Markdown

RENDERMARKDOWN()

rendermarkdown(<markdown>[, <width>])

Renders CommonMark/Markdown text into SharpMUSH MarkupString with ANSI formatting. This function converts markdown syntax into formatted text with ANSI color codes and styles for display in MUSH clients.

Parameters:

• <markdown> - The markdown/CommonMark text to render. Supports all standard CommonMark features.
• <width> - Optional. Maximum width for rendered output (default: 78). Must be between 10-1000. Tables automatically fit to this width with proportional column spacing.

Supported Markdown Features:

• Text Formatting: **bold**, *italic*, `code`
• Headings: # H1, ## H2, ### H3 (rendered with ANSI underline and bold)
• Links: [text](url) or <url> (rendered as ANSI OSC 8 hyperlinks, clickable in compatible terminals)
• Lists: Ordered (1. Item) and unordered (- Item) with proper indentation and ANSI-styled bullets
• Tables: Pipe-delimited tables with column alignment (:--- left, :---: center, ---: right)
• Code Blocks: Triple-backtick code blocks with 2-space indentation
• Block Quotes: > Quote rendered with 2-space indentation
• HTML Entities: &, <, etc.

MUSH Special Character Escaping: When using markdown features with square brackets [ ] or parentheses ( ), you must escape them using %:

• %[ for [
• %] for ]
• %( for (
• %) for )

Examples:

Basic text formatting:

think rendermarkdown(This is **bold** and *italic* text)

Output:

This is bold and italic text

(with ANSI codes for bold and italic styling)

Headings:

think rendermarkdown(# My Heading%r%rThis is a paragraph)

Output:

My Heading
==========

This is a paragraph

(heading is underlined and bold with ANSI codes)

Links (note the escaping):

think rendermarkdown(%[Click here%]%(https://example.com%))

Output:

Click here

(with ANSI OSC 8 hyperlink - clickable in compatible terminals)

Tables:

think rendermarkdown(| Name | Age |%r|------|-----|%r| Alice | 30 |%r| Bob | 25 |)

Output:

| Name                          | Age                           |
|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
| Alice                         | 30                            |
| Bob                           | 25                            |

(table expands to use default 78 character width, borders styled with ANSI faint)

Tables with custom width:

think rendermarkdown(| Name | Age |%r|------|-----|%r| Alice | 30 |, 50)

Output:

| Name              | Age               |
|-------------------|-------------------|
| Alice             | 30                |
| Bob               | 25                |

(table fits within 50 character width)

Code blocks:

think rendermarkdown(``````%rvar x = 42;%rvar y = 100;%r```````)

Output:

  var x = 42;
  var y = 100;

(2-space indentation on all code lines)

Ordered lists:

think rendermarkdown(1. First item%r2. Second item%r3. Third item)

Output:

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item

(numbers styled with ANSI faint)

Unordered lists:

think rendermarkdown(- First item%r- Second item%r- Third item)

Output:

- First item
- Second item
- Third item

(bullets styled with ANSI faint)

Block quotes:

think rendermarkdown(> This is a quote%r> spanning multiple lines)

Output:

  This is a quote
  spanning multiple lines

(2-space indentation on all quote lines)

Error Handling:

• Returns #-1 INVALID WIDTH (must be 10-1000) if width parameter is out of range
• Returns #-1 ERROR RENDERING MARKDOWN: <error> if markdown parsing fails

Notes:

• Tables automatically expand to use full available width for professional spacing
• Links use ANSI OSC 8 hyperlinks, making them clickable in compatible terminals (iTerm2, Windows Terminal, etc.)
• All structural elements (borders, bullets) use ANSI faint/dim styling for visual distinction
• Output is proper MarkupString with embedded ANSI codes

See Also:

• rendermarkdowncustom()
• MARKUP
• ANSI

RENDERMARKDOWNCUSTOM()

rendermarkdowncustom(<markdown>, <object>[, <width>])

Renders CommonMark/Markdown text with customizable rendering controlled by attributes on the specified object. This allows you to define custom ANSI styles, colors, and formatting for each markdown element type.

