svg-sprite: symbol conversion to single svg icon

Question

I have a svg sprite like the following:

<svg viewBox="0 0 100 100" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" style="width:0;height:0;visibility:hidden;">
    <symbol viewBox="0 0 500 500" id="test-icon"><title>test</title><ellipse class="background" id="test-background" fill="#fff" cx="248.8" cy="251.4" rx="246.2" ry="244.8"/>
        <path class="test-frame" d="M249.4 18C121.1 18 16.8 122.3 16.8 250.6S121.3 483 249.4 483 482 378.8 482 250.5 377.7 18 249.4 18m0 480.8c-66 0-128.3-26.4-176.2-73.1C27.6 378.9 1.3 316.5 1.3 249.3s26.3-128.2 73.1-175 109.1-73.1 175-73.1 128.3 26.4 176.2 73.1c46.7 46.8 73.1 109.2 73.1 176.2s-26.4 128.3-73.1 176.2c-46.7 45.6-109 72.1-176.2 72.1"/>
        <path class="test-figure" d="M133.8 103.5v293h232.5V148.9l-22-22-23.4-23.4H133.8zm17.9 22h108.7v12.4H151.7v-12.4zm0 24.8h108.7v12.4H151.7v-12.4zm192.5 211.8H151.7v-24.7h191.2v24.7h1.3zm0-41.2H151.7v-24.7h191.2v24.7h1.3zm0-42.7H151.7v-24.7h191.2v24.7h1.3zm0-44H151.7v-23.4h191.2v23.4h1.3z"/>
    </symbol>
    <symbol viewBox="0 0 500 500" id="test-icon"><title>test</title><ellipse class="background" id="test-background" fill="#fff" cx="248.8" cy="251.4" rx="246.2" ry="244.8"/>
        <path class="test-frame" d="M249.4 18C121.1 18 16.8 122.3 16.8 250.6S121.3 483 249.4 483 482 378.8 482 250.5 377.7 18 249.4 18m0 480.8c-66 0-128.3-26.4-176.2-73.1C27.6 378.9 1.3 316.5 1.3 249.3s26.3-128.2 73.1-175 109.1-73.1 175-73.1 128.3 26.4 176.2 73.1c46.7 46.8 73.1 109.2 73.1 176.2s-26.4 128.3-73.1 176.2c-46.7 45.6-109 72.1-176.2 72.1"/>
        <path class="test-figure" d="M133.8 103.5v293h232.5V148.9l-22-22-23.4-23.4H133.8zm17.9 22h108.7v12.4H151.7v-12.4zm0 24.8h108.7v12.4H151.7v-12.4zm192.5 211.8H151.7v-24.7h191.2v24.7h1.3zm0-41.2H151.7v-24.7h191.2v24.7h1.3zm0-42.7H151.7v-24.7h191.2v24.7h1.3zm0-44H151.7v-23.4h191.2v23.4h1.3z"/>
    </symbol>
    <symbol viewBox="0 0 500 500" id="test-icon"><title>test</title><ellipse class="background" id="test-background" fill="#fff" cx="248.8" cy="251.4" rx="246.2" ry="244.8"/>
        <path class="test-frame" d="M249.4 18C121.1 18 16.8 122.3 16.8 250.6S121.3 483 249.4 483 482 378.8 482 250.5 377.7 18 249.4 18m0 480.8c-66 0-128.3-26.4-176.2-73.1C27.6 378.9 1.3 316.5 1.3 249.3s26.3-128.2 73.1-175 109.1-73.1 175-73.1 128.3 26.4 176.2 73.1c46.7 46.8 73.1 109.2 73.1 176.2s-26.4 128.3-73.1 176.2c-46.7 45.6-109 72.1-176.2 72.1"/>
        <path class="test-figure" d="M133.8 103.5v293h232.5V148.9l-22-22-23.4-23.4H133.8zm17.9 22h108.7v12.4H151.7v-12.4zm0 24.8h108.7v12.4H151.7v-12.4zm192.5 211.8H151.7v-24.7h191.2v24.7h1.3zm0-41.2H151.7v-24.7h191.2v24.7h1.3zm0-42.7H151.7v-24.7h191.2v24.7h1.3zm0-44H151.7v-23.4h191.2v23.4h1.3z"/>
    </symbol>
</svg>

Now my question is: can I just make a svg out of the symbol, just by extracting the symbol and then replacing the symbol-tag with an svg-tag? Or how can I achieve this conversion to separate svg?

I thought of a little script, that can inject several svg icons from an svg-sprite like above, so the icons can be style by css better/individually.

