Skip to content

nbconvert

Convert a Jupyter notebook to various formats, including markdown

Exporting all the markdown and code cells from a Jupyter notebook to a simple markdown file can be done in several ways. Here's a straightforward method using nbconvert, a tool that comes with Jupyter:

Usage

nbconvert allows you to convert a Jupyter notebook to various formats, including markdown. To do this:

  1. Open a Terminal: Open a command-line interface.

  2. Use the nbconvert Command:

  3. Run the following command: 
    jupyter nbconvert --to markdown YourNotebook.ipynb [--no-output]

  4. Replace YourNotebook.ipynb with the name of your notebook file.

  5. Result:

  6. This command will create a markdown file with the same name as your notebook in the same directory.
  7. The generated markdown file will contain all the markdown and code cells from your notebook.

Install

pip install nbconvert

Customizing the Output

  • If you need more customization, such as excluding code cells or including only markdown, you might need to use additional tools or write a custom script.
  • For more complex requirements, you can explore Python scripts that read the notebook file (which is a JSON file) and extract the desired content.

Note

  • nbconvert will also convert output cells by default. If you only want the input cells (markdown and code) without outputs, you might need additional steps or custom scripting.
  • Ensure that nbconvert is installed. It usually comes with the standard Jupyter installation, but if it's missing, you can install it using pip install nbconvert.

This method provides a quick and easy way to convert your entire notebook into a markdown document for documentation purposes.

See also