tags --- this would take more logic.) HAT TRICK reflows blocks, which means that only the first line of a block needs to start with the sigils outlined above. However, each line of the block can begin with the sigil character for easier reading. ### Lines Within blocks, there are certain other sigils that apply only to the line they prepend. They include the following: >>> => LINK <<< Links are probably the most important element in any hypertext language---since without them, it's hardly hypertext. HAT TRICK borrows its link syntax from gemtext: the line starts with a "=>", the next field is the link's URL, and the rest of the line is the link's display text. >>> HTML TAG <<< Lines beginning with an html tag are passed on to html verbatim. The closing tag is automatically appended to the end of the line, before any ending punctuation. I've found that 99 times out of 100, I don't want formatting to include the ending punctuation. A backslash (\) at the end of the tag line will prevent the tag from being ended, which is useful for tag-included punctuation as well as nesting tags. However, the tag is never closed, so you'll have to close it yourself on the next line. In addition, text that isn't in a tag is html-escaped, so for the markup to properly apply, you'll need to write something like this: >>> She sells \ sea shells \ on the sea shore.\ <<< So while this markup is possible, it's discouraged through the awkwardness of the syntax. To translate these tags to meaningful markup in gemtext and gophermaps, a lookup table is used to correspond the tags to opening and closing characters around the line's text. This correspondance can be defined with the environment variable HT_TAGCHARS or HAT TRICK's second positional argument (See INVOCATION, below). >>> ; COMMENT <<< Comments in HAT TRICK aren't passed on to the output text---even in html, which has a comment syntax. Instead, comments are passed, including the prepending semicolon, to standard error for further processing. ### Verbatim blocks Finally, there is a special type of block for passing raw text through to the next phase of processing: the verbatim block. >>> >>> [OUTPUTS] VERBATIM TEXT <<< <<< In html, the verbatim text is wrapped in

 tags; in gemtext, it's
wrapped in gemtext's own verbatim text markers ```; and the text is unwrapped in
gophermaps for a cleaner look.

The OUTPUTS can be any output specifier HAT TRICK accepts; see INVOCATION below
for details.  If OUTPUTS is present, the verbatim text will only be passed
through in the output formats listed; with no OUTPUTS listed it will output to
all formats.

## "Escaping" line- and block-types

Each of the types listed above are anchored at the beginning of the line.
Therefore, a simple "escaping" mechanism is available for free: simply prepend a
space to any line you don't want processed as a line or block and you'll be
gravy.  Astute readers will notice I did just that above, to describe the syntax
for verbatim fencing.

## Invocation

An invocation of HAT TRICK will look something like this:

>>>
./ht.awk [HT_FORMATS] [HT_TAGCHARS] < INPUT
<<<

It processes text from standard input and uses two positional parameters to
customize its usage, in addition to environment variables.  In each instance,
the parameter will override the variable, and if neither are provided, HAT TRICK
will choose a default.

### HT_FORMATS (default: "html")

The format(s) to export to.  Can be one or more of "html", "gemini", and
"gopher".  As a convenience, a format can be prepended with a "-" (i.e.,
"-html"), in which case every other format will be exported to.  Multiple
formats can also be specified by separating them with a comma.  The special
keyword "all" will export to all formats (this is the default).

If HAT TRICK exports to one format, it will simply print out each line
translated into that format.  However, if more than one format is given, 
HAT TRICK prints each line multiple times, prepending the name of the format to
the output.  This allows for further processing to filter outputs according to
output type with just one pass through the input.

### HT_TAGCHARS (default: 'b:**,i://,code:``')

The correspondance between html tag lines and other output formats.  If
HT_FORMAT is only html, this option has no real meaning.

Each correspondance is of the (exploded) form

>>>
TAG : LEFT_CHAR RIGHT_CHAR
<<<

where TAG is the html tag, LEFT_CHAR is the character on the left of the
enclosed text, and RIGHT_CHAR is the character on the right.  Rules can be
separated by commas to pass multiple ones to HAT TRICK.