What is marked?
The marked npm package is a markdown parser and compiler built for speed. It converts markdown syntax to HTML, and it is designed to be as extensible and fast as possible.
What are marked's main functionalities?
Markdown Parsing
This feature allows you to parse markdown text and convert it to HTML. The code sample shows how to use marked to convert a simple markdown string into HTML.
const marked = require('marked');
console.log(marked('# Marked in Node.js\n\nRendered by **marked**.'));
Options Customization
This feature allows you to customize the behavior of the marked parser by setting options such as GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM), breaks, pedantic, sanitize, smart lists, and smartypants.
const marked = require('marked');
marked.setOptions({
renderer: new marked.Renderer(),
gfm: true,
breaks: false,
pedantic: false,
sanitize: false,
smartLists: true,
smartypants: false
});
console.log(marked('I am using __markdown__.'));
Synchronous Parsing
This feature allows you to parse markdown synchronously, which is useful when you don't need to handle asynchronous operations.
const marked = require('marked');
const html = marked('## Synchronous markdown to HTML');
console.log(html);
Asynchronous Parsing
This feature allows you to parse markdown asynchronously, which can be useful when dealing with file systems or network requests.
const marked = require('marked');
marked('# Asynchronous markdown to HTML', function(err, content) {
if (err) throw err;
console.log(content);
});
Lexer and Parser
This feature exposes the lexer and parser, allowing you to generate tokens from markdown and then parse those tokens into HTML. This can be useful for advanced use-cases where you need to manipulate the tokens before parsing.
const marked = require('marked');
const tokens = marked.lexer('# Lexing markdown');
console.log(tokens);
const html = marked.parser(tokens);
console.log(html);
Other packages similar to marked
remarkable
Remarkable is an npm package that offers similar markdown parsing and rendering capabilities. It provides a full-featured markdown parser and compiler, and it emphasizes extensibility and performance, much like marked.
showdown
Showdown is another markdown to HTML converter that can be used both in the browser and on the server. It has a similar feature set to marked but also includes extensions which allow for additional syntax and features beyond the standard markdown.
markdown-it
Markdown-it is a modern markdown parser with a focus on speed and extensibility. It supports the CommonMark specification and has a similar feature set to marked, but it also includes a plugin system for extending its capabilities.
marked
A full-featured markdown parser and compiler implemented in ~430 lines of JS.
Built for speed.
Benchmarks
$ node test --old_bench
marked: 6260ms
showdown: 21665ms
markdownjs: 69168ms
(Above is the old benchmark, try node test --bench
for the new ones.)
The point of marked was to create a markdown compiler where it was possible to
frequently parse huge chunks of markdown without having to worry about
caching the compiled output somehow...or blocking for an unnecesarily long time.
marked lingers around 430 (may vary) lines long and still implements all
markdown features. It is also now fully compatible with the client-side.
marked more or less passes the official markdown test suite in its
entirety. This is important because a surprising number of markdown compilers
cannot pass more than a few tests.
Install
$ npm install marked
Usage
var marked = require('marked');
console.log(marked('i am using __markdown__.'));
You also have direct access to the lexer and parser if you so desire.
var tokens = marked.lexer(str);
console.log(marked.parser(tokens));
Todo (& notes to self)
- Implement GFM features.
- Possibly add some
ReMarkable
features while remaining backwardly compatible with all markdown syntax.
- Optimize the parser so it accepts a stream of tokens from the lexer. This
should enhance performance even further, although, no lookaheads would
be possible.
- Add an explicit pretty printing and minification feature.