front-matter vs gray-matter vs remark-frontmatter vs yaml-front-matter
Markdown Front Matter Libraries Comparison
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front-mattergray-matterremark-frontmatteryaml-front-matter
What's Markdown Front Matter Libraries?

These libraries are designed to parse front matter from Markdown files, which is metadata typically used to define attributes like title, date, and layout for static site generators. They enable developers to extract and manipulate this metadata easily, allowing for more dynamic content generation and organization in web applications. Each library has its own unique features and use cases, making them suitable for different scenarios in web development.

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front-matter2,781,653686-325 years agoMIT
gray-matter1,988,8344,124-664 years agoMIT
remark-frontmatter1,559,30528721.2 kB02 years agoMIT
yaml-front-matter113,569194-204 years agoMIT
Feature Comparison: front-matter vs gray-matter vs remark-frontmatter vs yaml-front-matter

Parsing Capabilities

  • front-matter:

    front-matter provides a simple API to extract YAML front matter from Markdown files. It focuses solely on parsing, making it lightweight and efficient for basic use cases.

  • gray-matter:

    gray-matter enhances parsing capabilities by supporting both YAML and JSON formats. It allows for custom delimiters and can handle front matter errors gracefully, making it more robust than front-matter.

  • remark-frontmatter:

    remark-frontmatter integrates with the Remark ecosystem, enabling it to parse front matter while processing Markdown. This allows for advanced transformations and manipulations of Markdown content alongside front matter extraction.

  • yaml-front-matter:

    yaml-front-matter specializes in parsing and stringifying YAML front matter. It provides a straightforward API for working with YAML, making it easy to extract and manipulate metadata.

Integration

  • front-matter:

    front-matter is a standalone library that does not depend on other libraries, making it easy to integrate into any project without additional overhead.

  • gray-matter:

    gray-matter can be used independently or as part of a larger project. It is versatile enough to fit into various workflows, especially when multiple front matter formats are needed.

  • remark-frontmatter:

    remark-frontmatter is designed to work within the Remark ecosystem, making it ideal for projects that already utilize Remark for Markdown processing. It allows for seamless integration and enhanced functionality.

  • yaml-front-matter:

    yaml-front-matter is also a standalone library, but it is specifically tailored for YAML. It can be easily integrated into projects that require YAML front matter handling.

Error Handling

  • front-matter:

    front-matter has basic error handling capabilities, primarily focused on parsing errors related to YAML syntax. It may not provide extensive feedback for complex errors.

  • gray-matter:

    gray-matter offers improved error handling, providing detailed feedback on parsing issues and allowing developers to handle errors more gracefully, which is beneficial for larger projects.

  • remark-frontmatter:

    remark-frontmatter inherits error handling from Remark, providing robust feedback during the Markdown processing pipeline, which helps identify issues with front matter and Markdown content.

  • yaml-front-matter:

    yaml-front-matter provides basic error handling for YAML parsing, ensuring that developers are notified of syntax errors, but it may not cover all edge cases.

Performance

  • front-matter:

    front-matter is optimized for performance in simple scenarios, making it a quick choice for projects that do not require extensive processing or features.

  • gray-matter:

    gray-matter is slightly heavier due to its additional features but remains efficient for most use cases, especially when handling multiple front matter formats.

  • remark-frontmatter:

    remark-frontmatter's performance is tied to the Remark pipeline, which can be optimized for speed but may add overhead depending on the complexity of the Markdown transformations being performed.

  • yaml-front-matter:

    yaml-front-matter is lightweight and performs well for YAML parsing tasks, making it suitable for projects that specifically require YAML front matter handling.

Community and Support

  • front-matter:

    front-matter has a smaller community compared to the others, which may result in limited support and fewer resources for troubleshooting.

  • gray-matter:

    gray-matter has a growing community and more resources available, making it easier to find support and examples for implementation.

  • remark-frontmatter:

    remark-frontmatter benefits from the larger Remark community, providing extensive documentation, plugins, and support for users, making it a reliable choice for Markdown processing.

