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+Using Python-Markdown on the Command Line
+=========================================
+
+While Python-Markdown is primarily a python library, a command line script is 
+included as well. While there are many other command line implementations 
+of Markdown, you may not have them installed, or you may prefer to use 
+Python-Markdown's various extensions.
+
+Setup
+-----
+
+Generally, you may simply call the ``markdown`` file from the command 
+line. However, if you have fully installed Markdown (``setup.py install`` or 
+``easy_install``), then the ``markdown`` script will have been copied to
+you Python "Scripts" directory. Different systems require different methods to
+ensure that any files in the Python "Scripts" directory are on your system 
+path.
+
+* **Windows**:
+
+    Assuming a default install on Windows, your "Scripts" directory is most
+    likely something like ``C:\\Python25\Scripts``. Verify the location of
+    your "Scripts" directory and add it to you system path.
+
+    Calling ``markdown`` from th ecommand line will call the wrapper batch file
+    ``markdown.bat`` in the "Scripts" directory created during install.
+
+* **Linux**:
+
+    As each Linux distribution is different and we can't possibly document all 
+    of them here, we'll provide a few helpful pointers:
+
+    * Some systems will automatically install the script on your path. Try it 
+      and see if it works. Just run ``markdown`` from the command line.
+
+    * Other systems may maintain a separate "Scripts" directory which you
+      need to add to your path. Find it (check with your distribution) and
+      either add it to your path or make a symbolic link to it from your path.
+
+    * If you are sure ``markdown`` is on your path, but it still isn't being
+      found, check the permissions of the file and make sure it is executable.
+
+    As an alternative, you could just ``cd`` into the directory which contains
+    the source distribution, and run it from there. However, remember that your
+    markdown text files will not likely be in that directory, so it is much more 
+    convenient to have ``markdown`` on your path.
+
+The Basics
+----------
+
+To use ``markdown`` from the command line, run it as 
+
+    $ markdown input_file.txt
+
+or 
+
+    $ markdown input_file.txt > output_file.html
+
+More Options
+------------
+
+If you are using Python 2.3 or higher, you can also use advanced
+command line options to specify encoding or to run extensions.
+
+    $ markdown --help
+    Usage: markdown INPUTFILE [options]
+
+    Options:
+      -h, --help            show this help message and exit
+      -f OUTPUT_FILE, --file=OUTPUT_FILE
+                            write output to OUTPUT_FILE
+      -e ENCODING, --encoding=ENCODING
+                            encoding for input and output files
+      -q, --quiet           suppress all messages
+      -v, --verbose         print info messages
+      -s SAFE_MODE, --safe=SAFE_MODE
+                            safe mode ('replace', 'remove' or 'escape'  user's
+                            HTML tag)
+      -o OUTPUT_FORMAT, --output_format=OUTPUT_FORMAT
+                            Format of output. One of 'xhtml1' (default) or
+                            'html4'.
+      --noisy               print debug messages
+      -x EXTENSION, --extension=EXTENSION
+                            load extension EXTENSION
+
+Using Extensions
+----------------
+
+For an extension to be ran this way it must be provided in a module
+which should be in your python path (see [[writing_extensions]] for details). 
+It can then be invoked by the name of that module:
+
+    $ markdown -x footnotes text_with_footnotes.txt > output.html
+
+If the extension supports config options, you can pass them in as well:
+
+    $ markdown -x "footnotes(PLACE_MARKER=~~~~~~~~)" input.txt
+