TSMarkdownParser

TSMarkdownParser is a markdown to NSAttributedString parser for iOS implemented using NSRegularExpressions. It supports many of the standard tags layed out by John Gruber on his site Daring Fireball. It is also very extendable via Regular Expressions making it easy to add your own custom tags or a totally different parsing syntax if you like.

Supported tags

Below is a list of tags supported by the parser out of the box, to add your own tags see "Adding custom parsing"

Escaping
\`
`code`
``code``

Headings
# H1
## H2
### H3
#### H4
##### H5
###### H6

Lists
* item
** item
+ item
++ item
- item
-- item

Quotes
> text
>> text

Images
![Alternative text](image.png)

URL
[Link text](https://www.example.net)

Autodetection
https://www.example.net

Emphasis
*Em*
_Em_
**Strong**
__Strong__

Requirements

TSMarkdownParser 2.x requires Xcode 7 or newer.

Installation

TSMarkdownParser is distributed via CocoaPods

pod 'TSMarkdownParser'

alternativly you can clone the project and build the static library setup in the project, or drag the source files into you project.

Usage

The standardParser class method provides a new instance of the parser configured to parse the tags listed above. You can also just create a new instance of TSMarkdownParser and add your own parsing. See "Adding custom parsing" for information on how to do this.

NSAttributedString *string = [[TSMarkdownParser standardParser] attributedStringFromMarkdown:markdown];

Customizing appearance

You can configure how the markdown is to be displayed by changing the different properties on a TSMarkdownParser instance. Alternatively you could implement the parsing yourself and add custom attributes to the attributed string. You can also alter the attributed string returned from the parser.

Adding custom parsing

Below is an example of how parsing of the bold tag is implemented. You can add your own parsing using the same addParsingRuleWithRegularExpression:block: method. You can add a parsing rule to the standardParser or to your own instance of the parser. If you want to use any of the configuration properties within makesure you use a weak reference to the parser so you don't create a retain cycle.

NSRegularExpression *boldParsing = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:@"(\\*\\*|__)(.+?)(\\1)" options:kNilOptions error:nil];
__weak TSMarkdownParser *weakSelf = self;
[self addParsingRuleWithRegularExpression:boldParsing block:^(NSTextCheckingResult *match, NSMutableAttributedString *attributedString) {
    [attributedString deleteCharactersInRange:[match rangeAtIndex:3]];
    [attributedString addAttributes:weakSelf.strongAttributes range:[match rangeAtIndex:2];
    [attributedString deleteCharactersInRange:[match rangeAtIndex:1]];
}];

License

TSMarkdownParser is distributed under a MIT licence, see the licence file for more info.