marked

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.

README

marked

A full-featured markdown parser and compiler. Built for speed.

Benchmarks

node v0.4.x

$ node test --bench
marked completed in 12071ms.
showdown (reuse converter) completed in 27387ms.
showdown (new converter) completed in 75617ms.
markdown-js completed in 70069ms.

node v0.6.x

$ node test --bench
marked completed in 6623ms.
marked (with gfm) completed in 7618ms.
discount completed in 7230ms.
showdown (reuse converter) completed in 16136ms.
showdown (new converter) completed in 18526ms.
markdown-js completed in 24347ms.

Marked is now faster than Discount, which is written in C.

For those feeling skeptical: These benchmarks run the entire markdown test suite 1000 times. The test suite tests every feature. It doesn't cater to specific aspects.

Benchmarks for other engines to come (?).

Install

$ npm install marked

Another javascript markdown parser

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 is very concise 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. It was very difficult to get marked as compliant as it is. It could have cut corners in several areas for the sake of performance, but did not in order to be exactly what you expect in terms of a markdown rendering. In fact, this is why marked could be considered at a disadvantage in the benchmarks above.

Along with implementing every markdown feature, marked also implements GFM features.

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));

$ node
> require('marked').lexer('> i am using marked.')
[ { type: 'blockquote_start' },
  { type: 'text', text: ' i am using marked.' },
  { type: 'blockquote_end' },
  links: {} ]

CLI

$ marked -o hello.html
hello world
^D
$ cat hello.html
<p>hello world</p>

Syntax Highlighting

Marked has an interface that allows for a syntax highlighter to highlight code blocks before they're output.

Example implementation:

var highlight = require('my-syntax-highlighter')
  , marked_ = require('marked');

var marked = function(text) {
  var tokens = marked_.lexer(text)
    , l = tokens.length
    , i = 0
    , token;

  for (; i < l; i++) {
    token = tokens[i];
    if (token.type === 'code') {
      token.text = highlight(token.text, token.lang);
      // marked should not escape this
      token.escaped = true;
    }
  }

  text = marked_.parser(tokens);

  return text;
};

module.exports = marked;

License

Copyright (c) 2011-2012, Christopher Jeffrey. (MIT License)

See LICENSE for more info.