retext-smartypants

What is retext-smartypants?

The retext-smartypants package is a plugin for the retext ecosystem that transforms plain ASCII punctuation into typographically correct punctuation. It is useful for converting straight quotes to curly quotes, double hyphens to em dashes, and other similar transformations to improve the readability and appearance of text.

What are retext-smartypants's main functionalities?

Convert straight quotes to curly quotes

This feature converts straight quotes (" and ') to their curly counterparts (“ and ’).

const retext = require('retext');
const smartypants = require('retext-smartypants');
const report = require('vfile-reporter');

retext()
  .use(smartypants)
  .process('"Hello, world!" she said.', function (err, file) {
    if (err) throw err;
    console.log(String(file));
    console.error(report(file));
  });

Convert double hyphens to em dashes

This feature converts double hyphens (--) to em dashes (—).

const retext = require('retext');
const smartypants = require('retext-smartypants');
const report = require('vfile-reporter');

retext()
  .use(smartypants)
  .process('This is an example--with an em dash.', function (err, file) {
    if (err) throw err;
    console.log(String(file));
    console.error(report(file));
  });

Convert triple dots to ellipses

This feature converts triple dots (...) to ellipses (…).

const retext = require('retext');
const smartypants = require('retext-smartypants');
const report = require('vfile-reporter');

retext()
  .use(smartypants)
  .process('Wait... what?', function (err, file) {
    if (err) throw err;
    console.log(String(file));
    console.error(report(file));
  });

Other packages similar to retext-smartypants

typogr

The typogr package provides similar functionality to retext-smartypants by improving the typography of text. It converts straight quotes to curly quotes, double hyphens to em dashes, and more. It is a standalone library and does not require the retext ecosystem.

smartypants

The smartypants package is a JavaScript port of the original SmartyPants Perl library. It provides similar transformations for typographic punctuation, such as converting straight quotes to curly quotes and double hyphens to em dashes. It is a standalone library and can be used independently of retext.

README

retext-smartypants

retext implementation of smartypants.

Installation

With NPM

$ npm install retext-smartypants

Git

git clone https://github.com/wooorm/retext-smartypants.git
cd retext-smartypants
npm install

Usage

var Retext = require('retext'),
    smartypants = require('retext-smartypants');

var root = new Retext()
    .use(smartypants()) // Note that `smartypants` is
                        // called (optionally with
                        // options).
    .parse('He said, "A \'simple\' english sentence. . ."')
    .toString(); // 'He said, “A ‘simple’ english sentence…”'

API

smartypants(options?)

var root = new Retext()
    .use(smartypants({
        'ellipses' : false,
        'dashes' : 'oldschool'
    }))
    .parse('He said---A \'simple\' english sentence. . ."')
    .toString(); // 'He said—A ‘simple’ english sentence. . .'

• options (null or Object)
• options.quotes (true or false):
  • When true, converts dumb double and single quotes to smart double or single quotes;
  • When false, ignores dumb quotes;
• options.ellipses (true or false) - note the plural of ellipsis;
  • When true, converts triple dot characters (with or without spaces between) into a single unicode ellipsis character;
  • When false, ignores dumb ellipses;
• options.backticks ("all", true, or false)
  • When true, converts double backticks into an opening double quote, and double dumb single quotes into a closing double quote;
  • When "all", does the preceding, in addition of converting single backticks into an opening single quote, and a dumb single quote into a closing single quote;
  • When false, ignores dumb backticks and single quotes (although when quotes is true, dumb quotes might be converted to smart quotes anyway).
• options.dashes ("oldschool", "inverted", true, or false)
  • When true, converts two dashes into an em-dash character;
  • When "oldschool", converts two dashes into an en-dash, and three dashes into an em-dash;
  • When "inverted", converts two dashes into an em-dash, and three dashes into an en-dash;
  • When false, ignores dumb dashes.

All options can be omitted (i.e., null or undefined) to default to true.

License

MIT