mdsh - Markdown shell pre-processor

the mdsh project describes a Markdown language extension that can be used to automate some common tasks. The goal is to keep the syntax compatible while allowing a pre-processor (mdsh) to be run against the file.

Quite often I find myself needing to embed a snippet of code or markdown from a different file. But GitHub doesn't allow loading other files, even when selecting a format that supports it (like AsciiDoc).

Another quite common use-case is to embed the output of a command as a fenced code block or markdown content. For example the project is a CLI and the --help output could be displayed in the README.md.

Both of these cases are supported by extending the existing syntax and running mdsh against the file.

Usage

$ mdsh --help ``` mdsh 0.1.1 zimbatm zimbatm@zimbatm.com Markdown shell pre-processor

USAGE: mdsh [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] [INPUT]

FLAGS: --clean Only clean the file from blocks -h, --help Prints help information -V, --version Prints version information

OPTIONS: -o, --output Path to the output file, defaults to the input value

ARGS: Path to the markdown file [default: README.md] ```

Syntax Extensions

Inline Shell Code

Inline Shell Code are normal inline code with that: * start at the beginning of a line * include either $ or > at the beginning of their content

Eg: $ date

Or: > date

When those are enountered, the command is executed by mdsh and output as either a fenced code block ($) or markdown code (>).

$ runs the command and outputs a code block
> runs the command and outputs markdown

Examples:

NOTE: the block removal algorithm doesn't support output that contains the triple backtick.

$ date Sat Feb 16 21:33:35 CET 2019

NOTE: the block removal algorithm doesn't support output that contains the comment markers.

> nix-info --markdown - system: "x86_64-linux" - host os: Linux 4.20.7, NixOS, 19.03.git.0309b923a25M (Koi) - multi-user?: yes - sandbox: yes - version: nix-env (Nix) 2.2 - channels(root): "" - channels(zimbatm): "" - nixpkgs: /home/zimbatm/go/src/github.com/nixos/nixpkgs-zimbatm

Link Includes

Link Includes work similarily to code blocks but with the link syntax.

$ loads the file and embeds it as a code block
> loads the file and embeds it as markdown

Examples:

$ code.rb ``` require "pp"

pp ({ foo: 3 }) ```

> example.md this is part of the example.md file

Known issues

The tool currently lacks in precision as it doesn't parse the Markdown file. It means that in some cases it might misintepret some of the commands.

Most existing Markdown parsers are used to generate HTML in the end and are thus not position-preserving. Eg: pulldown-cmark

User Feedback

Issues

If you have any problems with or questions about this project, please contact use through a GitHub issue.

Contributing

You are invited to contribute new features, fixes or updates, large or small; we are always thrilled to receive pull requests, and do our brest ot process them as fast as we can.

License

> LICENSE MIT License

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.