remark-reference-links

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

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).

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.

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.

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.