PlantUML – quick reference
how to generate a graph
write the graph file (in .txt)
for instance,
@startuml Alice -> Bob: test @enduml
go inside the folder containing the .jar file
run this command:
java -jar plantuml.jar <your_UML_file.txt>
A simple example
just the example in the how-to above.
java -jar plantuml.jar ./examples/example.txt
Another example
you can generate multiple files in one call. Files are saved in the same folder of the text files.
java -jar plantuml.jar ./examples/example2.txt ./examples/example.txt
An example with graphical user interface
just add -gui at the end of the instruction.
java -jar plantuml.jar example.txt -gui
also try this:
java -jar plantuml.jar -gui ./examples/example2.txt ./examples/example.txt
Help from the jar file
command:
java -jar plantuml.jar -h
output:
Usage: java -jar plantuml.jar [options] -gui
(to execute the GUI)
or java -jar plantuml.jar [options] [file/dir] [file/dir] [file/dir]
(to process files or directories)
You can use the following wildcards in files/dirs:
* means any characters but '/'
? one and only one character but '/'
** means any characters (used to recurse through directories)
where options include:
-gui To run the graphical user interface
-tpng To generate images using PNG format (default)
-tsvg To generate images using SVG format
-teps To generate images using EPS format
-tpdf To generate images using PDF format
-tvdx To generate images using VDX format
-txmi To generate XMI file for class diagram
-tscxml To generate SCXML file for state diagram
-thtml To generate HTML file for class diagram
-ttxt To generate images with ASCII art
-tutxt To generate images with ASCII art using Unicode characters
-tlatex To generate images using LaTeX/Tikz format
-tlatex:nopreamble To generate images using LaTeX/Tikz format without preamble
-o[utput] "dir" To generate images in the specified directory
-DVAR1=value To set a preprocessing variable as if '!define VAR1 value' were used
-Sparam1=value To set a skin parameter as if 'skinparam param1 value' were used
-Ppragma1=value To set pragma as if '!pragma pragma1 value' were used
-I/path/to/file To include file as if '!include file' were used
-I/path/to/*.puml To include files with pattern
-theme xxx To use a specific theme
-charset xxx To use a specific charset (default is UTF-8)
-e[x]clude pattern To exclude files that match the provided pattern
-metadata To retrieve PlantUML sources from PNG images
-nometadata To NOT export metadata in PNG/SVG generated files
-checkmetadata Skip PNG files that don't need to be regenerated
-version To display information about PlantUML and Java versions
-v[erbose] To have log information
-quiet To NOT print error message into the console
-debugsvek To generate intermediate svek files
-h[elp] To display this help message
-testdot To test the installation of graphviz
-graphvizdot "exe" To specify dot executable
-p[ipe] To use stdin for PlantUML source and stdout for PNG/SVG/EPS generation
-encodesprite 4|8|16[z] "file" To encode a sprite at gray level (z for compression) from an image
-computeurl|-encodeurl To compute the encoded URL of a PlantUML source file
-decodeurl To retrieve the PlantUML source from an encoded URL
-syntax To report any syntax error from standard input without generating images
-language To print the list of PlantUML keywords
-checkonly To check the syntax of files without generating images
-failfast To stop processing as soon as a syntax error in diagram occurs
-failfast2 To do a first syntax check before processing files, to fail even faster
-noerror To skip images when error in diagrams
-duration To print the duration of complete diagrams processing
-nbthread N To use (N) threads for processing
-nbthread auto To use 12 threads for processing
-timeout N Processing timeout in (N) seconds. Defaults to 15 minutes (900 seconds).
-author[s] To print information about PlantUML authors
-overwrite To allow to overwrite read only files
-printfonts To print fonts available on your system
-enablestats To enable statistics computation
-disablestats To disable statistics computation (default)
-htmlstats To output general statistics in file plantuml-stats.html
-xmlstats To output general statistics in file plantuml-stats.xml
-realtimestats To generate statistics on the fly rather than at the end
-loopstats To continuously print statistics about usage
-splash To display a splash screen with some progress bar
-progress To display a textual progress bar in console
-pipeimageindex N To generate the Nth image with pipe option
-stdlib To print standard library info
-extractstdlib To extract PlantUML Standard Library into stdlib folder
-filedir xxx To behave as if the PlantUML source is in this dir (only affects '-pipe' and PicoWeb 'POST /render')
-filename "example.puml" To override %filename% variable
-preproc To output preprocessor text of diagrams
-cypher To cypher texts of diagrams so that you can share them
-picoweb To start internal HTTP Server. See https://plantuml.com/picoweb
If needed, you can setup the environment variable GRAPHVIZ_DOT.