[html] is there a tool to create SVG paths from an SVG file?

does anyone know of a tool that can take an SVG file, and convert it into an HTML 5 SVG path? you know, the d="M 0 0 L 20 134 L 233 24 Z" fill="#99dd79" part?

I head here: Use Adobe Illustrator to create SVG Path using "move to" commands

But not sure. Does this mean Illustrator can take any line drwaing and save it as an SVG path?

Note: Yes there is inkscape, but I'm looking for gradient and masking support, if that's possible. I'd like to be able to utilize .ai files and export them using illustrator or Acrobat or something... is there something out there? Or is it built in to Illustrator or Acrobat as an output format?

Open the svg using Inkscape.

Inkscape is a svg editor it is a bit like Illustrator but as it is built specifically for svg it handles it way better. It is a free software and it's available @ https://inkscape.org/en/

• ctrl A (select all)
• shift ctrl C (=Path/Object to paths)
• ctrl s (save (choose as plain svg))

done

all rect/circle have been converted to path

Surprised no one mentioned Illustrator's Save As > Format dropdown > .svg option.

Outputs an .svg file that contains the path (and the rest of the svg definition) within an .svg (xml) file.

The path itself is within <path d>.

Gimp can be used to convert SVGs with primitives (e.g. rects, circles, etc.) into a single path which can be used within HTML5.

1. First download Gimp: https://www.gimp.org/downloads/
2. Export your SVG as a .svg file with any tool of choice e.g. Illustrator. Don't worry if the SVG output is messy for now, Gimp will clean it up
3. Import the SVG file into Gimp with File -> Open, and the following (or similar) dialog should show up:

Check both the Import Paths and Merge imported paths options

4. Then go to Windows->Dockable Dialogues->Paths
5. Right-click on the single path which says Imported Path and you should see the following dialog:

6. Click Export Path... and save this text file to a location of your choice
7. Locate and open up this file with a text editor of your choice e.g Notepad, TextEdit
8. Copy the text within the <path d="copy this text here" />
9. Since Gimp formats the text with lots of spaces, you may need to re-format it, by removing some of the spaces to paste it into your HTML in a single line

Open the SVG with you text editor. If you have some luck the file will contain something like:

