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@lexical/markdown

This package contains markdown helpers for Lexical: import, export and shortcuts.

Import and export

import {
$convertFromMarkdownString,
$convertToMarkdownString,
TRANSFORMERS,
} from '@lexical/markdown';

editor.update(() => {
const markdown = $convertToMarkdownString(TRANSFORMERS);
...
});

editor.update(() => {
$convertFromMarkdownString(markdown, TRANSFORMERS);
});

It can also be used for initializing editor's state from markdown string. Here's an example with react <RichTextPlugin>

<LexicalComposer initialEditorState={() => {
$convertFromMarkdownString(markdown, TRANSFORMERS);
}}>
<RichTextPlugin />
</LexicalComposer>

Shortcuts

Can use <MarkdownShortcutPlugin> if using React

import { TRANSFORMERS } from '@lexical/markdown';
import {MarkdownShortcutPlugin} from '@lexical/react/LexicalMarkdownShortcutPlugin';

<LexicalComposer>
<MarkdownShortcutPlugin transformers={TRANSFORMERS} />
</LexicalComposer>

Or registerMarkdownShortcuts to register it manually:

import {
registerMarkdownShortcuts,
TRANSFORMERS,
} from '@lexical/markdown';

const editor = createEditor(...);
registerMarkdownShortcuts(editor, TRANSFORMERS);

Transformers

Markdown functionality relies on transformers configuration. It's an array of objects that define how certain text or nodes are processed during import, export or while typing. @lexical/markdown package provides set of built-in transformers:

// Element transformers
UNORDERED_LIST
CODE
HEADING
ORDERED_LIST
QUOTE

// Text format transformers
BOLD_ITALIC_STAR
BOLD_ITALIC_UNDERSCORE
BOLD_STAR
BOLD_UNDERSCORE
INLINE_CODE
ITALIC_STAR
ITALIC_UNDERSCORE
STRIKETHROUGH

// Text match transformers
LINK

And bundles of commonly used transformers:

  • TRANSFORMERS - all built-in transformers
  • ELEMENT_TRANSFORMERS - all built-in element transformers
  • TEXT_FORMAT_TRANSFORMERS - all built-in text format trasnformers
  • TEXT_MATCH_TRANSFORMERS - all built-in text match trasnformers

Transformers are explicitly passed to markdown API allowing application-specific subset of markdown or custom transformers.

There're three types of transformers:

  • Element transformer handles top level elements (lists, headings, quotes, tables or code blocks)
  • Text format transformer applies text range formats defined in TextFormatType (bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, code, subscript and superscript)
  • Text match transformer relies on matching leaf text node content

See MarkdownTransformers.js for transformer implementation examples