mdast-flat

• Flat version of MDAST format.
• Nodes are stored in a flat nodes array instead of a nested tree.
• Table of contents is available in contents key.
• All definitions are available in definitions map.
• All footnotes are available in footnotes map.

Main difference from MDAST is that Parent node children property is an array of numbers (instead of array of nodes). Numbers are indices into nodes array, which contains all nodes.

interface FlatParent <: Parent {
  idx: number
  children: [number]
}

idx is index of the current node, children contains array of children indices.

Full document schema:

interface MdastFlat {
  nodes: [Root | FlatParent | Literal]
  contents: [number]
  definitions: {[identifier]: number}
  footnotes: {[identifier]: number}
  footnoteOrder: [number]
}

• node — a flat array of document nodes.
• contents — an array nodes indices, which are heading nodes.
• definitions — a map of definition identifiers into nodes indices.
• footnotes — a map of footnote identifiers into nodes indices.
• footnoteOrder — ordered list of footnote node indices.

Nodes

MDAST-Flat nodes have the following attributes.

• All the same attributes as MDAST tokens, except see below.
• children attribute is an array of numbers that index into nodes list.
• idx a number, which is the index of current node in nodes list.
• parent a number, which is the index of parent node in the nodes list.
• Root nodes also have depth attribute which tracks its depth if another document was merged in using replace function.

Usage

import {mdastToFlat, flatToMdast} from 'mdast-flat';

const flat = mdastToFlat(mdast1);
const mdast2 = flatToMdast(flat);

Reference

• mdastToFlat(mdast) — converts MDAST to MDAST-Flat.
• flatToMdast(flat) — converts MDAST-Flat to MDAST.
• replace(flat1, idx, flat2) — replaces node idx in flat1 by flat2.

Example

Let's say you have the following Markdown.

[Click me][click]

[click]: https://github.com/

You could convert it to MDAST using very-small-parser.

type: root
children:
- type: paragraph
  children:
  - type: linkReference
    children:
    - type: text
      value: Click me
    identifier: click
    referenceType: full
- type: definition
  identifier: click
  title:
  url: https://github.com/

Using mdastToFlat() function you can covert it to MDAST-Flat.

nodes:
- type: root
  children:
  - 1
- type: paragraph
  children:
  - 2
- type: linkReference
  children:
  - 3
  identifier: click
  referenceType: full
- type: text
  value: Click me
- type: definition
  identifier: click
  title:
  url: https://github.com/
contents: []
definitions:
  click: 4
footnotes: {}
footnoteOrder: []

Replacing node with document

You can use replace() function to insert a Markdown document inside another Markdown document instead of some specified node.

Consider you have a Markdown document.

1

replace me

And another document.

2

Let's say you have parsed both documents into flat1 and flat2 MDAST-Flat objects, respectively. Now you want to insert the second document inside the first document in place of replace me paragraph (which has idx of 3 in flat1);

const merged = replace(flat1, 3, flat2);

The result is MDAST-Flat merged object, which merges all nodes using new portal node. It also merges contents, definitions and footnotes, if there are any.

nodes:
- type: root
  children:
  - 1
  - 3
  idx: 0
- type: paragraph
  children:
  - 2
  idx: 1
- type: text
  value: '1'
  idx: 2
- type: portal
  idx: 3
  original:
    type: paragraph
    children:
    - 4
    idx: 3
  children:
  - 5
- type: text
  value: replace me
  idx: 4
- type: root
  children:
  - 6
  idx: 5
- type: paragraph
  children:
  - 7
  idx: 6
- type: text
  value: '2'
  idx: 7
contents: []
definitions: {}
footnotes: {}
footnoteOrder: []

Resulting Markdown equivalent is:

1

2

License

Unlicense — public domain.