# Install smartypants with Homebrew, apk, apt

Typography prettifier. Version 1.5.1 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install python3-smartypants.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:smartypants
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install smartypants
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- apk (92%):

```sh
sudo apk add smartypants
```

  Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: smartypants from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz

- Debian apt (92%):

```sh
sudo apt install python3-smartypants
```

  Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: python3-smartypants from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:smartypants
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.5.1
- **Source summary:** Typography prettifier
- **Homepage:** <https://daringfireball.net/projects/smartypants/>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- smartypants (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.5.1
## Project history and usage

SmartyPants is John Gruber's typography filter for turning plain ASCII punctuation into typographic HTML entities. In package-manager culture it is a small but durable text-processing command, tied to early weblog tooling and the same Daring Fireball ecosystem that produced Markdown.

### Project history

The official project page records SmartyPants 1.0 as released on November 13, 2002. It began as a free web publishing plug-in for Movable Type and later supported Blosxom, BBEdit, and Unix-style command-line use.

### Adoption history

SmartyPants became useful wherever plain text was converted to web output. The official history added Blosxom, BBEdit, command-line use, and automatic integration with Markdown in Movable Type; the supplied package metadata shows later packaging in Homebrew, Alpine, Debian, and Ubuntu variants.

### How it is used

The tool converts straight quotes, backtick quote notation, dash sequences, and three dots into smart quote, dash, and ellipsis HTML entities while avoiding code-like HTML blocks such as `pre`, `code`, `kbd`, and `script`.

### Why package nerds care

Package maintainers care because SmartyPants is a classic tiny text filter: old Perl, web-publishing conventions, command-line use, and compatibility behavior all matter more than churn. It is also historically adjacent to Markdown, which makes it familiar to documentation and static-site toolchains.

### Timeline

- 2002: SmartyPants 1.0 initial release.
- 2003: Version 1.2 became a combination plug-in for Movable Type, Blosxom, BBEdit, and standalone command-line use.
- 2004: Version 1.5 added automatic Markdown integration for Movable Type.
- 2004: Version 1.5.1 was published as the downloadable release on the official page.

### Related projects

- The official page discusses Movable Type, Blosxom, BBEdit, MT-Textile, Textile, and Markdown integration.

### Sources

- <https://daringfireball.net/projects/smartypants/: official description, version history, supported tools, command-line note, and release dates.>
- input source_facts.package-manager: Homebrew, Alpine, Debian, and Ubuntu package names.


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Debian apt - python3-smartypants - 2.0.0-4: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: python3-smartypants from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | smart-quotes plugin for pyblosxom (Python 3 version) | https://github.com/justinmayer/smartypants.py
- Ubuntu apt - python3-smartypants - 2.0.0-3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: python3-smartypants from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | smart-quotes plugin for pyblosxom (Python 3 version) | http://web.chad.org/projects/smartypants.py/
- apk - smartypants - 2.0.1-r6: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: smartypants from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Translate plain ASCII punctuation characters into “smart” typographic punctuation HTML entities | https://github.com/leohemsted/smartypants.py
- apk - smartypants-doc - 2.0.1-r6: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: smartypants-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Translate plain ASCII punctuation characters into “smart” typographic punctuation HTML entities (documentation) | https://github.com/leohemsted/smartypants.py
- apk - smartypants-pyc - 2.0.1-r6: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: smartypants-pyc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Precompiled Python bytecode for smartypants | https://github.com/leohemsted/smartypants.py


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/smartypants.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/smartypants.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph