Export layers from svg files to png using xslt and inkscape

If you have svg files and you want to export all but one layer, or only some specific layers to png files using the command line (e.g. in an automated batch job or script), you can not do this with Inkscape out of the box. There is no parameter to export only one layer or to export all but one layer or anything similar. Because svg files are actually xml files, you can use xslt to strip out the layers you do not want to export.

Prerequisites

• You need inkscape and an xslt transformation tool installed.
• For Windows you can use msxsl
• For Linux you can use xsltproc.
• Of course, you need an svg file with multiple layers created with inkscape. (Inkscape uses the <g> tag to create layers and the layer name that you can see and modify in Inkscape is specified in the "inkscape:label" attribute).

Exporting all but one layer

To export all but a certain layer, you can use this xslt template. You just have to change the "inkscape:label" from 'Layer 2' to whatever layer name you want.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet
    version="1.0"
    xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
    xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
    xmlns:inkscape="http://www.inkscape.org/namespaces/inkscape"
    >
    <xsl:template match="@*|node()">
        <xsl:copy>
            <xsl:apply-templates select="@*|node()"/>
        </xsl:copy>
    </xsl:template>

    <xsl:template match="svg:g[@inkscape:label='Layer 2']"/>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Just copy this text into a text-file and save it (preferable with the file extension ".xsl" or ".xslt").
Then, from the command-line, do the following:

msxsl Example.svg YourXsltFile.xslt -o YourNewExample.svg
C:\Program Files (x86)\Inkscape.com YourNewExample.svg --export-png=YourNewExample.png

(Use "xsltproc -o YourNewExample.svg YourXsltFile.xslt Example.svg" instead of msxsl for Linux).

Exporting certain layers

When you want to export just a number of layers, it's better to use this template for the xslt file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet
    version="1.0"
    xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
    xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
    xmlns:inkscape="http://www.inkscape.org/namespaces/inkscape"
    >
    <xsl:template match="@*|node()">
        <xsl:copy>
            <xsl:apply-templates select="@*|node()"/>
        </xsl:copy>
    </xsl:template>

    <xsl:template match="svg:g"/>

    <xsl:template match="svg:g[@inkscape:label='Background']|svg:g[@inkscape:label='Layer 2']">
        <xsl:copy>
            <xsl:apply-templates select="@*|node()"/>
        </xsl:copy>
    </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>