remark-sort-definitions

This is a unified (remark) plugin that logically reorders the reference definitions at the bottom of your document depending on your sorting preference. Also plays nicely with GFM footnotes (by completely ignoring them), and comes with full unicode support.

After running this plugin, all definitions, both numeric and alphanumeric, will always be placed at the very bottom of the document.

You might also be interested in remark-reference-links, which transforms all your inline links into reference-style links, and remark-renumber-references, which will contiguously renumber numeric reference-style link ids starting from [1]. For a live example of these plugins in action, check the bottom of this very README.md file. ✨

• Install
• Usage
  • Via API
  • Via remark-cli
  • Via unified configuration
• API
  • Options
• Examples
  • Using the Default Configuration
  • Using algorithm
• 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-sort-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 remarkSortDefinitions from 'remark-sort-definitions';

const file = await remark()
  // An options object is NOT required
  .use(remarkSortDefinitions, { algorithm: 'alphanumeric-first' })
  .process(await read('example.md'));

console.log(String(file));

Via remark-cli

remark -o --use sort-definitions README.md

Via unified configuration

In package.json:

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

In .remarkrc.js:

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    // …
    ['sort-definitions', { algorithm: 'numeric-first' }]
  ]
};

In .remarkrc.mjs:

import remarkSortDefinitions from 'remark-sort-definitions';

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

API

Detailed interface information can be found under docs/.

Options

This plugin recognizes the following options:

algorithm

Valid values: "numeric-first" | "alphanumeric-first"
Default: "alphanumeric-first"

This option determines the sorting preference used when reordering definitions.

numeric-first will put definitions with purely numeric ids first, sorted from least (i.e. 1) to greatest, followed by any remaining definitions sorted naturally.

alphanumeric-first will put definitions with alphanumeric ids (i.e. any id that cannot be parsed into an integer) first, sorted naturally, followed by any remaining definitions sorted from least (i.e. 1) to greatest.

Examples

Suppose we have the following Markdown file example.md:

# Documentation

…

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

Using the Default Configuration

Then running the following JavaScript:

import { read } from 'to-vfile';
import { remark } from 'remark';
import remarkSortDefinitions from 'remark-sort-definitions';

const file = await remark()
  .use(remarkSortDefinitions)
  // Or:
  //.use(remarkSortDefinitions, { algorithm: 'alphanumeric-first' })
  .process(await read('example.md'));

console.log(String(file));

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

# Documentation

…

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

Now all the definitions have been sorted. Nice!

Using algorithm

We could also sort using an algorithm that places definitions with numeric ids first. Running the follow JavaScript:

import { read } from 'to-vfile';
import { remark } from 'remark';
import remarkSortDefinitions from 'remark-sort-definitions';

const file = await remark()
  .use(remarkSortDefinitions, { algorithm: 'numeric-first' })
  .process(await read('example.md'));

console.log(String(file));

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

# Documentation

…

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

Finally, notice how those numeric reference definition ids are not contiguous: a definition with id [4] is missing, throwing off the [1] through [8] numbering. 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-remove-unused-definitions — remove unused reference definitions.
• remark-renumber-references — contiguously renumber numeric reference-style link ids starting from [1].

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.