  • yaml-front-matter:

    yaml-front-matter has a moderate community presence, offering some resources and documentation, but may not be as widely used as gray-matter or remark-frontmatter.

How to Choose: front-matter vs gray-matter vs remark-frontmatter vs yaml-front-matter
  • front-matter:

    Choose front-matter if you need a lightweight and straightforward solution for parsing YAML front matter from Markdown files without any additional dependencies or features. It is ideal for simple projects where you only need to extract metadata without complex processing.

  • gray-matter:

    Opt for gray-matter if you require a more versatile solution that supports both YAML and JSON front matter. It offers additional features like custom delimiters and error handling, making it suitable for projects that may need more flexibility in handling different front matter formats.

  • remark-frontmatter:

    Select remark-frontmatter if you are already using the Remark ecosystem for Markdown processing. This plugin integrates seamlessly with Remark, allowing you to parse front matter while leveraging Remark's powerful Markdown transformation capabilities, making it ideal for complex Markdown workflows.

  • yaml-front-matter:

    Use yaml-front-matter if you specifically need to work with YAML front matter and prefer a library that focuses on this format. It provides a simple API for parsing and stringifying YAML front matter, making it suitable for projects that heavily rely on YAML for configuration.

Similar Npm Packages to front-matter

front-matter is a lightweight npm package designed for parsing front matter from files, typically used in static site generators and content management systems. Front matter refers to the metadata that is placed at the top of a file, often in YAML or TOML format, which provides information about the content such as title, date, tags, and more. The front-matter package allows developers to easily extract this metadata from their files, making it a valuable tool for managing content in a structured way.

While front-matter is a popular choice, there are other libraries that offer similar functionality. Here are a few alternatives:

  • gray-matter is a widely used library for parsing front matter from Markdown and other text files. It supports multiple formats, including YAML, TOML, and JSON, making it versatile for various use cases. gray-matter not only extracts the front matter but also returns the content of the file without the metadata, allowing for easy integration into static site generators and other applications. If you need a robust solution that can handle different front matter formats, gray-matter is an excellent choice.
  • yaml-front-matter is another library focused specifically on parsing YAML front matter. It provides a straightforward API for extracting metadata from files that use YAML format for their front matter. If your project primarily uses YAML and you want a dedicated solution for handling it, yaml-front-matter is a lightweight and efficient option.

To see how front-matter compares with gray-matter and yaml-front-matter, check out the comparison: Comparing front-matter vs gray-matter vs yaml-front-matter.

Similar Npm Packages to gray-matter

gray-matter is a popular npm package used for parsing front matter from Markdown files. Front matter is a section at the beginning of a Markdown document that contains metadata about the content, typically formatted in YAML or JSON. gray-matter allows developers to easily extract this metadata and separate it from the actual content, making it a valuable tool for static site generators and content management systems. Its ability to handle various formats and its straightforward API make it a go-to choice for many developers working with Markdown.

While gray-matter is a solid choice for parsing front matter, there are several alternatives that offer similar functionality:

  • front-matter is a lightweight library that focuses specifically on parsing front matter from Markdown files. It provides a simple API for extracting the metadata and content from the document. If you are looking for a minimalistic solution without additional features, front-matter is a great option that offers straightforward parsing capabilities.
  • remark-frontmatter is a plugin for the remark Markdown processor that allows you to work with front matter in Markdown files. It integrates seamlessly with the remark ecosystem, making it a good choice if you are already using remark for processing Markdown. This plugin enables you to parse front matter while leveraging the full power of remark for transforming Markdown content.
  • yaml-front-matter is another alternative that specifically focuses on parsing YAML front matter. It provides a simple API for extracting metadata from YAML-formatted front matter in Markdown files. If your project primarily uses YAML for front matter and you want a dedicated solution, yaml-front-matter is an excellent choice.

To see how these packages compare, check out the comparison: Comparing front-matter vs gray-matter vs remark-frontmatter vs yaml-front-matter.

