tidy

Validate and reformat HTML markup

TLDR

Clean HTML file

$ tidy [input.html]

Write to file

$ tidy -o [output.html] [input.html]

Modify in place

$ tidy -m [file.html]

Convert to XHTML

$ tidy -asxhtml [input.html]

Show only errors

$ tidy -e [input.html]

Indent output

$ tidy -i [input.html]

Quiet mode

$ tidy -q [input.html]

Wrap at column

$ tidy -w [80] [input.html]

SYNOPSIS

tidy [-o output] [-m] [-i] [options] [files]

tidy validates and reformats HTML documents, detecting markup errors such as missing closing tags, improper nesting, and deprecated elements. It can automatically fix many common problems while producing consistently formatted output with standardized indentation and line wrapping.
The tool can convert HTML to XHTML (-asxhtml) for stricter XML-compliant output, or reformat in place with -m. Error-only mode (-e) reports problems without modifying the document, useful for quick validation checks. Output wrapping width is configurable with the -w flag.

PARAMETERS

-o FILE

Output file.

-m, --modify

Modify in place.

-i, --indent

Indent content.

-e, --errors

Show errors only.

-q, --quiet

Quiet mode.

-w N, --wrap N

Wrap at column.

-asxhtml

Output as XHTML.

-ashtml

Output as HTML.

--indent-spaces N

Spaces per indent.

CAVEATS

May change whitespace. Some fixes alter rendering. Complex pages need care.

HISTORY

HTML Tidy was originally developed by Dave Raggett at W3C. It's maintained by HTACG (HTML Tidy Advocacy Community Group).