include name (same as in onsgmls)
-l --lowercase Convert added names to lowercase
-m markup_option --markup-option= markup_option Modify markup (omittag, shortref, net, emptytag)
-n --error-numbers Show error numbers
-o name --output-entity= name Output entity name instead of the document
-p --output-prolog Include SGML declaration and prolog
-r --raw Skip RS/RE conversions in output
-R --restricted Restricted mode (as in onsgmls)
-v --version Print version number
-wtype --warning=type Control warnings by type
-x --expand-references Expand entity references (twice for all references with tags)

Examples of ospam Command in Linux

This section demonstrates the usage of the ospam command in Linux with examples −

Activating a Doctype and Adding Omitted Tags

To activate the HTML doctype, use the following command −

ospam -ahtml -momittag file.sgml

Or −

ospam --activate=html --markup-option=omittag file.sgml

In the above command -ahtml activates the HTML doctype, and -momittag adds the omitted tags.

ospam Command in Linux3

Including SGML Declaration and Prolog in the Output

To ensure that the SGML declaration and prolog are included in the output, use the -p or --output-prolog option with the ospam command −

ospam -p file.sgml
ospam Command in Linux4

By default, it is omitted from the output.

Displaying Error Numbers in Error Messages

To display the error numbers in the error messages, use the -n or --error-numbers option −

ospam -n file.sgml
ospam Command in Linux5

Displaying Help

To display help related to ospam command, use the following command −

ospam --help

Controlling Warnings

To control warnings by type, use the -w or --warning option with the ospam command. Some common warning types are xml, mixed, duplicate, all, empty, net, unused-map, or entity-ref. For example, to display a warning about duplicated entity references, use the ospam command in the following manner −

ospam -wduplicate file.sgml

Conclusion

The ospam command is a part of the OpenSP toolset, designed for working with SGML and XML documents by modifying and adding markup as specified. It offers a variety of options, such as activating doctypes, including SGML declarations, controlling error messages, and managing warnings.

To use ospam, OpenSP must be installed on the system. It is beneficial for parsing and modifying SGML/XML documents with various customization options.

In this tutorial, we explained the ospam command, its installation, syntax, options, and usage in Linux with examples.

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