mdast utility to find and replace things.

• What is this?
• When should I use this?
• Install
• Use
• API
  • findAndReplace(tree, list[, options])
  • Find
  • FindAndReplaceList
  • FindAndReplaceTuple
  • Options
  • RegExpMatchObject
  • Replace
  • ReplaceFunction
• Types
• Compatibility
• Security
• Related
• Contribute
• License

This package is a utility that lets you find patterns (string, RegExp) in text and replace them with nodes.

This utility is typically useful when you have regexes and want to modify mdast. One example is when you have some form of “mentions” (such as /@([a-z][_a-z0-9])\b/gi) and want to create links to persons from them.

A similar package, hast-util-find-and-replace does the same but on hast.

This package is ESM only. In Node.js (version 16+), install with npm:

npm install mdast-util-find-and-replace

In Deno with esm.sh:

import {findAndReplace} from 'https://esm.sh/mdast-util-find-and-replace@3'

In browsers with esm.sh:

<script type="module">
  import {findAndReplace} from 'https://esm.sh/mdast-util-find-and-replace@3?bundle'
</script>

import {findAndReplace} from 'mdast-util-find-and-replace'
import {u} from 'unist-builder'
import {inspect} from 'unist-util-inspect'

const tree = u('paragraph', [
  u('text', 'Some '),
  u('emphasis', [u('text', 'emphasis')]),
  u('text', ' and '),
  u('strong', [u('text', 'importance')]),
  u('text', '.')
])

findAndReplace(tree, [
  [/and/gi, 'or'],
  [/emphasis/gi, 'em'],
  [/importance/gi, 'strong'],
  [
    /Some/g,
    function ($0) {
      return u('link', {url: '//example.com#' + $0}, [u('text', $0)])
    }
  ]
])

console.log(inspect(tree))

Yields:

paragraph[8]
├─0 link[1]
│   │ url: "//example.com#Some"
│   └─0 text "Some"
├─1 text " "
├─2 emphasis[1]
│   └─0 text "em"
├─3 text " "
├─4 text "or"
├─5 text " "
├─6 strong[1]
│   └─0 text "strong"
└─7 text "."

This package exports the identifier findAndReplace. There is no default export.

Find patterns in a tree and replace them.

The algorithm searches the tree in preorder for complete values in Text nodes. Partial matches are not supported.

• tree (Node) — tree to change
• list (FindAndReplaceList or FindAndReplaceTuple) — one or more find-and-replace pairs
• options (Options) — configuration

Nothing (undefined).

Pattern to find (TypeScript type).

Strings are escaped and then turned into global expressions.

type Find = RegExp | string

Several find and replaces, in array form (TypeScript type).

type FindAndReplaceList = Array<FindAndReplaceTuple>

See FindAndReplaceTuple.

Find and replace in tuple form (TypeScript type).

type FindAndReplaceTuple = [Find, Replace?]

See Find and Replace.

Configuration (TypeScript type).

• ignore (Test, optional) — test for which elements to ignore

Info on the match (TypeScript type).

• index (number) — the index of the search at which the result was found
• input (string) — a copy of the search string in the text node
• stack (Array<Node>) — all ancestors of the text node, where the last node is the text itself

Thing to replace with (TypeScript type).

type Replace = ReplaceFunction | string

See ReplaceFunction.

Callback called when a search matches (TypeScript type).

The parameters are the result of corresponding search expression:

• value (string) — whole match
• ...capture (Array<string>) — matches from regex capture groups
• match (RegExpMatchObject) — info on the match

Thing to replace with:

• when null, undefined, '', remove the match
• …or when false, do not replace at all
• …or when string, replace with a text node of that value
• …or when Node or Array<Node>, replace with those nodes

This package is fully typed with TypeScript. It exports the additional types Find, FindAndReplaceList, FindAndReplaceTuple, Options, RegExpMatchObject, Replace, and ReplaceFunction.

Projects maintained by the unified collective are compatible with maintained versions of Node.js.

When we cut a new major release, we drop support for unmaintained versions of Node. This means we try to keep the current release line, mdast-util-find-and-replace@^3, compatible with Node.js 16.

Use of mdast-util-find-and-replace does not involve hast or user content so there are no openings for cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.

• hast-util-find-and-replace — find and replace in hast
• hast-util-select — querySelector, querySelectorAll, and matches
• unist-util-select — select unist nodes with CSS-like selectors

See contributing.md in syntax-tree/.github for ways to get started. See support.md for ways to get help.

This project has a code of conduct. By interacting with this repository, organisation, or community you agree to abide by its terms.

MIT © Titus Wormer