<path d="M52.52,26.064c-1.612,0-3.149,0.336-4.544,0.939L43.179,15.89c-0.122-0.283-0.337-0.484-0.58-0.637  c-0.212-0.147-0.459-0.252-0.738-0.252h-8.897c-0.743,0-1.347,0.603-1.347,1.347c0,0.742,0.604,1.345,1.347,1.345h6.823  c0.331,0.018,1.022,0.139,1.319,0.825l0.54,1.247l0,0L41.747,20c0.099,0.291,0.139,0.749-0.604,0.749H22.428  c-0.857,0-1.262-0.451-1.434-0.732l-0.11-0.221v-0.003l-0.552-1.092c0,0,0,0,0-0.001l-0.006-0.011l-0.101-0.2l-0.012-0.002  l-0.225-0.405c-0.049-0.128-0.031-0.337,0.65-0.337h2.601c0,0,1.528,0.127,1.57-1.274c0.021-0.722-0.487-1.464-1.166-1.464  c-0.68,0-9.149,0-9.149,0s-1.464-0.17-1.549,1.369c0,0.688,0.571,1.369,1.379,1.369c0.295,0,0.7-0.003,1.091-0.007  c0.512,0.014,1.389,0.121,1.677,0.679l0,0l0.117,0.219c0.287,0.564,0.751,1.473,1.313,2.574c0.04,0.078,0.083,0.166,0.126,0.246  c0.107,0.285,0.188,0.807-0.208,1.483l-2.403,4.082c-1.397-0.606-2.937-0.947-4.559-0.947c-6.329,0-11.463,5.131-11.463,11.462  S5.15,48.999,11.479,48.999c5.565,0,10.201-3.968,11.243-9.227l5.767,0.478c0.235,0.02,0.453-0.04,0.654-0.127  c0.254-0.043,0.507-0.128,0.713-0.311l13.976-12.276c0.192-0.164,0.874-0.679,1.151-0.039l0.446,1.035  c-2.659,2.099-4.372,5.343-4.372,8.995c0,6.329,5.131,11.461,11.462,11.461c6.329,0,11.464-5.132,11.464-11.461  C63.983,31.196,58.849,26.064,52.52,26.064z M11.479,46.756c-4.893,0-8.861-3.968-8.861-8.861s3.969-8.859,8.861-8.859  c1.073,0,2.098,0.201,3.051,0.551l-4.178,7.098c-0.119,0.202-0.167,0.418-0.183,0.633c-0.003,0.022-0.015,0.036-0.016,0.054  c-0.007,0.091,0.02,0.172,0.03,0.258c0.008,0.054,0.004,0.105,0.018,0.158c0.132,0.559,0.592,1,1.193,1.05l8.782,0.727  C19.397,43.655,15.802,46.756,11.479,46.756z M15.169,36.423c-0.003-0.002-0.003-0.002-0.006-0.002  c-1.326-0.109-0.482-1.621-0.436-1.704l2.224-3.78c1.801,1.418,3.037,3.515,3.32,5.908L15.169,36.423z M25.607,37.285l-2.688-0.223  c-0.144-3.521-1.87-6.626-4.493-8.629l1.085-1.842c0.938-1.593,1.756,0.001,1.756,0.001l0,0c1.772,3.48,3.65,7.169,4.745,9.331  C26.012,35.924,26.746,37.379,25.607,37.285z M43.249,24.273L30.78,35.225c0,0.002,0,0.002,0,0.002  c-1.464,1.285-2.177-0.104-2.188-0.127l-5.297-10.517l0,0c-0.471-0.936,0.41-1.062,0.805-1.073h17.926c0,0,1.232-0.012,1.354,0.267  v0.002C43.458,23.961,43.473,24.077,43.249,24.273z M52.52,46.745c-4.891,0-8.86-3.968-8.86-8.858c0-2.625,1.146-4.976,2.962-6.599  l2.232,5.174c0.421,0.977,0.871,1.061,0.978,1.065h0.023h1.674c0.9,0,0.592-0.913,0.473-1.199l-2.862-6.631  c1.043-0.43,2.184-0.672,3.381-0.672c4.891,0,8.861,3.967,8.861,8.861C61.381,42.777,57.41,46.745,52.52,46.745z" fill="#241F20"/>

The d attribute is what you are looking for.

(In reply to the "has the situation improved?" part of the question):

Unfortunately, not really. Illustrator's support for SVG has always been a little shaky, and, having mucked around in Illustrator's internals, I doubt we'll see much improvement as far as Illustrator is concerned.

If you're looking for DOM-style access to an Illustrator document, you might want to check out Hanpuku (Disclosure #1: I'm the author. Disclosure #2: It's research code, meaning there are bugs aplenty, and future support is unlikely).

With Hanpuku, you could do something like:

1. Select the path of interest in Illustrator
2. Click the "To D3" button

3. In the script editor, type:

   selection.attr('d', 'M 0 0 L 20 134 L 233 24 Z');

4. Click run

5. If the change is as expected, click "To Illustrator" to apply the changes to the document

Granted, this approach doesn't expose the original path string. If you follow the instructions toward the end of the plugin's welcome page, it's possible to edit the Illustrator document with Chrome's developer tools, but there will be lots of ugly engineering exposed everywhere (the SVG DOM that mirrors the Illustrator document is buried inside an iframe deep in the extension—changing the DOM with Chrome's tools and clicking "To Illustrator" should still work, but you will likely encounter lots of problems).

TL;DR: Illustrator uses an internal model that's pretty different from SVG in a lot of ways, meaning that when you iterate between the two, currently, your only choice is to use the subset of features that both support in the same way.