Markdown Extended Autolinks#

Item	Description
Extension ID	`markdown-extended-autolinks`
GFM Extension Status	Official
Configuration Item	`extensions.markdown-extended-autolinks.enabled`
Default Value	`False`

Configuration#

Prefixes
`extensions.markdown-extended-autolinks.`

Value Name	Type	Default	Description
`enabled`	`boolean`	`False`	Whether the extension is enabled.

Summary#

This extension follows the GitHub Flavored Markdown specifications to extend the set of text sequences that the parser considers as a link and an autolink element generated for it. While the normal autolinks deal with text enclosed within the < and > characters, this extension introduces autolinks that the parser will recognize without any enclosing characters.

Examples#

WWW Autolinks#

With this extension enabled, the following Markdown text:

```Markdown Visit www.commonmark.org/help for more information.

Or www.commonmark.org/help.

Or (www.google.com/search?q=Markup+(business)). ```

produces the following html:

```HTML

Visit www.commonmark.org/help for more information.

Visit www.commonmark.org/help.

(www.google.com/search?q=Markup+(business))

```

which renders as:

Visit www.commonmark.org/help for more information.

Visit www.commonmark.org/help.

(www.google.com/search?q=Markup+(business))

Url Autolinks#

With this extension enabled, the following Markdown text:

```Markdown http://commonmark.org

(Visit https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=Markup+(business)) ```

will produce the following html:

```HTML

http://commonmark.org

(Visit https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=Markup+(business))

```

which renders as:

http://commonmark.org

(Visit https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=Markup+(business))

Email Autolinks#

With this extension enabled, the following Markdown text:

```Markdown foo@bar.baz

hello@mail+xyz.example isn't valid, but hello+xyz@mail.example is. ```

will produce the following html:

```HTML

foo@bar.baz

hello@mail+xyz.example isn't valid, but hello+xyz@mail.example is.

```

which renders as:

foo@bar.baz

hello@mail+xyz.example isn't valid, but hello+xyz@mail.example is.

Protocol Autolinks#

With this extension enabled, the following Markdown text:

```Markdown mailto:foo@bar.baz

xmpp:foo@bar.baz/txt ```

will produce the following html:

```HTML

mailto:foo@bar.baz

xmpp:foo@bar.baz/txt

```

which renders as:

mailto:foo@bar.baz

xmpp:foo@bar.baz/txt

Specifics#

The base specification for autolinks specifies the conditions under which parsers treat certain urls enclosed within the < and > characters as a link specification. This extension allows the parser to recognize a more focused group of sequences without the enclosed characters.

While the specification itself is more explicit as to the allowable conditions, here are the highlights. In the following circumstances, the parser will consider the text as an Autolink without any < and > enclosing characters, if:

the text www followed by a valid domain name and optional path information
the text http:// or https:// followed by a valid domain name and optional path information
the text for a valid email address, including a + character before the @ character
the text mailto: or xmpp: followed by a valid email address

As the parser applies these rules to all text, and not just those enclosed with the < and > characters, the rules for recognizing these extended autolinks are narrowly focused on validly constructed sequences. This decision is reflected in the above list with the word valid appearing in each item.

Our team would be remiss to not point out one small flaw of this extension: opting out of the enhanced autolinks. If you enter the text www.something.com and do not want it to be an autolink, you have few options. One is to enclose the text in ` characters, rendering it as a code span. Another is to use the sequence w in place of one of the w characters, breaking up the text sequence with a character reference.

Our team remains neutral on the usage of this extension, as we do not have windows into the scenarios of our users. We hope we have provided enough information about this extension to allow you and your team to make an educated decision on whether to enable this extension for your team.