Parameters:

• <markdown> - The markdown/CommonMark text to render
• <object> - Object reference (dbref) containing rendering template attributes
• <width> - Optional. Maximum width for rendered output (default: 78). Must be between 10-1000.

Custom Template System:

The function looks for attributes on <object> with specific names that define how to render each markdown element. These attributes contain softcode that is evaluated with markdown content passed as arguments. If a template attribute is not found, the default rendering is used.

Supported Template Attributes:

Supported Template Attributes:

• RENDERMARKUP`H1 - Heading level 1 rendering

  • %0 - The heading content (already formatted with base styles)

• RENDERMARKUP`H2 - Heading level 2 rendering

  • %0 - The heading content (already formatted with base styles)

• RENDERMARKUP`H3 - Heading level 3 rendering

  • %0 - The heading content (already formatted with base styles)

• RENDERMARKUP`CODEBLOCK - Code block rendering

  • %0 - The code content (plain text, newlines separated)

• RENDERMARKUP`LISTITEM - List item rendering

  • %0 - Is ordered list? (1 for ordered, 0 for unordered)
  • %1 - Item index (0-based)
  • %2 - The list item content

• RENDERMARKUP`QUOTE - Block quote rendering

  • %0 - The quote content (already rendered)

Example Usage:

Set up custom green color for headings:

&RENDERMARKUP`H1 #123=[ansi(hg,%0)]
&RENDERMARKUP`H2 #123=[ansi(hc,%0)]
think rendermarkdowncustom(# My Heading, #123)

Output:

My Heading
==========

(heading rendered in bright green with ANSI code hg)

Set up custom code block with yellow header:

&RENDERMARKUP`CODEBLOCK #123=[ansi(hy,CODE:)]%r[ansi(h,%0)]
think rendermarkdowncustom(``````%rvar x = 42;%r```````, #123)

Output:

CODE:
  var x = 42;

(CODE: in bright yellow, code content in white)

Set up custom list items with colored bullets:

&RENDERMARKUP`LISTITEM #123=[if(%0,ansi(hr,[add(%1,1)].) %2,ansi(hb,*) %2)]
think rendermarkdowncustom(- First%r- Second%r- Third, #123)

Output:

* First
* Second
* Third

(bullets in bright blue via ANSI code hb)

Ordered list with custom template:

&RENDERMARKUP`LISTITEM #123=[if(%0,ansi(hr,[add(%1,1)].) %2,ansi(hb,*) %2)]
think rendermarkdowncustom(1. First%r2. Second%r3. Third, #123)

Output:

1. First
2. Second
3. Third

(numbers in bright red via ANSI code hr)

Complete example with multiple custom elements:

&RENDERMARKUP`H1 #123=[ansi(hc,%0)]
&RENDERMARKUP`LISTITEM #123=[ansi(hg,→)] %2
&RENDERMARKUP`QUOTE #123=[ansi(hy,%0)]
think rendermarkdowncustom(# Tasks%r%r- Do this%r- Do that%r%r> Important note, #123)

Output:

Tasks
=====

→ Do this
→ Do that

  Important note

(heading in cyan, arrow bullets in green, quote in yellow)

Notes:

• If a template attribute is not found on the object, the default rendering is used
• Templates are evaluated as softcode with the element content passed as arguments
• Custom templates receive already-rendered content for some elements (headings, quotes)
• List items receive metadata (%0 for ordered/unordered, %1 for index)
• All error handling follows standard MUSH patterns
• Falls back gracefully to default rendering if template evaluation fails

Error Handling:

• Returns #-1 INVALID WIDTH (must be 10-1000) if width parameter is out of range
• Returns #-1 <locate error> if template object cannot be found
• Returns #-1 ERROR RENDERING MARKDOWN: <error> if markdown parsing fails
• Falls back to default rendering if template attribute evaluation fails

See Also:

• rendermarkdown()
• get()
• u()
• ANSI