remark-external-links

What is remark-external-links?

The remark-external-links package is a plugin for the Remark Markdown processor that automatically modifies links in Markdown files. It is primarily used to add attributes like target and rel to external links, enhancing security and usability without manual HTML tagging.

What are remark-external-links's main functionalities?

Adding attributes to external links

This feature allows users to automatically add specific attributes such as target='_blank' and rel='nofollow noopener noreferrer' to external links in Markdown content. This enhances security by preventing tabnapping and improves SEO through 'nofollow'. The code sample demonstrates how to set up the plugin with Remark to process a simple Markdown string.

const remark = require('remark');
const html = require('remark-html');
const externalLinks = require('remark-external-links');

remark()
  .use(externalLinks, {target: '_blank', rel: ['nofollow', 'noopener', 'noreferrer']})
  .use(html)
  .process('Check out [Google](https://google.com)!', function (err, file) {
    console.log(String(file));
  });

Other packages similar to remark-external-links

rehype-external-links

Similar to remark-external-links, rehype-external-links is a plugin but for Rehype, which processes HTML instead of Markdown. It offers similar functionalities in terms of adding attributes to external links in HTML content, making it a suitable alternative for projects that work directly with HTML rather than Markdown.

markdown-it-external-links

This is a plugin for the markdown-it parser, which is another popular Markdown processor. Like remark-external-links, it allows the addition of attributes to external links in Markdown files. The main difference lies in the base Markdown processor (markdown-it vs. remark), which might affect the choice depending on other project dependencies and personal preference for Markdown syntax extensions.

README

remark-external-links

Add target and rel attributes to external links with remark.

Installation

npm:

npm install remark-external-links

Usage

Say we have the following file, example.js:

var html = require('remark-html')
var remark = require('remark')
var externalLinks = require('remark-external-links')

remark()
  .use(externalLinks, {target: false, rel: ['nofollow']})
  .use(html)
  .process('[remark](https://github.com/remarkjs/remark)', function(err, file) {
    if (err) throw err
    console.log(String(file))
  })

Now, running node example yields:

<p><a href="https://github.com/remarkjs/remark" rel="nofollow">remark</a></p>

API

remark.use(externalLinks[, options])

Add target and rel attributes to external links.

options.target

How to display referenced documents (string?: _self, _blank, _parent, or _top, default: _blank). Pass false to not set targets on links.

options.rel

Link types to hint about the referenced documents (Array.<string> or string, default: ['nofollow', 'noopener', 'noreferrer']). Pass false to not set rels on links.

When using a target, add noopener and noreferrer to avoid exploitation of the window.opener API.

Contribute

See contributing.md in remarkjs/remark for ways to get started.

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License

MIT © Cédric Delpoux