adampresley/vim-markdown-preview-mdtohtml

A markdown previewer plugin for Vim using Golang mdtohtml

Vim Markdown Preview MDTOHTML

A markdown previewer using Golang mdtohtml

• Intro
• Installation
• Usage
• Requirements
  • Mac OS X
  • Unix
• Options
  • Hotkey
  • Use xdg-open
• Behind the Scenes

Intro

A small Vim plugin for previewing markdown files in a browser using the mdtohtml tool. It opens whatever browser is set as your system default. This plugin is a variation on the plugin Vim Markdown Preview.

The aim of this plugin is to be light weight with minimal dependencies. Thus, there is no polling engine or webserver involved.

Installation

• With Vundle:
  • Add Plugin 'adampresley/vim-markdown-preview-mdtohtml' to your .vimrc.
  • Launch vim and run :PluginInstall
• With Plug:
  • Add Plug 'adampresley/vim-markdown-preview-mdtohtml' to your .vimrc.
  • Launch vim and run :PlugInstall

Usage

By default, when in a .markdown or .md file, and Ctrl-m is pressed, this plugin will either open a preview in your browser, or refresh your current preview.

Your cursor will remain in Vim.

Requirements

This tool requires mdtohtml. To install it you must have Go installed first. Once you have Go installed execute the following on your command line:

go get -u github.com/gomarkdown/mdtohmtl

This will create the mdtohtml executable in the default Go bin folder. Ensure that folder is in your system PATH.

Mac OS X:

• Safari

Unix:

• xdotool
• Google Chrome or other browser

Options

All options have default values and work out of the box. If you prefer to change these, just add the following lines to your .vimrc file. Note that after changing an option, you have to restart Vim for the change to take effect.

The vim_markdown_preview_mdtohtml_hotkey option

By default, this plugin maps <C-m> (Control m) to activate the preview. To remap Control m to a different hotkey, change the binding. Don't forget to add the single quotation marks.

Default: '<C-m>'

Example: Mapping Control M.

let vim_markdown_preview_hotkey='<C-p>'

The vim_markdown_preview_mdtohtml_use_xdg_open option

If your system does not come with see, and you would like to use xdg-open to view your rendered html in the browser, set the following flag:

Default: 0

Example: Use xdg-open.

let vim_markdown_preview_mdtohtml_use_xdg_open=1

Behind The Scenes

1. First, this plugin renders your markdown as html and creates a temporary html file in /tmp.
2. Next, this plugin either opens the html file or refreshes the Google Chrome or Safari tab.