The standard for syntax checking. rstcheck is a command-line tool that checks RST files for syntax errors and structural issues. It integrates with docutils and can validate:
“My table is too wide for PDF output.” Solution: Use .. list-table:: with :widths: or the rst2pdf custom stylesheet. rst tools
| Scenario | Recommended Toolchain | |----------|----------------------| | Python library documentation | Sphinx + autodoc + Read the Docs | | Scientific paper with equations | Sphinx + rst2latex + BibTeX | | Multi-volume technical manual | Sphinx + intersphinx + toctree | | GitHub README only | Markdown (avoid RST) | | Blog or casual writing | Markdown | | Legacy RST migration | pandoc + manual cleanup | The standard for syntax checking
| Category | Purpose | Example Tools | |------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------| | | Convert RST to HTML, PDF, LaTeX, etc. | Docutils, Sphinx, Pandoc, rst2pdf | | Editors & Preview | Syntax highlighting, live rendering | Visual Studio Code (w/ reStructuredText extension), PyCharm, Emacs (rst-mode), ReText | | Linters & Validators | Check syntax, links, best practices | rstcheck , rst-lint , sphinx-lint | | Publishing systems | Full documentation sites, versioning, cross-referencing | Sphinx, MkDocs (limited RST support), Read the Docs | | Conversion utilities | Interchange with Markdown, HTML, etc. | Pandoc, rst2html5 , rst2odt | list-table:: with :widths: or the rst2pdf custom stylesheet
The industry standard for reST documentation. It converts .rst files into HTML websites, PDFs (via LaTeX), ePubs, and more. It is used by major projects like Django and the official Python documentation.