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Markdown Task List Items#

Item Description
Extension ID markdown-task-list-items
GFM Extension Status Official
Configuration Item extensions.markdown-task-list-items.enabled
Default Value False

Configuration#

Prefixes
extensions.markdown-task-list-items.
Value Name Type Default Description
enabled boolean False Whether the extension is enabled.

Summary#

This extension follows the GitHub Flavored Markdown specification to interpret certain list items as task list items. If the specified sequence is present at the start of the text for a list item, it is interpreted as a task list item. That sequence is a [ character followed by one of {space}, x or X, and ending with a ] character and at least one whitespace character.

Examples#

With this extension enabled, the following Markdown text:

Markdown - [ ] something - [x] something - [a] something

produces the following html:

```HTML

  • something
  • something
  • [a] something

```

which renders as:

  • something
  • something
  • [a] something

Specifics#

There are times where having a list item that begins with a checkbox can be advantageous to the document being created. Especially if the document is being used in some manner of interactive format, having a checkbox that the user can "click" to specify they have completed some action is useful.

The basics are simple. The sequence [ ] denotes a task list item that has not been completed, and the sequences [x] and [X] denotes a task list item that has been completed. For these sequences to be valid, they must occur at the start of a list item paragraph and they must be followed by at least one whitespace character. Any other sequences, such as the third list item in the example, are interpreted as normal Markdown.

Therefore, the following examples do not result in a task list item:

  • - [y] something because the y character is not one of the valid "internal" characters
  • - x[x] something because the valid sequence does not appear at the very beginning
  • - [x]something because the valid sequence is not followed by a whitespace character

In addition, the following Markdown text:

Markdown - [x] task list item [x] not a task list item

will produce a task list item for the first line but not the second line. This is because the first sequence appears at the start of the paragraph, while the second sequence occurs in the middle of the paragraph.