>_clihub
GITHUB-MARKDOWN-TOC(1)

NAME

github-markdown-toc — Easy TOC creation for GitHub README.md

SYNOPSIS

INFO

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source

DESCRIPTION

Easy TOC creation for GitHub README.md

README

gh-md-toc

CI GitHub release (latest by date)

gh-md-toc — is for you if you want to generate TOC (Table Of Content) for a README.md or a GitHub wiki page without installing additional software.

It's my try to fix a problem:

gh-md-toc is able to process:

  • stdin
  • local files (markdown files in local file system)
  • remote files (html files on github.com)

gh-md-toc tested on Ubuntu, and macOS High Sierra (gh-md-toc release 0.4.9). If you want it on Windows, you better to use a golang based implementation:

It's more solid, reliable and with ability of a parallel processing. And absolutely without dependencies.

Table of contents

Installation

Linux (manual installation)

$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ekalinin/github-markdown-toc/master/gh-md-toc
$ chmod a+x gh-md-toc

MacOS (manual installation)

$ curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ekalinin/github-markdown-toc/master/gh-md-toc -o gh-md-toc
$ chmod a+x gh-md-toc

Linux or MacOS (using Basher)

$ basher install ekalinin/github-markdown-toc
# `gh-md-toc` will automatically be available in the PATH

Usage

STDIN

Here's an example of TOC creating for markdown from STDIN:

➥ cat ~/projects/Dockerfile.vim/README.md | ./gh-md-toc -
  * [Dockerfile.vim](#dockerfilevim)
  * [Screenshot](#screenshot)
  * [Installation](#installation)
        * [OR using Pathogen:](#or-using-pathogen)
        * [OR using Vundle:](#or-using-vundle)
  * [License](#license)

Local files

Here's an example of TOC creating for a local README.md:

➥ ./gh-md-toc ~/projects/Dockerfile.vim/README.md

Table of Contents

Remote files

And here's an example, when you have a README.md like this:

And you want to generate TOC for it.

There is nothing easier:

➥ ./gh-md-toc https://github.com/ekalinin/envirius/blob/master/README.md

Table of Contents

That's all! Now all you need — is copy/paste result from console into original README.md.

If you do not want to copy from console you can add > YOURFILENAME.md at the end of the command like ./gh-md-toc https://github.com/ekalinin/envirius/blob/master/README.md > table-of-contents.md and this will store the table of contents to a file named table-of-contents.md in your current folder.

And here is a result:

Moreover, it's able to work with GitHub's wiki pages:

➥ ./gh-md-toc https://github.com/ekalinin/nodeenv/wiki/Who-Uses-Nodeenv

Table of Contents

Multiple files

It supports multiple files as well:

➥ ./gh-md-toc \
    https://github.com/aminb/rust-for-c/blob/master/hello_world/README.md \
    https://github.com/aminb/rust-for-c/blob/master/control_flow/README.md \
    https://github.com/aminb/rust-for-c/blob/master/primitive_types_and_operators/README.md \
    https://github.com/aminb/rust-for-c/blob/master/unique_pointers/README.md

Combo

You can easily combine both ways:

➥ ./gh-md-toc \
    ~/projects/Dockerfile.vim/README.md \
    https://github.com/ekalinin/sitemap.s/blob/master/README.md


<!-- Created by https://github.com/ekalinin/github-markdown-toc -->

Auto insert and update TOC

Just put into a file these two lines:

<!--ts-->
<!--te-->

And run:

$ ./gh-md-toc --insert README.test.md

Table of Contents



!! TOC was added into: 'README.test.md'
!! Origin version of the file: 'README.test.md.orig.2018-02-04_192655'
!! TOC added into a separate file: 'README.test.md.toc.2018-02-04_192655'


<!-- Created by https://github.com/ekalinin/github-markdown-toc -->

Now check the same file:

➜ grep -A15 "<\!\-\-ts" README.test.md
<!--ts-->
   * [gh-md-toc](#gh-md-toc)
   * [Table of contents](#table-of-contents)
   * [Installation](#installation)
   * [Usage](#usage)
      * [STDIN](#stdin)
      * [Local files](#local-files)
      * [Remote files](#remote-files)
      * [Multiple files](#multiple-files)
      * [Combo](#combo)
      * [Auto insert and update TOC](#auto-insert-and-update-toc)
   * [Tests](#tests)
   * [Dependency](#dependency)

<!-- Added by: <your-user>, at: 2018-02-04T19:38+03:00 -->


<!--te-->

Next time when your file will be changed just repeat the command (./gh-md-toc --insert ...) and TOC will be refreshed again.

GitHub token

All your tokens are here.

You will need them if you get an error like this:

Parsing local markdown file requires access to github API
Error: You exceeded the hourly limit. See: https://developer.github.com/v3/#rate-limiting
or place github auth token here: ./token.txt

A token can be used as an env variable:

➥ GH_TOC_TOKEN=2a2dab...563 ./gh-md-toc README.md

Table of Contents

Or from a file:

➥ echo "2a2dab...563" > ./token.txt
➥ ./gh-md-toc README.md

Table of Contents

TOC generation with Github Actions

Config:

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
    paths: ['foo.md']

jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
timeout-minutes: 5
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- run: |
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ekalinin/github-markdown-toc/master/gh-md-toc -o gh-md-toc
chmod a+x gh-md-toc
./gh-md-toc --insert --no-backup --hide-footer foo.md
rm gh-md-toc
- uses: stefanzweifel/git-auto-commit-action@v4
with:
commit_message: Auto update markdown TOC

Tests

Done with bats. Useful articles:

How to run tests:

➥ make test                                                                                                                 

✓ TOC for local README.md
✓ TOC for remote README.md
✓ TOC for mixed README.md (remote/local)
✓ TOC for markdown from stdin
✓ --help
✓ --version


6 tests, 0 failures

Dependency

  • curl or wget
  • awk (mawk is not tested)
  • grep
  • sed
  • bats (for unit tests)

Tested on Ubuntu 14.04/14.10 in bash/zsh.

Docker

Local

  • Build
$ docker build -t markdown-toc-generator .
  • Run on an URL
$ docker run -it markdown-toc-generator https://github.com/ekalinin/envirius/blob/master/README.md
  • Run on a local file (need to share volume with docker)
$ docker run -it -v /data/ekalinin/envirius:/data markdown-toc-generator /data/README.md

Public

$ docker pull evkalinin/gh-md-toc:0.7.0

$ docker images | grep toc
evkalinin/gh-md-toc                       0.7.0 0b8db6aed298        11 minutes ago      147MB


$ docker run -it evkalinin/gh-md-toc:0.7.0 

https://github.com/ekalinin/envirius/blob/master/README.md

SEE ALSO

fzf(1)— A command-line fuzzy finder — interactive Unix filter for any listlazygit(1)— Simple terminal UI for git commands — never memorize commands againstarship(1)— The minimal, blazing-fast, and infinitely customizable prompt for any shellgh(1)— GitHub's official command-line tool for pull requests, issues, and morezoxide(1)— A smarter cd command — learns your habits and jumps instantly
clihub3/4/2026GITHUB-MARKDOWN-TOC(1)