svg_sprite

Create SVG sprites by embedding images into CSS using data URIs. The SVGs are optimized using svg_optimizer.

gem install svg_sprite

Or add the following line to your project's Gemfile:

gem "svg_sprite"

Let's assume there's a directory called images with the following files:

$ tree images
images
├── doc-fill.svg
├── doc.svg
├── trash-fill.svg
└── trash.svg

0 directories, 4 files

The following command will export the SVG sprite and a CSS file with all dimensions.

$ svg_sprite generate --input images \
                      --css-path sprite/icons.css \
                      --sprite-path sprite/icons.svg \
                      --name icon

All SVGs will be combined into one simple file. You can then refer to the SVG by using a link.

<svg>
  <use href="sprite/icons.svg#trash" role="presentation">
</svg>

If you want to restrict the SVG to the original dimensions, use the export CSS file. Classes are defined using the --name name (defaults to sprite), together with the file name. This is an example:

/*
This file was generated by https://rubygems.org/gems/svg_sprite with the
following command:

svg_sprite generate --input images --sprite-path sprite/icons.svg --css-path sprite/icons.css --optimize --name icon
*/

.icon--doc-fill {
  width: 42px;
  height: 52px;
}

.icon--doc {
  width: 42px;
  height: 52px;
}

.icon--trash-fill {
  width: 48px;
  height: 53px;
}

.icon--trash {
  width: 48px;
  height: 54px;
}

By default, SVGs will keep their stroke and fill colors. You can remove or use currentColor instead by using --stroke and --fill.

$ svg_sprite generate --input images \
                      --sprite-path sprite/icons.svg \
                      --css-path sprite/icons.css \
                      --name icon \
                      --stroke current-color \
                      --fill current-color

$ svg_sprite generate --input images \
                      --sprite-path sprite/icons.svg \
                      --css-path sprite/icons.css \
                      --name icon \
                      --stroke remove \
                      --fill remove

Finally, all SVGs will be optimized using svg_optimizer. To disable it, use --no-optimize.

You need to embed the final SVG sprite on your HTML page. With Rails, you can use a helper like this:

module ApplicationHelper
  def svg_tag(file)
    File.open(Rails.root.join("app/assets/images", "#{file}.svg")).html_safe
  end
end

Then, on your layout file (e.g. application.html.erb), you can render it as <%= svg_tag(:icons) %>.

Now, you need to reference those SVG links by adding <use href="#id">. You can create a helper method like this to make things easy.

module ApplicationHelper
  def icon(name)
    content_tag :svg, class: "icon icon--#{name}" do
      content_tag :use, nil, href: "##{name}", role: :presentation
    end
  end
end

You can render icons by using <%= icon(:trash) %>.

To export both the CSS and SVG files:

require "svg_sprite"

SvgSprite.call(
  input: "./images/icons",
  name: "icon",
  css_path: "./sprite/icons.css",
  svg_path: "./sprite/icons.svg",
  optimize: true,
  stroke: "remove",
  fill: remove
)

• Nando Vieira

• https://github.com/fnando/svg_sprite/contributors

For more details about how to contribute, please read https://github.com/fnando/svg_sprite/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md.

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License. A copy of the license can be found at https://github.com/fnando/svg_sprite/blob/main/LICENSE.md.

Everyone interacting in the svg_sprite project's codebases, issue trackers, chat rooms and mailing lists is expected to follow the code of conduct.