Similar Npm Packages to yaml-front-matter

yaml-front-matter is a JavaScript library designed to parse YAML front matter from text files. Front matter is a common pattern used in static site generators and content management systems, where metadata is defined at the beginning of a file, typically in YAML format. This library allows developers to easily extract this metadata and the content of the file, making it a useful tool for managing structured data in markdown or other text-based formats.

While yaml-front-matter is a robust option for handling YAML front matter, there are several alternatives worth considering:

  • front-matter is a simple library that extracts front matter from markdown files. It supports both YAML and JSON formats, making it versatile for different use cases. If you're looking for a straightforward solution to parse front matter without the need for YAML-specific features, front-matter is a solid choice.
  • gray-matter is another popular library for parsing front matter, supporting multiple formats including YAML, JSON, and TOML. It is widely used in static site generators like Gatsby and Next.js. gray-matter provides additional features such as the ability to customize delimiters and parse front matter from various file types, making it a flexible option for developers who need more control over their front matter parsing.
  • js-yaml is a YAML parser and dumper for JavaScript. While it is not specifically designed for front matter, it can be used in conjunction with other libraries to handle YAML data. If your project requires extensive YAML parsing capabilities beyond just front matter, js-yaml is a powerful tool that can meet those needs.
  • yamljs is another library for parsing and dumping YAML in JavaScript. Similar to js-yaml, it is not specifically focused on front matter but can be used to work with YAML data in various contexts. If you need a lightweight library for general YAML handling, yamljs is a good option.

To compare these packages and find the best fit for your project, check out the comparison link: Comparing front-matter vs gray-matter vs js-yaml vs yaml-front-matter vs yamljs.

README for front-matter

front-matter

build coverage npm github

Sauce Test Status

Extract meta data (front-matter) from documents.

This modules does not do any IO (file loading or reading), only extracting and parsing front matter from strings.

This concept that was originally introduced to me through the jekyll blogging system and is pretty useful where you want to be able to easily add meta-data to content without the need for a database. YAML is extracted from the the top of a file between matching separators of "---" or "= yaml =". It will also extract YAML between a separator and "...".

Install

With npm do:

npm install front-matter

Example

So you have a file example.md:

---
title: Just hack'n
description: Nothing to see here
---

This is some text about some stuff that happened sometime ago

NOTE: As of front-matter@2.0.0 valid front matter is considered to have the starting separator on the first line.

Then you can do this:

var fs = require('fs')
  , fm = require('front-matter')

fs.readFile('./example.md', 'utf8', function(err, data){
  if (err) throw err

  var content = fm(data)

  console.log(content)
})

And end up with an object like this:

{
    attributes: {
        title: 'Just hack\'n',
        description: 'Nothing to see here'
    },
    body: 'This is some text about some stuff that happened sometime ago',
    bodyBegin: 6,
    frontmatter: 'title: Just hack\'n\ndescription: Nothing to see here'
}

Methods

var fm = require('front-matter')

fm(string, { allowUnsafe: false })

Return a content object with two properties:

  • content.attributes contains the extracted yaml attributes in json form
  • content.body contains the string contents below the yaml separators
  • content.bodyBegin contains the line number the body contents begins at
  • content.frontmatter contains the original yaml string contents

NOTE: By default fm() uses ys-yaml's safeLoad unless you set allowUnsafe in the options object to true.

fm.test(string)

Check if a string contains a front matter header of "---" or "= yaml =". Primarily used internally but is useful outside of the module.

Returns true or false

    fm.test(string) #=> true || false

Contributing

front-matter is an OPEN Source Project so please help out by reporting bugs or forking and opening pull requests when possible.

standard

All code is linted/formatted using standard style, any non-conforming code can be automatically formatted using the the fmt make task: make fmt.

Maintainers

Contributors

This module is awesome because of all the folks who submitted pull requests:

CHANGELOG

3.0.0

  • CI only tests Node versions >= v6 (drops v4, and v5)

LICENSE (MIT)

Copyright (c) Jason Campbell ("Author")

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

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