remark vs retext vs unified
Markdown and Natural Language Processing Libraries
remarkretextunifiedSimilar Packages:

Markdown and Natural Language Processing Libraries

These libraries serve different purposes in the realm of web development, particularly focusing on text processing. Remark is primarily a Markdown processor that allows developers to parse, transform, and compile Markdown content into HTML or other formats. Retext, on the other hand, is designed for natural language processing, enabling developers to analyze and manipulate text for grammar, spelling, and style. Unified is a framework that provides a unified interface for working with various text processing tools, allowing for seamless integration of Remark and Retext, among others. Together, they facilitate the creation of rich text applications by enabling developers to handle Markdown and perform advanced text analysis and manipulation.

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Feature Comparison: remark vs retext vs unified

Purpose

  • remark:

    Remark is specifically built for parsing and transforming Markdown. It provides a powerful API to manipulate Markdown syntax trees, enabling developers to create custom transformations and plugins tailored to their needs.

  • retext:

    Retext focuses on natural language processing, providing tools for analyzing and improving text quality. It offers plugins for grammar checking, style suggestions, and more, making it suitable for applications that require text enhancement.

  • unified:

    Unified serves as a framework that connects various text processing tools, allowing developers to work with different formats and processing techniques in a cohesive manner. It enables the integration of Remark and Retext seamlessly.

Extensibility

  • remark:

    Remark is highly extensible, allowing developers to create custom plugins for specific Markdown transformations. This flexibility makes it easy to adapt to various use cases and integrate with other libraries.

  • retext:

    Retext is also extensible, with a rich ecosystem of plugins that can be added to enhance its capabilities. Developers can create their own plugins to address specific linguistic needs or integrate with other systems.

  • unified:

    Unified's extensibility allows developers to build custom processing pipelines by combining different tools and plugins. This makes it a powerful choice for projects that require tailored text processing solutions.

Learning Curve

  • remark:

    Remark has a moderate learning curve, especially for developers familiar with Markdown. Understanding its plugin architecture and syntax tree manipulation may take some time but is manageable with documentation.

  • retext:

    Retext may have a steeper learning curve for those unfamiliar with natural language processing concepts. However, its documentation and examples help ease the learning process for new users.

  • unified:

    Unified has a relatively straightforward learning curve, particularly for developers who have experience with JavaScript and modular programming. Its design promotes easy integration of various tools.

Performance

  • remark:

    Remark is optimized for performance when processing large Markdown files. Its tree-based approach allows for efficient parsing and transformation, minimizing overhead during processing.

  • retext:

    Retext's performance depends on the complexity of the text analysis being performed. While it can handle large texts, certain plugins may introduce latency, so optimization may be necessary for extensive use cases.

  • unified:

    Unified is designed to be performant by allowing developers to create efficient processing pipelines. By combining tools judiciously, developers can achieve high performance in text processing tasks.

Use Cases

  • remark:

    Remark is ideal for applications that require Markdown support, such as blogs, documentation sites, and content management systems. It excels in scenarios where Markdown needs to be transformed or rendered dynamically.

  • retext:

    Retext is best suited for applications focused on text quality, such as writing assistants, grammar checkers, and content editors. It provides valuable insights into language use and style.

  • unified:

    Unified is perfect for projects that need a combination of Markdown processing and natural language analysis, such as content creation platforms that require both formatting and linguistic enhancements.

How to Choose: remark vs retext vs unified

  • remark:

    Choose Remark if your primary focus is on processing Markdown content, converting it to HTML, or transforming it in various ways. It is ideal for applications that require extensive Markdown support and customization.

  • retext:

    Select Retext if you need to perform natural language processing tasks, such as grammar checking, text analysis, or style suggestions. It is suitable for applications that require linguistic insights and improvements to written content.

  • unified:

    Opt for Unified if you want a versatile framework that allows you to integrate multiple text processing tools, including Remark and Retext. It is best for projects that require a combination of Markdown processing and natural language analysis.

README for remark

remark

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unified processor with support for parsing from markdown and serializing to markdown.

Contents

What is this?

This package is a unified processor with support for parsing markdown as input and serializing markdown as output by using unified with remark-parse and remark-stringify.

See the monorepo readme for info on what the remark ecosystem is.

When should I use this?

You can use this package when you want to use unified, have markdown as input, and want markdown as output. This package is a shortcut for unified().use(remarkParse).use(remarkStringify). When the input isn’t markdown (meaning you don’t need remark-parse) or the output is not markdown (you don’t need remark-stringify), it’s recommended to use unified directly.

When you want to inspect and format markdown files in a project on the command line, you can use remark-cli.

