remark-reference-links

remark plugin to change links and images to references with separate definitions.

Contents

• What is this?
• When should I use this?
• Install
• Use
• API
  • unified().use(remarkReferenceLinks)
• Types
• Compatibility
• Security
• Related
• Contribute
• License

What is this?

This package is a unified (remark) plugin to turn links ([text](url)) and images (![alt](url)) into references ([text][id], ![alt][id]) and definitions ([id]: url).

When should I use this?

This project is useful when you want to transform markdown and prefer that it uses references and definitions. Long URLs in source code can make reading markdown difficult. References and definitions improve that by moving those URLs into definitions, outside of paragraphs.

This plugin is very similar to the alternative remark-defsplit. The difference is that that plugin generates identifiers based on hostnames of URLs and places definitions at the end of each section, whereas this plugin generates numeric identifiers at the end of the document.

A different plugin, remark-inline-links, does the inverse: turn references and definitions into links and images.

Install

This package is ESM only. In Node.js (version 16+), install with npm:

npm install remark-reference-links

In Deno with esm.sh:

import remarkReferenceLinks from 'https://esm.sh/remark-reference-links@7'

In browsers with esm.sh:

<script type="module">
  import remarkReferenceLinks from 'https://esm.sh/remark-reference-links@7?bundle'
</script>

Use

Say we have the following file example.md:

# Pluto

[![Build](https://github.com/solar-system/pluto/workflows/main/badge.svg)](https://github.com/solar-system/pluto/actions)

## History

In the 1840s,
[Urbain Le Verrier](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbain_Le_Verrier) used
Newtonian mechanics to predict the position of the then-undiscovered planet
[Neptune](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune) after analyzing perturbations
in the orbit of [Uranus](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus).

And our module example.js looks as follows:

import {remark} from 'remark'
import remarkReferenceLinks from 'remark-reference-links'
import {read} from 'to-vfile'

const file = await remark()
  .use(remarkReferenceLinks)
  .process(await read('example.md'))

console.log(String(file))

…then running node example.js yields:

# Pluto

[![Build][2]][1]

## History

In the 1840s,
[Urbain Le Verrier][3] used
Newtonian mechanics to predict the position of the then-undiscovered planet
[Neptune][4] after analyzing perturbations
in the orbit of [Uranus][5].

[1]: https://github.com/solar-system/pluto/actions

[2]: https://github.com/solar-system/pluto/workflows/main/badge.svg

[3]: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbain_Le_Verrier

[4]: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune

[5]: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus

👉 Note: observe that definitions are added at the end of the document and that IDs are numeric identifiers.

API

This package exports no identifiers. The default export is remarkReferenceLinks.

unified().use(remarkReferenceLinks)

Change links and images to references with separate definitions.

Parameters

There are no parameters.

Returns

Transform (Transformer).

Types

This package is fully typed with TypeScript. It exports no additional options.

Compatibility

Projects maintained by the unified collective are compatible with maintained versions of Node.js.

When we cut a new major release, we drop support for unmaintained versions of Node. This means we try to keep the current release line, remark-reference-links@^7, compatible with Node.js 16.

This plugin works with unified version 3+ and remark version 4+.

Security

Use of remark-reference-links does not involve rehype (hast) or user content so there are no openings for cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.

Related

• remark-defsplit — transform links and images into references and definitions with numeric IDs
• remark-inline-links — transform references and definitions into normal links and images

Contribute

See contributing.md in remarkjs/.github for ways to get started. See support.md for ways to get help.

This project has a code of conduct. By interacting with this repository, organization, or community you agree to abide by its terms.

License

MIT © Titus Wormer