When we generate a PNG version of our PlantUML definition the original definition is stored in the PNG image. We can extract the definition using the command line option -metadata. We need to provide the PNG file and in the output we see the original PlantUML definition.

The following PNG image (activity.png) is created with PlantUML:

lines

Next we run PlantUML from the command line using the option -metadata:

$ java -jar plantuml.jar -metadata activity.png
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activity.png

@startuml

' Make a dashed line, alternative syntax for ..>
(*) -[dashed]-> "Write outline"

' Make line bold and use color code
"Write outline" -[bold,#008000]-> "Find example"

' Only change the color
"Find example" -[#ff00ff]-> "Write blog"

' Order of line style and color can be reversed
"Write blog" -[#6666ff,dashed]-> "Publish"

' Use dotted line style
"Publish" -[dotted]-> (\*)

@enduml

PlantUML version 8051(Thu Dec 01 18:52:05 CET 2016)
(GPL source distribution)
Java Runtime: Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment
JVM: Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM
Java Version: 1.8.0\_112-b16
Operating System: Mac OS X
OS Version: 10.12.1
Default Encoding: UTF-8
Language: en
Country: US

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$

At the top we see the section @startuml..@enduml with the PlantUML syntax that was used to generate the PNG image.

Written with PlantUML 8051.

Original blog post

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