CommonMark, a pure Python Markdown parser and renderer

By Vasudev Ram

I got to know about CommonMark.org via this post on the Python Reddit:

CommonMark.py - pure Python Markdown parser and renderer

From what I could gather, CommonMark is, or aims to be, two things:

1. "A standard, unambiguous syntax specification for Markdown, along with a suite of comprehensive tests".

2. A Python parser and renderer for the CommonMark Markdown spec.

CommonMark on PyPI, the Python Package Index.

Excerpts from the CommonMark.org site:

[ We propose a standard, unambiguous syntax specification for Markdown, along with a suite of comprehensive tests to validate Markdown implementations against this specification. We believe this is necessary, even essential, for the future of Markdown. ]

[ Who are you?
We're a group of Markdown fans who either work at companies with industrial scale deployments of Markdown, have written Markdown parsers, have extensive experience supporting Markdown with end users – or all of the above.

John MacFarlane
David Greenspan
Vicent Marti
Neil Williams
Benjamin Dumke-von der Ehe
Jeff Atwood ]

So I installed the Python library for it with:

pip install commonmark

Then modified this snippet of example code from the CommonMark PyPI site:

import CommonMark
parser = CommonMark.DocParser()
renderer = CommonMark.HTMLRenderer()
print(renderer.render(parser.parse("Hello *World*")))

on my local machine, to add a few more types of Markdown syntax:

import CommonMark
parser = CommonMark.DocParser()
renderer = CommonMark.HTMLRenderer()
markdown_string = \
"""
Heading
=======
 
Sub-heading
-----------
 
# Atx-style H1 heading.
## Atx-style H2 heading.
### Atx-style H3 heading.
#### Atx-style H4 heading.
##### Atx-style H5 heading.
###### Atx-style H6 heading.
 
Paragraphs are separated
by a blank line.
 
Let 2 spaces at the end of a line to do a  
line break
 
Text attributes *italic*, **bold**, `monospace`.
 
A [link](http://example.com).
 
Shopping list:
 
  * apples
  * oranges
  * pears
 
Numbered list:
 
  1. apples
  2. oranges
  3. pears
 
"""
print(renderer.render(parser.parse(markdown_string)))

Here is a screenshot of the output HTML generated by CommonMark, loaded in Google Chrome:

Reddit user bracewel, who seems to be a CommonMark team member, said on the Py Reddit thread:

eventually we'd like to add a few more renderers, PDF/RTF being the first....

So CommonMark looks interesting and worth keeping an eye on, IMO.

- Vasudev Ram - Dancing Bison Enterprises - Python training and consulting

Dancing Bison - Contact Page

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Docverter HTTP API converts marked-up docs to PDF, Docx, RTF or ePub

Docverter, an HTTP API to convert marked-up docs to PDF, Docx, RTF or ePub (and other formats, both input and output).

Docverter is a paid service.

It uses pandoc, the swiss-army-knife format conversion tool (open source), which I've blogged about a couple of times before.

UPDATE: The Docverter service is not available yet - it is in closed beta. When you try to sign up, you see a form to enter your email address so they can inform you when it is open to use. They are using the model of gauging user interest and getting email addresses of people interested, as some other startups are doing nowadays. But in this case, the creator says that he already has some working code, just that it needs some improvement before letting users in. Interesting thread about it on Hacker News, where the creator, HN user zrail, also participates, answering questions about the service, including why it is a paid service when pandoc is free.

Inspired by nature.
- dancingbison.com | @vasudevram | jugad2.blogspot.com