The thing here is that in the sprite there are symbols, which (as far as I read) can only be used with <use xlink:href>. But then the icon can't be styled individually like inline svg could be (as it is a clone).

Edit: I found open-iconic svgIncetor that uses an img-src and single svgs to inject into the html. Also to mention is that I alread read following articles by Chris Coyier:

• http://css-tricks.com/svg-use-external-source/
• http://css-tricks.com/svg-symbol-good-choice-icons/
• http://css-tricks.com/icon-fonts-vs-svg/
• http://css-tricks.com/svg-sprites-use-better-icon-fonts/

Basically I want to combine the technics used there to have an icon system, that can have multi-color icons based on css and icon-sprite (with inline svg through js-inject). The open-iconic injector can only inject sinlge svgs and not from sprites afaik.

Answer 1

There isn't a lot you need to change (see http://jsfiddle.net/yo8bhxfu/):

• Remove the view box from the SVG element
• Adapt the style of the SVG element so it's visible and specifies the proper size (taken from the symbol's view box)
• Convert the symbol tags into g tags

You might be on the safe side if you additionally remove the class attributes, the id attributes and the title.

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" style="width:500px; height:500px;">
    <g viewBox="0 0 500 500" id="test-icon">
        <title>test</title>
        <ellipse class="background" id="test-background" fill="#fff" cx="248.8" cy="251.4" rx="246.2" ry="244.8"/>
        <path class="test-frame" d="M249.4 18C121.1 18 16.8 122.3 16.8 250.6S121.3 483 249.4 483 482 378.8 482 250.5 377.7 18 249.4 18m0 480.8c-66 0-128.3-26.4-176.2-73.1C27.6 378.9 1.3 316.5 1.3 249.3s26.3-128.2 73.1-175 109.1-73.1 175-73.1 128.3 26.4 176.2 73.1c46.7 46.8 73.1 109.2 73.1 176.2s-26.4 128.3-73.1 176.2c-46.7 45.6-109 72.1-176.2 72.1"/>
        <path class="test-figure" d="M133.8 103.5v293h232.5V148.9l-22-22-23.4-23.4H133.8zm17.9 22h108.7v12.4H151.7v-12.4zm0 24.8h108.7v12.4H151.7v-12.4zm192.5 211.8H151.7v-24.7h191.2v24.7h1.3zm0-41.2H151.7v-24.7h191.2v24.7h1.3zm0-42.7H151.7v-24.7h191.2v24.7h1.3zm0-44H151.7v-23.4h191.2v23.4h1.3z"/>
    </g>
</svg>

Answer 2

I have created a small script using Nodejs and svg-parser, to split a SVG icons sprite file:

<svg version="1.1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
  <defs>
    <symbol id="act" viewBox="0 0 48 48">
      <path d="M24 22c0.552 0 1-0.448 1-1v-18c0-0.552-0.448-1-1-1s-1 0.448-1 1v18c0 0.552 0.448 1 1 1z" />
      <path 
        d="M33.027 8.148c0 0-0.010 0.013-0.012 0.015-0.152-0.094-0.322-0.163-0.515-0.163-0.552 0-1 0.448-1 1 0 0.377 0.217 0.693 0.525 0.864 0.004 0.004-0.001 0.015 0.004 0.018 5.503 2.817 9.971 8.868 9.971 16.118 0 9.625-7.866 18-18 18-10.17 0-18-8.375-18-18 0-7.33 4.443-13.31 9.972-16.118 0.005-0.002 0-0.014 0.003-0.018 0.308-0.171 0.525-0.487 0.525-0.864 0-0.552-0.448-1-1-1-0.191 0-0.359 0.068-0.511 0.16-0.002-0.002-0.011-0.015-0.011-0.015-6.513 3.298-10.978 10.055-10.978 17.855 0 11.046 8.954 20 20 20s20-8.954 20-20c0-7.798-4.462-14.553-10.973-17.852z" />
    </symbol>
    ...
  </defs>
</svg>

const fs = require('fs');
const { parse } = require('svg-parser');

// Read from sprite file
fs.readFile('file.svg', 'utf8', function (err, contents) {
  console.log(err);
  const parsed = parse(contents);
  const symbols = parsed.children[0].children[0].children;

  symbols.forEach(symbol => {
    let paths = '';
    const name = symbol.properties.id;
    symbol.children.forEach(path => {
      paths = paths + `<path d="${path.properties.d}" />`
    });

    // Build SVG content
    const newIcon = `<svg version="1.1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" viewBox="0 0 50 50">
      <g>
        ${paths}
      </g>
    </svg>`

    // White to file
    fs.writeFile(`export/${name}.svg`, newIcon, () => {
      console.log(name);
    });
  });

});