Install

This package is ESM only. In Node.js (version 16+), install with npm:

npm install remark

In Deno with esm.sh:

import {remark} from 'https://esm.sh/remark@15'

In browsers with esm.sh:

<script type="module">
  import {remark} from 'https://esm.sh/remark@15?bundle'
</script>

Use

Say we have the following module example.js:

import {remark} from 'remark'
import remarkToc from 'remark-toc'

const doc = `
# Pluto

Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt.

## Contents

## History

### Discovery

In the 1840s, Urbain Le Verrier used Newtonian mechanics to predict the position of…

### Name and symbol

The name Pluto is for the Roman god of the underworld, from a Greek epithet for Hades…

### Planet X disproved

Once Pluto was found, its faintness and lack of a viewable disc cast doubt…

## Orbit

Pluto's orbital period is about 248 years…
`

const file = await remark()
  .use(remarkToc, {heading: 'contents', tight: true})
  .process(doc)

console.error(String(file))

…running that with node example.js yields:

# Pluto

Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt.

## Contents

* [History](https://www.npmjs.com/package/remark#history)
  * [Discovery](https://www.npmjs.com/package/remark#discovery)
  * [Name and symbol](https://www.npmjs.com/package/remark#name-and-symbol)
  * [Planet X disproved](https://www.npmjs.com/package/remark#planet-x-disproved)
* [Orbit](https://www.npmjs.com/package/remark#orbit)

## History

### Discovery

In the 1840s, Urbain Le Verrier used Newtonian mechanics to predict the position of…

### Name and symbol

The name Pluto is for the Roman god of the underworld, from a Greek epithet for Hades…

### Planet X disproved

Once Pluto was found, its faintness and lack of a viewable disc cast doubt…

## Orbit

Pluto's orbital period is about 248 years…

API

This package exports the identifier remark. There is no default export.

remark()

Create a new unified processor that already uses remark-parse and remark-stringify.

You can add more plugins with use. See unified for more information.

Examples

Example: checking markdown

The following example checks that markdown code style is consistent and follows some best practices:

import {remark} from 'remark'
import remarkPresetLintConsistent from 'remark-preset-lint-consistent'
import remarkPresetLintRecommended from 'remark-preset-lint-recommended'
import {reporter} from 'vfile-reporter'

const file = await remark()
  .use(remarkPresetLintConsistent)
  .use(remarkPresetLintRecommended)
  .process('1) Hello, _Jupiter_ and *Neptune*!')

console.error(reporter(file))

Yields:

          warning Missing newline character at end of file final-newline             remark-lint
1:1-1:35  warning Marker style should be `.`               ordered-list-marker-style remark-lint
1:4       warning Incorrect list-item indent: add 1 space  list-item-indent          remark-lint
1:25-1:34 warning Emphasis should use `_` as a marker      emphasis-marker           remark-lint

⚠ 4 warnings

Example: passing options to remark-stringify

When you use remark-stringify manually you can pass options to use. Because remark-stringify is already used in remark, that’s not possible. To define options for remark-stringify, you can instead pass options to data:

import {remark} from 'remark'

const doc = `
# Moons of Neptune

1. Naiad
2. Thalassa
3. Despine
4. …
`

const file = await remark()
  .data('settings', {
    bulletOrdered: ')',
    incrementListMarker: false,
    setext: true
  })
  .process(doc)

console.log(String(file))

Yields:

Moons of Neptune
================

1) Naiad
1) Thalassa
1) Despine
1) …

Syntax

Markdown is parsed and serialized according to CommonMark. Other plugins can add support for syntax extensions.

Syntax tree

The syntax tree used in remark is mdast.

Types

This package is fully typed with TypeScript. There are no extra exported types.

It also registers Settings with unified. If you’re passing options with .data('settings', …), make sure to import this package somewhere in your types, as that registers the fields.

/// <reference types="remark" />

import {unified} from 'unified'

// @ts-expect-error: `thisDoesNotExist` is not a valid option.
unified().data('settings', {thisDoesNotExist: false})

Compatibility

Projects maintained by the unified collective are compatible with maintained versions of Node.js.

When we cut a new major release, we drop support for unmaintained versions of Node. This means we try to keep the current release line, remark@^15, compatible with Node.js 16.

Security

As markdown can be turned into HTML and improper use of HTML can open you up to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, use of remark can be unsafe. When going to HTML, you will combine remark with rehype, in which case you should use rehype-sanitize.

Use of remark plugins could also open you up to other attacks. Carefully assess each plugin and the risks involved in using them.

For info on how to submit a report, see our security policy.

Contribute

See contributing.md in remarkjs/.github for ways to get started. See support.md for ways to get help. Join us in Discussions to chat with the community and contributors.

This project has a code of conduct. By interacting with this repository, organization, or community you agree to abide by its terms.

Sponsor

Support this effort and give back by sponsoring on OpenCollective!

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Expo

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Markdown Space

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License

MIT © Titus Wormer