goldmark-anchor

goldmark-anchor is an extension for the goldmark Markdown parser that adds support for anchors next to all headers.

Demo: A web-based demonstration of the extension is available at https://abhinav.github.io/goldmark-anchor/demo/.

Installation

go get go.abhg.dev/goldmark/anchor@latest

Usage

To use goldmark-anchor, import the anchor package.

import "go.abhg.dev/goldmark/anchor"

Then include the anchor.Extender in the list of extensions when constructing your goldmark.Markdown.

goldmark.New(
  goldmark.WithParserOptions(
    parser.WithAutoHeadingID(), // read note
  ),
  goldmark.WithExtensions(
    // ...
    &anchor.Extender{},
  ),
).Convert(src, out)

This will begin adding '¶' anchors next to all headers in your Markdown files.

NOTE: The example above adds the parser.WithAutoHeadingID option. Without this, or a custom implementation of parser.IDs, Goldmark will not add id attributes to headers. If a header does not have an id, then goldmark-anchor will not generate an anchor for it.

Changing anchor text

Change the anchor text by setting the Texter field of the Extender to an anchor.Text value.

&anchor.Extender{
  Texter: anchor.Text("#"),
}

Dynamic anchor text

You can dynamically calculate anchor text by supplying a custom implementation of Texter to the Extender.

For example, the following Texter repeats '#' matching the header level, providing anchors similar to Markdown #-style headers.

type customTexter struct{}

func (*customTexter) AnchorText(h *anchor.HeaderInfo) []byte {
  return bytes.Repeat([]byte{'#'}, h.Level)
}

// Elsewhere:

&anchor.Extender{
  Texter: &customTexter{},
}

Skipping headers

To skip headers, supply a custom Texter that returns an empty output for the AnchorText method.

The following Texter will not render anchors for level 1 headers.

type customTexter struct{}

func (*customTexter) AnchorText(h *anchor.HeaderInfo) []byte {
  if h.Level == 1 {
    return nil
  }
  return []byte("#")
}

Changing anchor attributes

Change the anchor attributes by setting the Attributer field of the Extender.

&anchor.Extender{
  Attributer: anchor.Attributes{
    "class": "permalink",
  },
}

By default, goldmark-anchor will add class="anchor" to all anchors. Set Attributer to anchor.Attributes{} to disable this.

&anchor.Extender{
  Attributer: anchor.Attributes{},
}

Changing anchor positioning

Anchors can appear either at the start of the header before the header text, or at the end after the header text.

<!-- Before -->
<h1><a href="#">#</a> Foo</h1>

<!-- After -->
<h1>Foo <a href="#">¶</a></h1>

You can choose the placement by setting the Position field of Extender.

&anchor.Extender{
  Position: anchor.Before, // or anchor.After
}

By default, goldmark-anchor will place anchors after the header text.

FAQ

Why are no anchors being generated?

By default, Goldmark does not generate IDs for headings. Since goldmark-anchor generates anchors only for headings with IDs, this can result in no anchors being generated

You must enable heading ID generation using one of the following methods:

set the parser.WithAutoHeadingID option
supply your own parser.IDs implementation

Alternatively, if your document specifies heading attributes manually, enable the parser.WithHeadingAttribute option and manually specify heading IDs next to each heading.

License

This software is made available under the BSD3 license.