remark-remove-unused-definitions

This is a unified (remark) plugin that removes unused reference definitions from a document. Also removes unused GFM footnotes definitions.

While you can get a similar effect by running something like the following:

remark -o --use inline-links --use reference-links your-markdown-file.md

Such a naive approach will destroy all of your carefully considered alphanumeric reference ids (e.g. the "alphanumeric-id" in [text][alphanumeric-id])! This plugin only elides unused reference definitions, leaving the rest intact.

• Install
• Usage
  • Via API
  • Via remark-cli
  • Via unified configuration
• API
• Examples
• Related
• Appendix
  • Published Package Details
  • License
• Contributing and Support
  • Contributors

Install

Due to the nature of the unified ecosystem, this package is ESM only and cannot be require'd.

To install:

npm install --save-dev remark-remove-unused-definitions

Usage

For maximum flexibility, there are several ways this plugin can be invoked.

Via API

import { read } from 'to-vfile';
import { remark } from 'remark';
import remarkRemoveUnusedDefs from 'remark-remove-unused-definitions';

const file = await remark()
  .use(remarkRemoveUnusedDefs)
  .process(await read('example.md'));

console.log(String(file));

Via remark-cli

remark -o --use remove-unused-definitions README.md

Via unified configuration

In package.json:

  /* … */
  "remarkConfig": {
    "plugins": [
      "remark-remove-unused-definitions"
      /* … */
    ]
  },
  /* … */

In .remarkrc.js:

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    // …
    'remove-unused-definitions'
  ]
};

In .remarkrc.mjs:

import remarkRemoveUnusedDefs from 'remark-remove-unused-definitions';

export default {
  plugins: [
    // …
    remarkRemoveUnusedDefs
  ]
};

API

Detailed interface information can be found under docs/.

Examples

Suppose we have the following Markdown file example.md:

# Documentation

This [package][1] is [more than][2nd-half-idiom] meets the eye.

## Install [remark][8]

…

[1st-half-idiom]: https://meme-link-1
[2nd-half-idiom]: https://meme-link-2
[1]: https://npm.im/some-package
[2]: #install
[3]: #usage
[4]: #api
[5]: #related
[6]: #contributing-and-support
[7]: #contributors
[8]: https://npm.im/remark

Then running the following JavaScript:

import { read } from 'to-vfile';
import { remark } from 'remark';
import remarkRemoveUnusedDefs from 'remark-remove-unused-definitions';

const file = await remark()
  .use(remarkRemoveUnusedDefs)
  .process(await read('example.md'));

console.log(String(file));

Would output the following (assuming remark is configured for tight references):

# Documentation

This [package][1] is [more than][2nd-half-idiom] meets the eye.

## Install [remark][8]

…

[2nd-half-idiom]: https://meme-link-2
[1]: https://npm.im/some-package
[8]: https://npm.im/remark

Now all the unused definitions have been deleted. Nice!

Finally, notice how those numeric reference definition ids are not contiguous: instead of [1] and [2] it's [1] and [8]. Luckily, there exists a remark plugin that will ensure numeric reference ids flow through the document in ascending order starting from [1].

Related

• remark-reference-links — transform inline links into reference-style links.
• remark-renumber-references — contiguously renumber numeric reference-style link ids starting from [1].
• remark-sort-definitions — logically reorder reference definitions at the bottom of your document.

Appendix

Further documentation can be found under docs/.

Published Package Details

This is an ESM-only package built by Babel for use in Node.js versions that are not end-of-life. For TypeScript users, this package supports both "Node10" and "Node16" module resolution strategies.

That means ESM source will load this package via import { ... } from ... or await import(...) and CJS source will load this package via dynamic import(). This has several benefits, the foremost being: less code shipped/smaller package size, avoiding dual package hazard entirely, distributables are not packed/bundled/uglified, and a drastically less complex build process.

The glaring downside, which may or may not be relevant, is that CJS consumers cannot require() this package and can only use import() in an asynchronous context. This means, in effect, CJS consumers may not be able to use this package at all.

Each entry point (i.e. ENTRY) in package.json's exports[ENTRY] object includes one or more export conditions. These entries may or may not include: an exports[ENTRY].types condition pointing to a type declaration file for TypeScript and IDEs, a exports[ENTRY].module condition pointing to (usually ESM) source for Webpack/Rollup, a exports[ENTRY].node and/or exports[ENTRY].default condition pointing to (usually CJS2) source for Node.js require/import and for browsers and other environments, and other conditions not enumerated here. Check the package.json file to see which export conditions are supported.

Note that, regardless of the { "type": "..." } specified in package.json, any JavaScript files written in ESM syntax (including distributables) will always have the .mjs extension. Note also that package.json may include the sideEffects key, which is almost always false for optimal tree shaking where appropriate.

License

See LICENSE.

Contributing and Support

New issues and pull requests are always welcome and greatly appreciated! 🤩 Just as well, you can star 🌟 this project to let me know you found it useful! ✊🏿 Or buy me a beer, I'd appreciate it. Thank you!

See CONTRIBUTING.md and SUPPORT.md for more information.

Contributors

See the table of contributors.